Top NHL Defensemen

This page ranks the ten highest-scoring NHL defensemen of every regular season since 2016-17. Scoring by defensemen is measured in points, the same way as for forwards.

The ten highest-scoring defensemen of every NHL season since 2016-17. Click any player to highlight every season he finished in the top ten.

Season 2025-26

  1. Evan Bouchard

    EDM · D

  2. Zach Werenski

    CBJ · D

  3. Cale Makar

    COL · D

  4. Lane Hutson

    MTL · D

  5. Quinn Hughes

    VAN / MIN · D

  6. Rasmus Dahlin

    BUF · D

  7. Darren Raddysh

    TBL · D

  8. Erik Karlsson

    PIT · D

  9. Miro Heiskanen

    DAL · D

  10. Charlie McAvoy

    BOS · D

Season 2024-25

  1. Cale Makar

    COL · D

  2. Zach Werenski

    CBJ · D

  3. Quinn Hughes

    VAN · D

  4. Rasmus Dahlin

    BUF · D

  5. Evan Bouchard

    EDM · D

  6. Victor Hedman

    TBL · D

  7. Lane Hutson

    MTL · D

  8. Josh Morrissey

    WPG · D

  9. Adam Fox

    NYR · D

  10. Jake Sanderson

    OTT · D

Season 2023-24

  1. Quinn Hughes

    VAN · D

  2. Cale Makar

    COL · D

  3. Roman Josi

    NSH · D

  4. Evan Bouchard

    EDM · D

  5. Victor Hedman

    TBL · D

  6. Adam Fox

    NYR · D

  7. Noah Dobson

    NYI · D

  8. Josh Morrissey

    WPG · D

  9. Mike Matheson

    MTL · D

  10. Rasmus Dahlin

    BUF · D

Season 2022-23

  1. Erik Karlsson

    SJS · D

  2. Josh Morrissey

    WPG · D

  3. Quinn Hughes

    VAN · D

  4. Dougie Hamilton

    NJD · D

  5. Brandon Montour

    FLA · D

  6. Rasmus Dahlin

    BUF · D

  7. Miro Heiskanen

    DAL · D

  8. Adam Fox

    NYR · D

  9. Cale Makar

    COL · D

  10. Vince Dunn

    SEA · D

Season 2021-22

  1. Roman Josi

    NSH · D

  2. Cale Makar

    COL · D

  3. Victor Hedman

    TBL · D

  4. Adam Fox

    NYR · D

  5. John Carlson

    WSH · D

  6. Kris Letang

    PIT · D

  7. Morgan Rielly

    TOR · D

  8. Quinn Hughes

    VAN · D

  9. Aaron Ekblad

    FLA · D

  10. Devon Toews

    COL · D

Season 2020-21

  1. Tyson Barrie

    EDM · D

  2. Adam Fox

    NYR · D

  3. Victor Hedman

    TBL · D

  4. Kris Letang

    PIT · D

  5. John Carlson

    WSH · D

  6. Cale Makar

    COL · D

  7. Jeff Petry

    MTL · D

  8. Dougie Hamilton

    CAR · D

  9. Shea Theodore

    VGK · D

  10. Jakob Chychrun

    ARI · D

Season 2019-20

  1. John Carlson

    WSH · D

  2. Roman Josi

    NSH · D

  3. Victor Hedman

    TBL · D

  4. Tony DeAngelo

    NYR · D

  5. Quinn Hughes

    VAN · D

  6. Alex Pietrangelo

    STL · D

  7. Cale Makar

    COL · D

  8. Torey Krug

    BOS · D

  9. Ryan Suter

    MIN · D

  10. Shea Theodore

    VGK · D

Season 2018-19

  1. Brent Burns

    SJS · D

  2. Mark Giordano

    CGY · D

  3. Morgan Rielly

    TOR · D

  4. John Carlson

    WSH · D

  5. Keith Yandle

    FLA · D

  6. Erik Gustafsson

    CHI · D

  7. Tyson Barrie

    COL · D

  8. Kris Letang

    PIT · D

  9. Roman Josi

    NSH · D

  10. Thomas Chabot

    OTT · D

Season 2017-18

  1. John Carlson

    WSH · D

  2. Brent Burns

    SJS · D

  3. John Klingberg

    DAL · D

  4. Shayne Gostisbehere

    PHI · D

  5. Victor Hedman

    TBL · D

  6. Erik Karlsson

    OTT · D

  7. Drew Doughty

    LAK · D

  8. P.K. Subban

    NSH · D

  9. Torey Krug

    BOS · D

  10. Seth Jones

    CBJ · D

Season 2016-17

  1. Brent Burns

    SJS · D

  2. Victor Hedman

    TBL · D

  3. Erik Karlsson

    OTT · D

  4. Kevin Shattenkirk

    STL / WSH · D

  5. Duncan Keith

    CHI · D

  6. Dustin Byfuglien

    WPG · D

  7. Justin Schultz

    PIT · D

  8. Torey Krug

    BOS · D

  9. Dougie Hamilton

    CGY · D

  10. John Klingberg

    DAL · D

How these rankings work

Only defensemen are eligible. Skaters are ranked by points — goals plus assists. Ties are broken by goals, then by fewer games played. Only NHL regular season games count — playoffs, preseason and all-star games are excluded. A player traded mid-season keeps his full-season total, and every team he played for that year is listed on his card.

Figures come from the NHL's public statistics API — the same source behind NHL.com — and are baked into this page when it is built, so nothing is fetched while you read it. The data shown was pulled on and covers the 10 completed regular seasons from 2016-17 to 2025-26.

This site also ranks all skaters, goals, assists, forwards, goalies, power-play goals and game-winning goals, season by season.

Questions

Who had the most points in a single season?

Erik Karlsson — 101 points in the 2022-23 regular season, the highest single-season total on this page since 2016-17.

Which player appears most often in these top tens?

Victor Hedman, with 7 top-ten finishes in the 10 seasons from 2016-17 to 2025-26.

How many different players have finished in a top ten since 2016-17?

47 — out of 100 top-ten places across 10 seasons.

Do these totals include the playoffs?

No. Every number on this site is regular season only. Playoff points are excluded.

Where does the data come from?

The NHL's own public statistics API (api.nhle.com), the same source that feeds NHL.com. Nothing here is estimated or projected.

How often is it updated?

Once per year, after each NHL regular season finishes. The data currently shown was pulled on 2026-08-23 and covers through the 2025-26 season.