Erik Karlsson is seen as one of the top defenders in the NHL and is considered to be one of the best fantasy hockey defenseman. While the popular opinion is that Karlsson is great, he is far from being a top defender.

Karlsson won the Norris trophy last season for being the top defenseman in the league, which means the qualities that a good defenseman should have has changed.

When people talk about what makes Karlsson so great, they always talk about the huge amount of goals and assists that he puts up, but those are stats that are more important to a forward. When it comes to the stats that most defensemen usually focus on like hits, blocked shots, and plus/minus Karlsson is really lacking.

When it comes to having a well-rounded fantasy hockey team each position needs to be responsible for the stats that intended for them. The old saying that players play and coaches coach translates to players and their positions. Forwards need to be forwards and defenseman need to be defenseman.

Karlsson is a player who has a particular set of skills, which puts him in a weird no man’s land between positions. He has the offensive production of good forward, but not a great forward. To get his offensive production on your fantasy team, you have to give up a defensive spot and suffer on defensive stats.

If you want to have a fantasy team that blows opponents away with offensive stats and just forgets about the defensive stats, then Karlsson would be the perfect player to build your team around. However if you are a fantasy player who wants to win all of the categories, let the suckers waste a high pick and take Karlsson early. Fantasy owners will be better off avoiding Karlsson and building a defense with real defensemen who play defense.