Top 10 Defensemen peaks all time

[Nick Hansen]

Forwards naturally get the attention in this regard, but what defensemen do you think had really high and noteworthy peaks?

Orr
Coffey
Bourque
Potvin

are clear names for me.

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[BruinsBtn]

Pronger on the Oilers run was the best in the past 20 years IMO.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Pronger on the Oilers run was the best in the past 20 years IMO.

1999-00 and 2000-01 was where my head was at with him. The follow-up season to his Hart Trophy had him at 47 points in 51 games on a team that was on-pace for a 2nd President's Trophy with him in the lineup (119 points per 82 GP).

Eddie Shore, Red Kelly, Doug Harvey, Larry Robinson, and Erik Karlsson would be on my shortlist too.

Orr, Shore, and Potvin are probably the three I'd have at the very top.

 

[ESH]

1999-00 and 2000-01 was where my head was at with him. The follow-up season to his Hart Trophy had him at 47 points in 51 games on a team that was on-pace for a 2nd President's Trophy with him in the lineup (119 points per 82 GP).

Eddie Shore, Red Kelly, Doug Harvey, Larry Robinson, and Erik Karlsson would be on my shortlist too.

Orr, Shore, and Potvin are probably the three I'd have at the very top.

You really think Karlsson has a better peak than Lidstrom?

 

[quoipourquoi]

You really think Karlsson has a better peak than Lidstrom?

He'd have been top-2 on my Hart ballot the last two seasons. Even in down years for skaters that peppered Lidstrom's prime (1999-00, 2001-02, 2003-04), he didn't make nearly the contemporaneous splash that Karlsson has - other than a THN cover that predicted he'd be the best player in 2002-03 (another in a string of seasons where by seasons end, he'd be compared to a comeback season from a late-30s/early-40s defenseman instead of a Kane, McDavid, or Crosby-type). High prime, but not really a high peak.

 

[bobholly39]

You really think Karlsson has a better peak than Lidstrom?

I never think of Lidstrom as having a particularly high peak tbh.
He's a bit like Brodeur in that sense for goalie (better though). Tremendous career, great prime, but mostly consistently elite/long prime, without necessarily having an out of this world peak.

So I could easily see Karlsson > Lidstrom, and a few others above Lidstrom, for peak.

 

[K Fleur]

Karlsson from 2014-2017 (maybe still going?) is the best defenseman peak of at least the last 20 years.

 

[blogofmike]

Karlsson from 2014-2017 (maybe still going?) is the best defenseman peak of at least the last 20 years.

Maybe still going, maybe not.

A lot of the criticism of his turnovers and defense was unwarranted the last few years, but he hasn't had a good start this year on those fronts. He's been playing down to his previously undeserved reputation.

 

[mrhockey193195]

Forwards naturally get the attention in this regard, but what defensemen do you think had really high and noteworthy peaks?

Orr
Coffey
Bourque
Potvin

are clear names for me.

Bourque is easily top-ten, but probably lower on the list of "best peaks" than he is "best defensemen". Leetch likely makes top ten for me, his peak was otherworldly. I have no great sense, but I imagine Shore and Harvey still make the top ten. More modern players like Karlsson, Pronger, Niedermayer, and Chara "move up", so to speak. Langway as well.

I'm not sure Lidstrom is top-ten, but he wouldn't be too far off.

 

[Neutrinos]

Pronger is the most dominant I've seen

He lead the NHL in +/- in both '98 and '00, won a Hart trophy, and then lead 3 different teams to the Finals in the span of 5 years

If not for missing chunks of time with injury, he could've easily racked up a few more Norris trophies

47 points in 51 games in '01 (10th in voting)
4 points in 5 games in '03
59 points in 66 games in '07 (3rd in voting)

 

[quoipourquoi]

A question: going into Summer 2006 and 2007 or Summer 2016 and 2017, would you say Pronger and Karlsson respectively were at the height of their reputations despite collecting no individual award support?

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Kelly and Harvey peaked way higher than any other defensemen between WW2 and Bobby Orr.

 

[bobholly39]

Pronger is the most dominant I've seen

He lead the NHL in +/- in both '98 and '00, won a Hart trophy, and then lead 3 different teams to the Finals in the span of 5 years

If not for missing chunks of time with injury, he could've easily racked up a few more Norris trophies

47 points in 51 games in '01 (10th in voting)
4 points in 5 games in '03
59 points in 66 games in '07 (3rd in voting)

lol

Pronger is great and all but. 5 games =/

 

[Neutrinos]

lol

Pronger is great and all but. 5 games =/

The point was, a 28 year old Pronger played only 5 regular season games

Give him a full season and most would've put their money on him finishing the season as one of the Norris finalists

 

[boyko10]

When and how high do you guys think MacInnis 'peaked'?

 

[VanIslander]

When and how high do you guys think MacInnis 'peaked'?

From his Conn Smythe in 1989, through his 90- and 103-point career highest point seasons immediately thereafter, both of which were 1st team all star selections.

That said, the best I ever saw of Al was in 1999 when the 35 year old was the Norris trophy winner. (Of course, this was the season before Pronger's Hart trophy's win and I ADMIRED the Blues' duo, a team I didn't care for, but MacInnis and Pronger were on the ice for most shifts (not together) and each DOMINATED. As a Sharks fan I recall cursing them mightily. NO TEAM in the NHL have had two dmen as great since. And I say that as a HUGE Weber and Suter fan (love the Preds!).

 

[BenchBrawl]

Kelly and Harvey peaked way higher than any other defensemen between WW2 and Bobby Orr.

Yeah, and this is backed tremendously by the Hart records of defensemen in that timeframe.

 

[VanIslander]

Kelly and Harvey really? Pilote was top-3 among ALL NHLers, not just defensemen in assists twice in the 60's, won three straight Norris trophies and was 1st or 2nd team all star for eight straight seasons in the 1960's, but he consistently gets overlooked in discussions of greatest of the era. He deserves at least a mention.

Here's PEAK for you:

1961 Stanley Cup (leads the NHL in assists and points)
1962 2nd team all-star, Stanley Cup Finalist
1963-65 three straight Norris trophies
1966-67 two more 1st team all-star selections

You cannot/shouldn't overlook a guy like that in any decade!

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Kelly and Harvey really? Pilote was top-3 among ALL NHLers, not just defensemen in assists twice in the 60's, won three straight Norris trophies and was 1st or 2nd team all star for eight straight seasons in the 1960's, but he consistently gets overlooked in discussions of greatest of the era. He deserves at least a mention.

Here's PEAK for you:

1961 Stanley Cup (leads the NHL in assists and points)
1962 2nd team all-star, Stanley Cup Finalist
1963-65 three straight Norris trophies
1966-67 two more 1st team all-star selections

You cannot/shouldn't overlook a guy like that in any decade!

Great player, but as BB alluded to, his Hart record pales in comparison to Kelly and Harvey, and as far as I know, he was never in the conversation for best player (any position) in the league.

I think that any "all-time" defenseman peak list that doesn't include Harvey or Kelly (or Shore) is flawed.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

From his Conn Smythe in 1989, through his 90- and 103-point career highest point seasons immediately thereafter, both of which were 1st team all star selections.

That said, the best I ever saw of Al was in 1999 when the 35 year old was the Norris trophy winner. (Of course, this was the season before Pronger's Hart trophy's win and I ADMIRED the Blues' duo, a team I didn't care for, but MacInnis and Pronger were on the ice for most shifts (not together) and each DOMINATED. As a Sharks fan I recall cursing them mightily. NO TEAM in the NHL have had two dmen as great since. And I say that as a HUGE Weber and Suter fan (love the Preds!).

imo the best macinnis was '03. he was everything for that team.

 

[Nick Hansen]

What do you think about Brad Park? Man, the bad luck he had with being contemporary with Orr...

 

[VanIslander]

Some seem to think peak = career.

 

[Marotte Marauder]

No Scott Stevens yet?

 

[Neutrinos]

No Scott Stevens yet?

It's hard to believe, but the man retired with 0 Norris trophies. He did pick up the Smythe one year though

 

[Neutrinos]

Who peaked higher, Chara or Stevens?