Earlier this season, people were really hyped on Severson, now because he's not on pace for 60 points anymore, he's just whatever. I'm not saying he's a stud yet, but I think it's reasonable to conclude that he's our best defenseman. That's not an outlandish claim whatsoever. I think it's a much more fair assessment at this point than the belief that Lovejoy would be better if played as a bottom pairing guy. I don't think Lovejoy would be good as a bottom pairing guy, though it would help the team out if he was.
The problem with this defense is that, I think most of the defensemen are NHL caliber, there's just too many #6 defensemen on the team. There's 3 guys that are bordering on #6 and #7 caliber defensemen.
Moore is a #6 guy, Lovejoy is a #6 guy, Quincey is probably a #6 and steadily dropping. Stollery is a decent #7, Helgeson is a decent #10-#12. Greene is a middle pairing guy at this point and Severson is a #2 in my mind. Too small a sample on Santini just yet, but he's looked like a pretty good bottom pairing guy, which is exactly how he's being utilized so far. From what I've seen so far, I'm ranking him ahead of all of Moore, Lovejoy and Quincey, at least as of now.
I'm not sure about Merrill, since he's looked good again recently but wasn't good for about 2 years before this. I think we could rank him ahead of Moore, Lovejoy, Quincey, as far as this season goes though.