Best Performances by Defenseman in the Playoffs

ChiefWiggum

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Dec 17, 2016
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Which defenseman simply took over the game during a playoff run? I'm looking for two way guys who could help on the offensive side but were mostly solid in their own zone, broke the puck out effectively and shut down the opposition's stars.
 

VanIslander

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Sep 4, 2004
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Larry Robinson in 1978.

Larry-Robinson.jpeg
 

vadim sharifijanov

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Oct 10, 2007
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aside from the obvious all-time greats and hall of famers, such as those mentioned above, and anyone from the last decade, which would be un-historical, here are some less well-remembered guys who had unbelievable runs--

henrik tallinder, 2006. not a coincidence that buffalo was up 2-1 when tallinder got hurt, and proceeded to lose the series 3-4. that buffalo defense was beyond decimated, finishing the series with tallinder, the puck-moving middle pair of numinnen-kalinin, and jay mckee all out. they were in game seven of the conference finals with four career AHLers: nathan paetsch, jeff jillson, doug janik, and the infamous rory fitzpatrick. tallinder was the guy who was holding it together, though. he and lydman were an unbelievable shutdown pair, and for a primarily defensive guy he provided some unlikely offense from the back end in the ottawa series (5 points in 5 games), to knock off the number one seed in the east.

marty mcsorley, 1993. somehow he put together a dominating two-way playoff run where he, not rob blake, not the hotshot rookies zhitnik and sydor (though zhitnik was also fantastic), not a still-steady charlie huddy, was far and away LA's best defenseman. i feel like in that era, when GMs kept picking future goons in hopes they'd develop into star power forwards (antoski, nazarov, you know), we never saw an al secord situation actually play out. but we did see something even more rare, which was mcsorley's star turn.

mark tinordi, 1991. another guy who hit a level of all-round game that he never touched again. maybe it was because it was bob gainey's team, maybe it was because bobby smith and doug jarvis and brian hayward were all there, but i remember distinctly hearing larry robinson comparisons and i think the temperature was definitely that tinordi had a big jump ahead of him.

keith carney, 2003. just a perfect storm of a player and the exact right coach coming together. carney didn't have to do anything offensively, he just was so smart at suppressing shots, breaking up the rush; i just remember thinking he was the perfect defensive player. the only other time i ever thought that was watching ryan suter in the 2011 series against vancouver. methodical, clockwork, and both guys were a lot stronger than they looked.

on the carney wavelength, scott hannan in 2004 was a defensive machine. cheap as hell, got away with all sorts of sneaky underhanded things, but also kind of the epitome of a blood and guts defender. another guy in that vein is dmitri yushkevich in 2000.

and a few rookies that i thought were destined for so much more. darius kasparaitis, 1993. if you said he would become a poor man's chelios, i wouldn't have blinked. ed jovanovski, 1994. so aggressive, but played so well within florida's system; in all those years in vancouver, i never saw jovo display 1/5 of the intelligence that he showed as a rookie a decade beyond his years in florida. maybe an indictment on marc crawford? and jordan leopold, 2004. that guy manned the point like he was larry murphy. what happened?
 

MarkusNaslund19

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Dec 28, 2005
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I have been watching closely since 1994 and I have to say that the two most dominating performances I have ever seen by Defensemen were by the same guy. Chris Pronger.

2006 and 2010.

Neither of those teams had any business even making the playoffs without him. The load he carried was incredible. In Edmonton he carried Marc-Andre Bergeron on a top pairing!

In Philly he made Michael Leighton look like a semi-credible NHL goaltender all the way into the finals.

I was never a big Pronger fan, but when it counted I wouldn't choose anyone else over him from the last 15 years.
 
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David Bruce Banner

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Mar 25, 2008
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Ray Bourque in 1990.

He carried the Bruins on his back during those playoffs... despite falling short in the finals.

It was some of the best hockey I've seen anyone play ever. The guy was all over the ice. Who made that great pass? Ray Bourque. Who took that great shot? Ray Bourque. Who made that timely pinch? Ray Bourque. Who broke up that dangerous play? Ray Bourque. Who laid out that guy with that heavy hit? Ray Bourque. Who's leading that rush? Ray Bourque. Who's leading the last man back? Ray Bourque.

The guy was f***ing amazing.
 
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The Panther

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Coffey in '85 was pretty amazing, but it's one of those teams where you have to think they'd have had a fair chance even without him. Still, the fact that he was in the Conn Smythe consideration until the final game vs. 47-point Wayne is pretty impressive.

Lidstrom is sorta similar in that he was consistently great... but so was most of his team. Top team even without him.

MacInnis had more of a load to carry when Suter went down, but still an incredible stack of elite players alongside him.

I think my choices would be Bourque or Leetch or Pronger.
 

ChiefWiggum

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Dec 17, 2016
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Coffey in '85 was pretty amazing, but it's one of those teams where you have to think they'd have had a fair chance even without him. Still, the fact that he was in the Conn Smythe consideration until the final game vs. 47-point Wayne is pretty impressive.

Lidstrom is sorta similar in that he was consistently great... but so was most of his team. Top team even without him.

MacInnis had more of a load to carry when Suter went down, but still an incredible stack of elite players alongside him.

I think my choices would be Bourque or Leetch or Pronger.

Lidstrom in what year?
 

Nick Hansen

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Sep 28, 2017
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Duncan Keith was incredible for the Hawks during the 14/15 playoffs. 21 pts in 23 games, averaging about 31 mins a game.
 

The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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Lidstrom in what year?
Any year of a Cup run, basically. I simply mean that he was always consistently good, but he also always quarterbacked a really solid team.

It doesn't make him any less a player (obviously), but in my view guys like Bourque ('88 or esp. '90), Pronger (twice), and Leetch in '94 had to carry more of the load, if you will, for their teams, which in turn makes their "performance" seem greater, from the individual perspective. (Having said that, I certainly don't rate Leetch, and maybe not Pronger, at Lidstrom's overall level.)
 

tony d

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Jun 23, 2007
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Chris Pronger in 2006. Got to wonder if the Oilers get to the Cup finals if not for Pronger's great run that spring.
 

Rebels57

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Sep 28, 2014
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I have been watching closely since 1994 and I have to say that the two most dominating performances I have ever seen by Defensemen were by the same guy. Chris Pronger.

2006 and 2010.

Neither of those teams had any business even making the playoffs without him. The load he carried was incredible. In Edmonton he carried Marc-Andre Bergeron on a top pairing!

In Philly he made Michael Leighton look like a semi-credible NHL goaltender all the way into the finals.

I was never a big Pronger fan, but when it counted I wouldn't choose anyone else over him from the last 15 years.

Pronger was awesome in 2010 but that Flyers offense was also stacked and they were popular preseason picks to be contenders. Saying they had no business make the playoffs is silly.
 

frisco

Some people claim that there's a woman to blame...
Sep 14, 2017
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Which defenseman simply took over the game during a playoff run? I'm looking for two way guys who could help on the offensive side but were mostly solid in their own zone, broke the puck out effectively and shut down the opposition's stars.
Ulfie Samuelsson in 1991/1992. Really took on the best forward on the opposition and made them pay physically. Neely is probably the best example. You can't really compare him to Pronger or Robinson but he might fit your qualifications a little better.

My Best-Carey
 

JackSlater

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Apr 27, 2010
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Denis Potvin 1981

18gp 8g 17a 25pts +18

It doesn't make him less of a player, but it does annoy me that Potvin doesn't have the Norris and Conn Smythe trophies from 1981.

My favourite run by a defenceman was MacInnis in 1989. Really stepped up to a new level when his team needed it the most. I didn't see it, but from what I've read Pilote was great in 1961 and would have won the Conn Smythe had it existed.
 

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