Dobber's latest version of the Top 300 has Green first among defensemen by a mile at 31st overall, then Keith and Byfuglien neck and neck at 59 and 60. Next closest are Letang (68), Lidstrom (78) and Boyle (92).

I traded Lids for Doughty earlier this season, so I'm incredibly biased. But is Dobber's newest ranking reflective of the consensus on the site?

In short, is everyone on board with ranking Big Buff in the top 3 defensemen in keeper leagues?

BTW, Dobber's rankings are designed for points-only leagues, so I imagine that Buff's goal-heavy production and peripherals would make him even MORE valuable in standard Yahoo leagues...

I certainly do not consider him top 3 in a keeper. Not even top 10. One of the main reasons being, will he still be a dman next year or the year after? In a keeper, it would truly suck if I traded someone like Letang for Byfuglien and in one or two seasons he lost his dman eligibility and suddenly I am short one dman.

Another reason why I wouldn't rank him so high is that despite being unbelievable this year, he has been unbelievable.

By that I mean I don't believe his current production will continue and that players like Letang, Weber, Boyle, and many other dmen currently ranked lower than Byfuglien are "safer" options.

But this is all somewhat moot because Dobber's rankings are very subjective and a lot of other factors come into play when he does his rankings. Mostly I just use them as a guide and don't put much merit into them. Nothing against Dobber, but every league is different so his rankings don't always work well with the leagues I am in.

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10 team league, multi-cat, full keeper.

Forwards: J. Toews, J. Tavares, J. Eberle, J. Neal, A. Kopitar, T. Seguin, E. Kane, M. Duchene, J. Benn, M. Ryder, D. Brown, B. Marchand

Defense: A. Pietrangelo, K. Shattenkirk, A. Goligoski, PK Subban, J. Carlson, J. Spurgeon

Goalies: M. Smith, A. Niemi

Bench: R. Clowe, B. Dubinsky, M. Calvert, P. Mueller, D. Clarkson, M. Carle, M. Niskanen, P. Wiercioch, J. Halak, A. Lindback

Maybe he likes the Thrashers in the playoffs better than the Kings or Pens too?

I like that seeing as I have both Keith and Buf!! and that he is keeping faith in Keith despite his slow start!! I like to build my teams from the backend

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LOTS OF TEAMS!

Green, Doughty, Boyle, Keith, Weber...

I wouldn't consider Byfuglien as a top-3 keeper D-men, yet. He's making a strong case for being in that elite-group, though, and if he can keep this pace he'll most definately belongs there. But I want too see atleast 50 points from him before bumping him into that elite class.

I'm not ready to throw Buf up on that pedestal until he does it for a full season. That said a lot of people missed the boat when they didn't believe what Green was doing those many years ago so maybe there's some merit to that ranking.

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Metaldude makes a good point, and this really is the key to success in fantasy hockey...

If Byfuglien is for real, the opportunity to grab him (if it hasn't already past) is closing quickly. The key is knowing when a player's situation is for real and when the player is playing over his head. There are some reasons to believe that perhaps Byfuglien's situation is for real and he will keep this up. But there are also reasons to be concerned that he will fall back to a more expectable pace. It is a tough call to make, but often these decisions are what leads to success or failure.

Recent history has shown that if you don't grab a player while you can, and he continues to excel, you may never be able to get him again.

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10 team league, multi-cat, full keeper.

Forwards: J. Toews, J. Tavares, J. Eberle, J. Neal, A. Kopitar, T. Seguin, E. Kane, M. Duchene, J. Benn, M. Ryder, D. Brown, B. Marchand

Defense: A. Pietrangelo, K. Shattenkirk, A. Goligoski, PK Subban, J. Carlson, J. Spurgeon

Goalies: M. Smith, A. Niemi

Bench: R. Clowe, B. Dubinsky, M. Calvert, P. Mueller, D. Clarkson, M. Carle, M. Niskanen, P. Wiercioch, J. Halak, A. Lindback

Yes, and J. M. Liles is a top 5 Dman in a keeper league.... Two months of good hockey does not make you a top 3 player at any position. Sometimes you just have to make your own decisions instead of following the leader of the herd....

Yeah, not elite d-man yet but you can't argue the number hes putting up at this moment.

That being said, if you are looking to win now and you have him, it would be hard for me to move him.

While not safe, I would expect him not to lose his D status... but again, if it is yahoo, who knows.

If he can get you like 55-60 pts as a D-man... thats pretty elite IMO. So at this point.. you can gamble that he is going to be elite... or you wait until he actually proves it and then try to acquire him @ a ridiculous price.

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14 GM H2H Salary Cap League (Salaries not Caps)
Stats:G A +/- PIM PPG PPA SHP GWG SOG FW HITS|W GAA SV SV% SHO
Start: 2C,2LW,2RW,4D,2UTIL,2G
Prospect Farm (<92GP skaters, <60 goalies)

Dobber Pro League Wales Division - Roto
Stats: G,A,+/-,PiM,PPP,SOG|W,GAA,Saves
Start: 4C,4L,4R,6D,2G (Weekly changes)
2010 - 3rd place
2009 - 3rd place

Not ahead of Keith, Boyle, Lidstrom or Doughty - but he has eclipsed Weber IMO. I've seen enough from both to make that conclusion. And Letang is making a case to be included in that group as well.

My own personal preferences: Green, Letang, Boyle, Doughty, Keith, Lidstrom, Byfuglien, Weber...

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20 Team Pool Points Keeper
G =1,A=1,PPG=1,PPA=0.5, SHG=1,GWG=1,PIM=0.1,+/-=0.25
Goalie cats (W=2, SO=3, SV=0.05)

F: Malkin, B.Richards, Voracek, O'Reilly, Downie, Burmistrov, Bailey, Mueller, Read, Boedker, Gomez, Adam
D: Green, E.Johnson, Elliott, Larsson, Jovanovski
G: Varlamov