The New York Rangers would definitely be considered a Stanley Cup favorite if/when a season starts. They were two wins away from making it to the Final last year and were the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference to start the playoffs. This year, they bolstered their offense by trading for star forward Rick Nash, but the team has mainly been based on its superstar goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, as well as its young, talented defensemen.

The defense corps is headlined by names like Daniel Girardi, Marc Staal, and Ryan McDonagh: all of whom can score along with playing great defensive hockey. Michael Del Zotto, like McDonagh, is another up-and-coming defenseman who can only get better at this point in his career.

Other than the top four, the rest of the defense has some depth with Michael Sauer, Steve Eminger, enforcer Stu Bickel, and young blueliner Anton Stralman. These guys aren’t yet high enough on the depth chart to be valuable additions to your fantasy team, but keep an eye one some of the younger ones in the coming years.

The top four, however, are somewhat undervalued in fantasy leagues like Yahoo! Sports; especially Girardi and McDonagh. Both had career seasons in 2011-12, and they will both be in a position to improve in 2012-13; especially McDonagh.

Marc Staal hasn’t been exactly the same since his injury caused from a hit by his brother Eric, but he has still been a quality NHL defenseman and the injury hasn’t had a role-changing effect on him.

However, if you have a team in a Yahoo! league, there’s a chance that neither McDonagh nor Girardi were drafted since they were ranked so low amongst defensemen. Take a look at them; they are definitely worth picking up if a season starts anytime soon.