Regular season adjusted stats for post-1967 defencemen
Career Stats
Player | Start | End | GP | EV% | R-ON | R-OFF | $ESP/S | $PPP/S | PP% | TmPP+ | SH% | TmSH+
Bobby Orr | 1968 | 1979 | 596 | 49% | 2.15 | 1.09 | 75 | 55 | 96% | 1.52 | 63% | 0.76
Larry Robinson | 1973 | 1992 | 1384 | 43% | 1.60 | 1.34 | 35 | 19 | 49% | 1.14 | 45% | 0.85
Denis Potvin | 1974 | 1988 | 1060 | 43% | 1.49 | 1.23 | 40 | 41 | 86% | 1.18 | 53% | 0.82
Ray Bourque | 1980 | 2001 | 1612 | 42% | 1.37 | 0.95 | 39 | 39 | 87% | 1.11 | 58% | 0.88
Chris Chelios | 1984 | 2010 | 1651 | 39% | 1.27 | 1.18 | 27 | 20 | 52% | 1.02 | 57% | 0.85
Vyacheslav Fetisov | 1990 | 1998 | 546 | 33% | 1.33 | 1.21 | 28 | 8 | 27% | 1.03 | 27% | 0.92
Nicklas Lidstrom | 1992 | 2011 | 1494 | 40% | 1.40 | 1.18 | 33 | 34 | 72% | 1.25 | 52% | 0.80
Prime Stats
Player | Start | End | GP | EV% | R-ON | R-OFF | $ESP/S | $PPP/S | PP% | TmPP+ | SH% | TmSH+
Bobby Orr | 1969 | 1975 | 514 | 50% | 2.21 | 1.10 | 80 | 56 | 96% | 1.59 | 67% | 0.74
Denis Potvin | 1976 | 1984 | 623 | 44% | 1.65 | 1.41 | 44 | 47 | 95% | 1.36 | 56% | 0.74
Larry Robinson | 1977 | 1986 | 731 | 48% | 1.66 | 1.35 | 40 | 28 | 66% | 1.20 | 58% | 0.83
Ray Bourque | 1982 | 1996 | 1081 | 43% | 1.47 | 0.93 | 44 | 39 | 89% | 1.09 | 58% | 0.84
Chris Chelios | 1988 | 1998 | 803 | 44% | 1.33 | 1.21 | 30 | 30 | 79% | 0.99 | 61% | 0.86
Nicklas Lidstrom | 1998 | 2008 | 801 | 42% | 1.42 | 1.18 | 36 | 38 | 78% | 1.27 | 61% | 0.78
Stats Glossary
EV%: The percentage of the team’s even-strength goals the player was on the ice for, on a per-game basis.
R-ON: The team’s GF/GA ratio while the player is on the ice at even strength.
R-OFF: The team’s GF/GA ratio while the player is off the ice at even strength.
$ESP/S: Even strength points per season, adjusted to a 200 ESG per team-season scoring level.
$PPP/S: Power play points per season, adjusted to a 70 PPG per team-season scoring level and a league-average number of power play opportunities.
PP%: The percentage of the team’s power play goals for which the player was on the ice.
TmPP+: The strength of the player’s team on the power play. 1.00 is average, higher is better.
SH%: The percentage of the team’s power play goals against for which the player was on the ice.
TmSH+: The strength of the player’s team on the penalty kill. 1.00 is average, lower is better.
What does it all mean?
These defencemen are all among the best of all time, so there aren't a lot of critical comments to make. Orr, Potvin, Bourque, and Lidstrom are the four modern defencemen who I think were elite in all situations, so it's fitting that they are all up for the vote now. Chelios and Robinson were a step down as offensive players, with Robinson providing more offence at even strength.
A note on the team-based stats - the lack of parity in the 1970s NHL made it easier to put up high numbers in these stats.
Bobby Orr was the best at everything. Ever. His even-strength impact was unparalleled, as the only player with a GF/GA ratio over 2 for his career. On the power play, he scored tons of points on a dominant Bruins power play, and he played the most minutes on a great Bruins penalty kill also. Even if you take a little air out of the numbers to adjust for the lack of parity in the 1970s NHL, he's an easy pick for best defenceman ever, and a serious contender for best player ever. Note that his career numbers do not include his rookie year in 66-67.
Denis Potvin was a great defenceman in all aspects of the game, and the numbers bear that out. Compared to these other defencemen? Even-strength numbers are behind Orr, Bourque, Robinson, and maybe Lidstrom, but ahead of Chelios. On the power play, he may have been the 2nd best of this group at his best (Bourque and Lidstrom might dispute that.) His penalty killing numbers are also great, but I can't really separate this group of d-men on the PK by the numbers - they were all great.
Larry Robinson had outstanding even-strength numbers first and foremost. His career +720 is excellent no matter how much you adjust it for team strength, and his even strength scoring was comparable to Bourque and Potvin (if well behind Orr.) His career special teams numbers are a bit lower because he started off on a loaded Habs team and played until he was the oldest player in the league. Looking at just his prime numbers, his PK numbers are up there with the rest of the group, but he was a step down on the power play.
Ray Bourque was great in all situations for a very long time. It was hard to select a prime for him, because he was outstanding for so long. His career even-strength plus-minus numbers are second only to Orr's after adjusting for team strength. He's another contender for 2nd best PP D-man behind Orr -in addition to the point production, he was outstanding at holding the blueline and preventing SH goals.
Chris Chelios probably fits better with the next group of players, in my opinion, because his offensive game was the worst of any defenceman here. But he was an outstanding defensive defenceman for a very long time, who also brought some pretty good offence in his prime. May have had the most defensive role of anyone here in terms of tough matchups and faceoff locations, which would hurt his plus-minus. You could argue he's as good as anyone here on the penalty kill.
Vyacheslav Fetisov is included here for the sake of completeness, but it's clear he was past his prime in the NHL.
Nicklas Lidstrom was also outstanding in all situations. His even-strength numbers are a step down from Bourque's. (Some might argue that's because the style of play changed to make it more difficult for offensive defencemen to shine.) During his prime, Detroit had the best power play and penalty kill in the league by quite a bit, and he was a major part of both.