Long term rank them Dmen (3-5 years)

[senryu]

The thing that stops me from putting DeAngelo at 1 is that we're dealing with a guy who (1) is clearly below-average defensively (2) doesn't have a contract with his current team that stretches through 3-5 years from now, and (3) has a history of erratic behavior. The list shouldn't be "who has the highest offensive ceiling," it is who will be the most productive in 3-5 years. DeAngelo has more risk than other names on the list, and that knocks him down a little, at least for me. And I don't have confidence that DeAngelo will be with the Rangers in 4 years. He and Fox both become RFAs two years from now, at the same time as Zibanejad and Kakko come up for contracts. Are the Rangers going to pony up for all of them? With Lundkvist and Miller knocking on the door? For my money, DeAngelo is going to be elsewhere in 4 years. I feel pretty good that the others on the list will be with their teams in 4 years.

It makes me think of similar questions from the past.

https://forums.dobbersports.com/show...semen-in-tiers

Gostisbehere isn't being put last in those 2016 lists. But his defense-light tendency has put him last. The risk of the same happening with DeAngelo is a non-zero risk.

[tobias]

The key here is that the OP asked for 3-5 years. Typically, we're asked for 1-3 years. Keeping that in mind, I'll first admit that it's pretty much a crap shoot, and then I'll go with...

Bouchard
Valimaki
Drysdale
Boqvist
DeAngelo
Seider
Pionk

[Napoleon23]

.
**In truth, I haven't seen Valimaki play enough yet, but I will say I think Rasmus Andersson has more O-game - and his extra year or two of development could roadblock Valimaki.

You should check his Liiga stats thus far. His O-game will be very good, and soon. Hes arguably the best defenseman in that league right now.

[tweetdrivr]

He has 11 pts in 11 games.