Welcome back to ‘Slappers and Bangers,’ your source for multi-cat fantasy hockey.
Last week we looked at a slew of forwards, 18 in total, that offered the kitchen sink in category coverage. This week, we’re repeating the process with defensemen.
The parameters for defensemen this week: they must provide, or have the potential to provide a minimum of 40 points, 150 shots, hits, and blocks. The key word here is ‘AND.’ This will eliminate a lot of fantasy names, including, Cale Makar, Roman Josi, Erik Karlsson, and so on. They do a lot of things for you, but they often lack either hits or blocks. This also eliminates Charlie McAvoy. Only once in his career has he hit two shots per game.
This type of complete cat coverage can win leagues. There aren’t a ton of players that can hit all four boxes regularly. Yes, there is variance, and for a variety of reasons, hit, shot, or point total might dip below the thresholds outlined above. That said, more years than not, this is what you have come to expect from each of these players.
Enough pre-amble let’s see the names.
Fantasy Hockey Multi-Cat Defensemen: 40 Points + 150 Hits + Blocks + Shots
Jacob Trouba, New York Rangers
No surprise to see his name on this list. His offensive production isn’t the most consistent, that’s his biggest knock. In 2022-23, he only had 30 points. In 2021-22, he had 39, and in 2018-19 he hit 50 points.
I’ll admit, I’m bending my own 40-point rule with this first name. There’s a low likelihood Trouba will hit 40 points this year. Regardless, I can’t ignore his monstrous peripheral category value. Few defensemen can give 200 hits, blocks, and shots. In back-to-back years, Trouba has come damn close to doing just that. he fell 23 blocks shy of 200 in 2021-22, with 177.
There are no bonus points for laying out players. Trouba’s reputation as a physical defenseman is as much about how hard he hits as it is for his prolificness. Players feel his hits for hours, if not days after being flattened.
Moritz Seider, Detroit Red Wings
The sky is the limit with Seider. This guy does it all. It’s hard to believe this is only his third NHL season. In his first two seasons, he has averaged, 46 points, 179 hits, 175 blocks, and 163 shots. These are Shea Weber stats in his prime. Seider has a couple of years to go before he hits his prime.
His hits and blocks shouldn’t change very much moving forward. There will be some variability and they can fluctuate 40-50 from year to year. For instance, he may nurse an injury for two months in a season and he doesn’t hit as much. Expect the fluctuation, but don’t expect those categories to increase year over year.
Seider hasn’t hit his ceiling yet. There’s another gear available. He could become the unicorn among multi-cat defensemen and become a reliable 60-point producer who also surpasses 200 shots per year. You won’t find another defenseman on this list that will provide this kind of coverage.
Justin Faulk, St. Louis Blues
Faulk can be overlooked in these conversations. There’s been a lot of injuries over the years that have tempered expectations. There have been years with big-shot totals (211, 217), but they didn’t translate point totals (37, 31). His 2014-15, 49-point season appeared to be aberration.
Then Faulk woke up, the last two seasons he has produced to previous expectations. Years ago, he was expected to be a 45-50 point defenseman, annually. Not until 2021-22 did he re-visit that early potential with 47 points. He added 167 shots, 149 hits, and 101 blocks.
He has now produced back-to-back strong multi-cat seasons. In 2022-23 he hit 50 points for the first time. His shot totals rose to 196 (the most since 2018-19), and while his hits dropped to 101, his blocks rose to 140.
As I mentioned with Seider above, there will be fluctuation. It would be nice to see Faulk produce strong blocks and hit numbers in the same season.
Faulk is a little light on the peripheral side of the stat sheet but with this type of producer so far and few between he can’t be ignored. Especially now that he’s hit 50 points.
Adam Larsson, Seattle Kraken
His inclusion might be a modest surprise. Regarding hits and blocks, no surprise, that Larsson is a peripheral stud. It’s the two offensive categories, points, and shots that raise eyebrows with his inclusion.
Perhaps his inclusion is part subjective and part predictive. he’s coming off a career-high 33 points and 143 shots. This was the second consecutive year his point and shot totals rose. In the last three years, we’ve seen his points per game increase from .18 to .3, to.4. Likewise, his shots per game have increased from .9 to 1.5 to 1.7.
One thing that stands out from last year, first, Larsson received 60.88% offensive zone starts (naturalstattrick.com). By far the highest of his career.
Worst case scenario, his shot totals will slip back to 1.5 per game, and his points, dip below 30. In the best-case scenario, he cracks 40 points, and pushes 45, and adds a couple dozen shots to his previous career-high. Considering the three-year trend, the most likely scenario; he barely hits 40 points and hits 150 shots for the first time.
Darnell Nurse, Edmonton Oilers
He received a fair amount of flack for his on-ice play last year. For a big physical defenseman, he was beaten too many times due to poor positioning & pinching at inopportune times.
Luckily, none of that matters to us, fantasy hockey owners. That is unless you play in a ‘SIM’ league.
What does matter though, Nurse produced 43 points with 204 shots, 146 shots, and 164 blocks.
Evan Bouchard has taken on the primary offensive role in Edmonton. There’s more than enough offense for Nurse to lock and load 40 points more years than not. We can’t rule out a 50-point season here or there either.
Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins
Don’t close the book on Letang just yet. He’s been counted out more than once in his career. His career is marked with several injuries and a heart condition. Yet, he keeps coming back and producing at an elite level.
Erik Karlsson has received all the attention in Pittsburgh. Fair enough, he’s a significant addition. If anything, lessening the spotlight on Letang will only help him.
Letang has surpassed 40 points, 10 times in his career. At age 36, his seasons are numbered, but he has shown little sign of slowing down. He should have a couple more 40-point seasons in him. This should be viewed as his floor rather than expected. He’s also still producing over two shots per game and over 150 hits a season. His blocks have dipped a bit. They are closer to 1.5 per game.
With the potential for one or two more 50- or 60-point seasons, I’m willing to overlook the loss of a few blocks.
Mikhail Sergachev, Tampa Bay Lightning
He broke out in a big way last year. With 64 points he crushed his previous career high from his rookie year (2017-18) of 40. He also set a career high in shots with 156 and blocks with 149.
His hit totals have increased in recent years to the tune of 128 and 139, in the last two seasons.
This is the first year of his new, big $8.5m AAV contract. Victor Hedman turns 33 in December. It feels like last year was the ‘passing of the torch’ from Hedman to Sergachev as the offensive linchpin on the blue line.
Expect Sergachev to continue to produce gaudy offensive numbers. You should also expect the peripheral production to flirt with 150. It would be nice to see his shot totals bump closer to 200. This would make him an even more Marquis multi-cat option.
Mackenzie Weegar, Calgary Flames
It wasn’t the greatest season for Weegar in Calgary. I’m sure he dreamed of having a much better offensive year. The good news, almost everyone had a down year on the Flames. It’s good news because the results are less indicative of Weegar’s play specifically.
Unless Rasmus Andersson suffers an injury, Weegar won’t see much ice time on the power play, averaging under a minute per game the last six seasons.
His production dropped from 43 points in his last year with the Florida Panthers, to 31 points in a turbulent first year with the Flames.
Expect a big bounceback year with a team re-energized and a new coach. Weegar also brings big peripheral numbers that let him run with the big dogs.
Matt Roy, Los Angeles Kings (honorable mention)
I’m throwing Roy in as an honorable mention because he has yet to hit 30 points. He hasn’t come close enough to the 40-point marker to slide fully onto this list.
He has demonstrated the ability to rack up 15o hits, blocks, and shots, throughout various seasons. He just hasn’t put it all together into one campaign, yet.
Now that Sean Walker and Sean Durzi have been traded, it opens up a little more offensive ice, hopefully for Roy to take advantage of.
A lot like Weegar a couple of years ago, there are not a lot of offensive expectations on Roy. He’s not going to become a Sergachev juggernaut, but he very well could raise his production into the 40-point club. With the ability to add 150 hits, shots, and blocks, Roy could match the production of a couple of other names on this list for cheap. You might even be able to add him straight from the waiver wire.
That’s it for this week, thanks for reading.
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