Yeah, I don't know. My knowledge isn't that great so I wanted to be careful with my statement. I love the way Slavin plays and no other player that I can remember right now breaks up plays like him.
Toews is very similar in many ways, both guys are elite both Slavin is just a bit better on the defense.
Yeah, he's really in a class of his own in terms of shutting down the opposition.
His ability to break up plays and turn the puck up ice is incredible. His stick work and body positioning are just absolutely insane (especially along the boards). His gaps are also crazy good and he's surprisingly quick for such a rangy guy. Couple that with his reach and aforementioned stick work, and it makes him nearly impossible to beat 1-1. He covers so much of the ice.
And he does all this while being asked to carry really poor defensive dmen like Hamilton, DeAngelo, and Burns. He made DeAngelo look so good, people were talking about him as a Norris candidate at one point lol. TDA was a +30 playing next to Slavin that year, and is -53 over the rest of his career.
There's a reason Slavin has never had a minus season, he's +145 over his career. Playing on a good team helps, but they weren't always good. The Hurricanes had a -71 goal differential in his first 3 seasons, and he was still +25 in those 3 years. His impact on games is immense.