There's a lot that NHL defencemen do well that doesn't necessarily show up on the scoresheet, but when it comes to your fantasy pool, its the scoresheet that matters most. What that means is that, while there are some 300 defenders in the NHL every season, only about 50 or so are going to really deliver significant value to your fantasy team.

Last season, for example, only 13 blueliners hit the 50-point mark, which is really just the starting point for noteworthy fantasy production for a forward. If you're in a pool where you're not required to pick defencemen, forwards are often the better choice as they generally have a higher potential payoff.

Many pools, however, require that you pick defenders, and despite their lower production, they can be key to complementing your team and winning your pool.

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What should you look for? Well, aside from the obvious picks at the top end of the scale - Mike Green, Nick Lidstrom, Andrei Markov and Scott Niedermayer - a good fantasy blueliner will net you at least 40 points and log considerable time on the power play in doing so.

Power play points are important for forwards, too, but for defencemen in the NHL, they make up the bulk of the offence they produce. Of the 28 defencemen that had 40 points or more last season, for example, an average of 51 per cent of their points came while on the power play.

In contrast, 159 forwards had 40 or more points last season, and only 32 per cent of their points came when up a man.

Finding those point-producing defencemen isn't always as easy as it seems. Twelve teams last season didn't even have a 40-point blueliner, whereas high-scoring ones like the Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks had three apiece.

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In general, teams with excellent power plays rely on strong quarterback types on the blueline, and all six of the top power play teams from last season - Detroit, Washington, San Jose, Boston, Anaheim and Philadelphia - should again generate plenty of point from defencemen this season.

Profiling the fantasy defenceman (40-plus points)

The following chart details how points by defencemen (projected over 82 games) correlate with their power play ice time last season based on players who played at least 20 games and a minimum of two minutes per game on the man advantage.

Blueliners who skate on their team's first power play unit average more than four minutes a game on the man advantage, while those who play on the second unit average about two and a half minutes a game on the power play.

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There's a strong relationship between power play ice time and total point production for a variety of reasons, and who you draft should be based in part on the number of minutes those players will see at 5-on-4 and 5-on-3:

Globe tip sheet

Elite options (60-plus points):

Second-tier (50-plus points):

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Underrated gems:

Rebound candidates/trending up

Players to avoid/trending down