Best Future NHL defense

[BlueAndWhite]

Switched to ten, jumped on the gun too fast sorry.

That's fine, that seems to be the case when discussing anything Leaf related (both on the pro-Leafs side and the anti-Leafs side).

 

[J-D]

Well anyways, the point of my post was that Leafs and "Best Future NHL defense" shouldn't go in the same sentence, but since the CBA will change things alot over the next 3-4 years, especially in the free agents department, well, what do I know...

 

[Donnybrook]

San Jose, they have it now and in the future!

 

[looooob]

San Jose, they have it now and in the future!

good call, they are definitely in the upper tier

 

[Ol' Dirty Chinaman*]

Vancouver

Jovonovski-Salo
Ohlund-Sopel
Allen-Koltsov

** HOMER ALERT **
Our defense is still young and will still be playing damn well when Koltsov is NHL ready. Our 3rd pair would be a top-4 pair on some teams. They're big, hit hard, can skate well and score.

Defense is the one thing Vancouver needs not to worry about.

For other teams, I would have to say San Jose (who's coming on) and Florida.

 

[Rattrick]

Detroit. Hands down.

Fischer, Kronvall, Groulx, Quincey???

I mean come on, no contest guys!!!

Everyone else was being a homer, thought i'd go along with it.


Anyway.

Flordia, Nashville and Calgary are the top 3 IMO. Nashville i would put #1 since last draft they did amazing, but the Flordia guys are a little more well know and further along in their development.

If 2 or 3 of the Nashville d-man prospects pan out though, that defense will be amazing. Now if they could only score a goal.

I agree completely with everything you said. Minus the homerism

 

[elphy101]

As for your EDM vs CGY comments I really can't agree. I would take Regehr, Leopold and Phaneuf over any of the Edmonton players. I fail to see how Edmonton has significantly more depth at that position.

In response from an Oiler fan POV.

The Oilers guys have alot of depth, it's just that they are all younger and just starting to establish themselves.

Jeff Wowitka(voted best defensemen in the WHL during his last year and was captain of the WJC team, he's big, mobile, good with the puck, excellent first pass, does everything well)

Alexei Semenov(voted best defensemen in the OHL during his last year. Big, very physical, has a booming shot, already the 2nd fastest skater on the Oilers, excellent first pass. Semenov has all the tools to become a top 2 defensemen)

Marc-Andre Bergeron(offensive dynamo, voted best defensemen in the CHL during his last year of juniors. Great 5th, 6th defensemen, pp quaterback and he is not afraid to mix it up physically either.)

Doug Lynch(Broke his arm during his last season in WHL so didn't get much notice, however in his first year in AHL is averaging close to .5 PPG. In his first year, he is already an AHL all-star. Carlo Coaicovo is the only other rookie defensemen going to the all-star game)

Matt Greene(He's getting great reviews in college. Oilers brass expects him to become a top 4 defensemen for them. Once again, big, and very physical. He's the guy that hits everything that moves, if your in front of the net, you will be punished)

And of course Eric Brewer(Already a #1 defensemen in the NHL, he does everything very well, and he's only going to get better)

 

[Jacob]

In terms of prospects, it's hard to beat Nashville and Pittsburgh.
But the latter really doesn't have anything (outside of Orpik) on their current roster in terms of youth and potential. It's all outside of the system.

 

[looooob]

In response from an Oiler fan POV.

The Oilers guys have alot of depth, it's just that they are all younger and just starting to establish themselves.

Jeff Wowitka(voted best defensemen in the WHL during his last year and was captain of the WJC team, he's big, mobile, good with the puck, excellent first pass, does everything well)

? I thought Upshall was captain of the WJC team that year? or am I misundertanding you?

by the way I don't think Flames Draft Watcher was implying that the Oilers had no depth in terms of young D I think he was just stating his preference for the Flames depth given that they've got a bunch of young guys already proven at the NHL level, plus a few good prospects, whereas Edmonton's list includes more question marks at this point

 

[kruezer]

I'd just like to stand up for Andy Ference a little, he is VASTLY better of late than he was at the beginning of the season, him and Lydman are really coming on lately. And don't forget the best Flame D prospect of them all Jyri Marttinen or maybe just my personal fave.

 

[elphy101]

? I thought Upshall was captain of the WJC team that year? or am I misundertanding you?

by the way I don't think Flames Draft Watcher was implying that the Oilers had no depth in terms of young D I think he was just stating his preference for the Flames depth given that they've got a bunch of young guys already proven at the NHL level, plus a few good prospects, whereas Edmonton's list includes more question marks at this point

I just misspoke I think. I meant captain of a memorial cup winning team. I believe.

 

[speeds]

IMO FLA and CAL are the top 2 squads.

EDM might crack the top 10, but that's about as far as I'd guess.

Not enough top end upside in the EDM group, though maybe one of them will surprise and end up as a top pair guy.

Also, I'd have to say Brewer is more of a #2 than a #1.

 

[Phanuthier*]

IMO FLA and CAL are the top 2 squads.

EDM might crack the top 10, but that's about as far as I'd guess.

Not enough top end upside in the EDM group, though maybe one of them will surprise and end up as a top pair guy.

Also, I'd have to say Brewer is more of a #2 than a #1.

Keep in mind speeds here is a Oilers fan.

Looking at the who's on the Oilers list, it looks like there are 2-3 solid guys there, and the others will shake out to be 4-7 D or lower.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Calgary is by far the best IMO.

Phaneuf and Ramhold are close to sure fire NHL'ers, add that to Calgary's allready mean and young defense core = fun

 

[USC Trojans]

IMO FLA and CAL are the top 2 squads.

EDM might crack the top 10, but that's about as far as I'd guess.

Not enough top end upside in the EDM group, though maybe one of them will surprise and end up as a top pair guy.

Also, I'd have to say Brewer is more of a #2 than a #1.

Agreed. Brewer is more of a #2...if he does reach his potential (and that's a big if), he can be a good #1, but for now, he's not quite there yet.
Woywitka and Lynch will make a solid 2nd pairing....Semenov can and probably will be a #2-3...Greene is still a question mark although there have been reports that he looks like a young Jason Smith. And Bergeron...well, he has to clean up his own end first. I see him as a #5-6 right now with some playing time on the PP.

There's a buch of 2nd and 3rd pairing d-men in the Oiler's organization, but no bonafide #1 yet. That said, it takes a long time for defensemen to reach their potential, so it may be several years before we can fully evaluate them. I kinda wish Lowe had stepped up to try and get the Pitkanen pick...then I would agree that we have a top 3 defense for the future.

 

[X-SHARKIE]

Sharks deserve props here.

Stuart =24 years old, Scott Hannan= 25 years old Kyle McLaren= 26 years old Christian Ehrhoff= 21 years old Mike Rathje = 29 years old Rob Davison= 23 years old Tom Preissing= 25 years old

Add those with Matt Carle, Dan Spang, Doug Murray. We got one of the best young defensive groups in the league.

 

[Winston Wolf]

Flyers: Joni Pitkanen
Do the rest even matter?


Seriously though, I like Nashville's combination of depth and high end talent much more than any other team in the league.

 

[Phanuthier*]

Flyers: Joni Pitkanen
Do the rest even matter?

I'm not sure if you're kidding or not

 

[Evilo]

Well seems everyone is picking its own team...
Consider the Penguins then :
Whitney
Welch
Lupaschuk
Orpik
Rozsival
Melichar
Focht
Nemec
Schneider
Fernholm
Malenkhyk
All of these have a good chance to be at least solid NHLers.

 

[kruezer]

Well seems everyone is picking its own team...
Consider the Penguins then :
Whitney
Welch
Lupaschuk
Orpik
Rozsival
Melichar
Focht
Nemec
Schneider
Fernholm
Malenkhyk
All of these have a good chance to be at least solid NHLers.

I agree, I like Nashville most, but Pitt is great IMO, I really like Brooks Orpik though, I wish they'd give him more ice time.

 

[Winston Wolf]

I'm not sure if you're kidding or not

No, I was just kidding, didn't want my post to be homeristic (is that even a word? )

 

[leafaholix*]

IMO this is not even top (edit) 10. Colaiacovo, Bell and White are overrated, while Berg just plain sucks. Harrison will surely become a good d-man as well as Kondratiev, though. And we had many discussions about Kaberle here at HF but IMO he's not much to drool over.

Nashville, Calgary, Philadelphia, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, St-Louis, Vancouver, New Jersey and Detroit will have a better d-corps in years to come.

So Colaiacovo, Bell, and White are overrated?

Based on what?

Please, go ahead and elaborate.

 

[stardog]

I can't believe how much of a HOMER thread this has turned out to be.

Also, we are talking about teams with the best FUTURE defense on a PROSPECTS board and Im seeing guys thrown out that are 29 years old???? Come on.

IMO as far as PROSPECTS alone go (and for this I'll consider guys 22 years or younger) the top five go:
Calgary
Nashville
Florida
Pittsburgh
Boston (who's depth is under rated).

 

[nomorekids]

I can't believe how much of a HOMER thread this has turned out to be.

you can't?

are you new here, or something?

 

[stardog]

you can't?

are you new here, or something?

haha...touche'