Week 8: Fantasy top 50 defenseman rankings for '16-17

All season long, NHL.com's Brian Metzer will rank the top 50 fantasy defensemen for standard Yahoo leagues (goals, assists, plus/minus, penalty minutes, power-play points, shots on goal). Players with long-term injuries have been removed from this list.
These rankings are based on expectations for the rest of the season. Value is quantified by defense pairs, power-play usage, past performance and overall upside in standard leagues. Changes in value each week are based on recent performance and/or lineup trends.

There was a time when Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz was being hyped as the next Paul Coffey. He had a chance to solidify the Edmonton Oilers blue line and mesh with a growing stable of talented, young forwards to lead the team back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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The postseason wasn't in sight early in Schultz's tenure with the Oilers, but it still looked like he was destined for greatness. He showed the dynamic offensive skills that made him an in-demand unrestricted free agent coming out of the University of Wisconsin, scoring 91 points (25 goals, 66 assists) in his first 203 NHL games.
Then the bottom fell out.
He struggled mightily through 45 games with Edmonton in 2015-16, scoring three goals and seven assists with a minus-22 rating before being dealt to the Penguins on Feb. 27. Schultz was quite candid after the trade, hoping the change of scenery would help his fortunes.
"I'm at a real low point now," he said. "I've lost my confidence. Just at a low point completely. I needed a fresh start and, hopefully, this is the fresh start that I need."
It is safe to say Schultz got just what he needed, as did the Penguins. The move is also starting to work out for fantasy owners, especially this season.
Schultz (14 percent owned in Yahoo) doesn't get as many offensive opportunities as he did in Edmonton on a roster that features Kris Letang and Trevor Daley, but he's been especially effective over his past four games with three goals and three assists. He's added 10 SOG and is a plus-7 in the span.
That outburst has improved his season totals to 11 points and 50 SOG. He is also carrying a plus-13 rating, tied with his defensive partner Ian Cole (21 percent owned) for the Penguins lead. Schultz is now a plus-20 in 44 games with Pittsburgh dating to last season, a night-and-day improvement from the minus-78 rating he brought from Edmonton.

It's also worth noting Schultz scored 45 percent of his career points on the power play prior to the trade, but is doing most of his damage at even strength, where he has nine of his 11 points this season. He has regained his confidence and built these numbers by playing within himself. He makes all of the right reads, jumps into the play only when he knows it isn't going to hurt the team, and moves the puck up to his high-scoring forwards quickly.
His recent success can also be tied to finding a home on the pairing with Cole. They've played all but one game together since Nov. 2 and have combined for four goals and 15 assists in their past 17 games. They have totaled 53 SOG and are a combined plus-29 in the span.
Schultz is on pace for 35 points, which would be a career high. Cole is already closing in on his career-high 17 points from 2014-15, when he played with the St. Louis Blues and Penguins. Each is readily available in Yahoo and should be rostered before it's too late.

Trending Up

Andrej Sekera (7 percent owned) of the Oilers could be a sneaky pick up for fantasy owners. He had five points in his first 19 games, but has more than duplicated that in his past nine games with six points; he is a plus-4 with 10 SOG. He's getting plenty of ice time, logging more than 20 minutes in seven straight games. He played a season-high 26:03 on Tuesday in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres. He is sharing power-play time with Oscar Klefbom (22 percent owned), but has still managed two PPP in his past four games.

Trending Down

Fantasy owners had high hopes for Justin Faulk of the Carolina Hurricanes; that tends to happen when a defenseman scores 31 goals and 86 points in a two-season span. Unfortunately, Faulk hasn't come close to mirroring that rate of production this season. He dealt with injury early on, but has one point in 11 games since returning, including an eight-game drought (minus-6 in span). The only silver lining and hope for an eventual bounce-back is that his shot volume remains high (33 in past 11 games). That said, many owners are losing patience; his ownership has dipped to 81 percent.

Worth Noting

• Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook sustained an upper-body injury Tuesday after dishing out an assist in 10:29 against the Arizona Coyotes. The Blackhawks do not play again until Friday against the New York Rangers, so that allows a bit of recovery time. Seabrook ranks 20th among defensemen in standard-league production; he has 16 points (six PPP), 45 SOG and is a plus-7 in 28 games.
  - The Coyotes and top defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson avoided an injury scare last week; he hasn't missed any time and has three PPP in the four games since leaving the game Nov. 29 against the San Jose Sharks. He added six SOG in the span. It's worth mentioning the Coyotes reassigned rookie Tony DeAngelo to Tucson of the American Hockey League on Sunday.
  - Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara (55 percent owned) continues to slip in our top 50 fantasy defensemen rankings, but did return to the lineup Monday against the Florida Panthers. He didn't score a point and was a minus-1, but had one SOG, three hits and 2 blocked shots.
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Top 50 Fantasy Defensemen

These rankings were last updated Dec. 7
1. Brent Burns, SJS (SAME)
2. Shea Weber, MTL (SAME)
3. Erik Karlsson, OTT (SAME)
4. Victor Hedman, TBL (SAME)
5. P.K. Subban, NSH (SAME)
6. Kris Letang, PIT (+1)
7. Zach Werenski, CBJ (-1)
8. Kevin Shattenkirk, STL (SAME)
9. Dustin Byfuglien, WPG (SAME)
10. Roman Josi, NSH (+2)
11. Ryan Suter, MIN (-1)
12. Duncan Keith, CHI (-1)
13. Drew Doughty, LAK (SAME)
14. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, ARI (SAME)
15. Shayne Gostisbehere, PHI (SAME)
16. Ryan McDonagh, NYR (SAME)
17. Mark Giordano, CGY (SAME)
18. Brent Seabrook, CHI (DTD)
19. Keith Yandle, FLA (SAME)
20. Rasmus Ristolainen, BUF (+5)
21. Alex Pietrangelo, STL (-1)
22. John Carlson, WSH (-1)
23. Colton Parayko, STL (+1)
24. Alec Martinez, LAK (-2)
25. Sami Vatanen, ANA (-2)
26. Dougie Hamilton, CGY (SAME)
27. Cam Fowler, ANA (+2)
28. Aaron Ekblad, FLA (SAME)
29. John Klingberg, DAL (-2)
30. Andrei Markov, MTL (+1)
31. Mike Green, DET (+1)
32. Torey Krug, BOS (+1)
33. Damon Severson, NJD (+3)
34. Tyson Barrie, COL (+3)
35. Justin Faulk, CAR (-5)
36. Seth Jones, CBJ (+2)
37. Marc-Edouard Vlasic, SJS (-3)
38. Mark Streit, PHI (+1)
39. Jake Muzzin, LAK (-4)
40. Anton Stralman, TBL (NR - INJ)
41. Morgan Rielly, TOR (SAME)
42. Ian Cole, PIT (NEW)
43. Justin Schultz, PIT (NEW)
44. Dion Phaneuf, OTT (NEW)
45. Ivan Provorov, PHI (NEW)
46. TJ Brodie, CGY (-1)
47. Matt Niskanen, WSH (-1)
48. Oscar Klefbom, EDM (+1)
49. Nick Leddy, NYI (-2)
50. Zdeno Chara, BOS (-2)
Dropped out: Hampus Lindholm (ANA), Trevor Daley (PIT), Brian Campbell (CHI), Anthony DeAngelo (ARI)
Key injuries: Ryan Ellis (NSH), Erik Johnson (COL), Tyler Myers (WPG), Nathan Beaulieu (MTL), Alexander Edler (VAN)
READ: Last week's Top 50 defenseman rankings