February Fantasy Hockey Rankings: Defencemen

Letang Returns; Doughty, Pietrangelo, and Streit Heat Up

The big movers this month, at least in the top portion of the rankings, are: Kris Letang (returning from injury), and Mark Streit and Alex Pietrangelo (who turned in their strongest months to date). Jake Gardiner, who has appeared on/off the rankings this season, is back on again--and makes the biggest jump among the unranked to grab a spot at #48.

This will be the final month for in-season rankings as next month we'll only have a few weeks left in the regular season schedule. We hope these rankings help you negotiate deals ahead of the trade deadline. Remember: If you're not in 1st place any deal that doesn't get done only helps the #1 team stay ahead of the pack.

Defenceman Rankings -->> Top 60

1.Zdeno Chara (1)

2. Erik Karlsson (2)

3. Shea Weber (3)

4. Alexander Edler (5)

5. Nicklas Lidstrom (6)

Note: Defencemen are ranked for their expected performance from this point to the end of the 2011-2012 season using standard scoring league categories: Goals, Assists, Power Play Points, Shots on Goal, Plus/Minus, Penalty Minutes, and Average Time on Ice. Last month's ranking is indicated in parentheses.

6. Drew Doughty (9)

7. Dan Boyle (8)

8. Kris Letang (27)

9. Dion Phaneuf (4)

10. Ryan Suter (12)

11. Duncan Keith (10)

12. Michael Del Zotto (7)

13. Brent Burns (14)

14. Lubomir Visnovsky (17)

15. Kevin Bieksa (11)

16. Mark Streit (24)

17. Dustin Byfuglien (13)

18. Ian White (19)

19. Dennis Wideman (18)

20. Alex Pietrangelo (21)

21. Alex Goligoski (26)

22. Keith Yandle (16)

23. Kevin Shattenkirk (15)

24. P.K. Subban (22)

25. Tobias Enstrom (23)

26. Brian Campbell (20)

27. Kimmo Timonen (34)

28. Jack Johnson (36)

29. Christian Ehrhoff (38)

30. James Wisniewski (28)

31. Dennis Seidenberg (25)

32.John-Michael Liles (37)

33. Niklas Kronwall (31)

34. Matt Carle (43)

35. Jason Garrison (33)

36. Dan Girardi (39)

37. Sergei Gonchar (41)

38. John Carlson (30)

39. Keith Seabrook (48)

40. Dan Hamhuis (35)

41. Sheldon Souray (40)

42. Ryan McDonagh (56)

43. Oliver Ekman-Larsson (54)

44. Marc Staal (46)

45. Mark Giordano (50)

46. Tyler Myers (32)

47. Dmitry Kulikov (29)

48.Jake Gardiner (off)

49. Marc-Andre Bergeron (42)

50. Matt Niskanen (47)

51. Sami Salo (58)

52. Francois Beauchemin (off)

53. Erik Johnson (45)

54. Travis Hamonic (off)

55. Jay Harrison (off)

56. Stephane Robidas (off)

57. Zach Bogosian (44)

58. Kyle Quincey (53)

59. Johnny Boychuk (55)

60.Cody Franson (off)

On the bubble: Justin Faulk, Filip Kuba, Nick Leddy, Jay Bouwmeester, and Mike Green (if he ever comes off IR).