2018 Pool Projections: Top 5 Defenses

Only one of the big money teams appeared in the top five in defensemen scoring in the 2017 draft pool, so maybe I'm putting a little too much onus on this, but I wanted to see what the top five bluelines looked like, using my projections for the coming season.

I have just pulled the top seven on my projected rosters to have a quick peek at and there is a ton of talent between these five squads and I think this is what makes them very dangerous this season.

Nashville	Proj	Tampa Bay	Proj	Pittsburgh	Proj	Columbus	Proj	Winnipeg	Proj
P.K. Subban	55	Victor Hedman	70	Kris Letang	50	Seth Jones	45	Dustin Byfuglien	55
Roman Josi	55	Anton Stralman	30	Justin Schultz	50	Zach Werenski	35	Jacob Trouba	35
Ryan Ellis	40	Mikhail Sergachev	30	Matt Hunwick	25	David Savard	30	Tyler Myers	30
Mattias Ekholm	25	Dan Girardi	15	Olli Maatta	20	Jack Johnson	25	Toby Enstrom	20
Matt Irwin	15	Andrej Sustr	15	Ian Cole	20	Ryan Murray	25	Dmitry Kulikov	20
Alexei Emelin	10	Jake Dotchin	15	Brian Dumoulin	15	Markus Nutivaara	10	Joshua Morrissey	20
Yannick Weber	10	Braydon Coburn	10	Derrick Pouliot	10	Scott Harrington	5	Ben Chiarot	10

If we learned anything in last season's playoffs, the Nashville Predators defense carried their squad all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals and it is scoring by committee there.  The top five on their blueline are all returning and all ready to contribute and a guy like Matt Irwin could be a decent sleeper, especially if he can find some more minutes beyond those first four.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have one of the better all around defenders in the league in Victor Hedman and this could be his season for a real shot at the Norris Trophy, assuming he can put together a big 70-point (or so) season.  They also get to add one of the top blueline prospects in the NHL in Mikhail Sergachev, who they acquired in a trade from the Canadiens this summer and he can certainly make this squad and produce.

The Cup champs are somewhat of a curious addition, given the injury prone nature of Kris Letang, but that is taken into account with his season's projection of 50 points.  The real lynch pin now of this blueline is Justin Schultz and he's the guy that could really make his way up the list, if used appropriately.  The addition of Matt Hunwick appears to be a good one, after a good season in Toronto.

Seth Jones is developing into one of the league's best defensemen and he's being trailed by sophomore sensation Zach Werenski, as the Columbus Blue Jackets are continuing to trend upwards in the standings and their playoff prowess.  I think you'll find a few gems in Columbus that will give your team decent support this season, because you'll certainly need it.

Finally, the Jets are another one of those teams that are building up quite the blueline and they have added a big bomber in Dmitry Kulikov, certainly making their already daunting lineup that much stronger.  Winnipeg certainly has a lot of potential at the back end, the likes of Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey are guys that could move beyond their projections and into real worthiness in the 2018 season.

Dale B., our pool winner last season, saw his team rank 9th among the 25 teams in the pool in defensemen scoring, as his team found a pretty good balance between all three positions, ranking 6th in forwards and 7th in goalies.  These guys may not be overly important, but your pool team should still be decent at the position, if you intend to win any money this year.