What team has the worst D?

[Say Hey Kid]

What team has the worst D?

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[Cubs2024WSChamps]

The Blackhawks look like workers in a busy soup kitchen in their own zone.

This isn't even close.

 

[Play]

The Blackhawks look like workers in a busy soup kitchen in their own zone.

This isn't even close.

The Sharks defense is as organized as a food fight in a soup kitchen.

 

[lipstickjunkie]

Definitely not Ottawa. They have at least three #1D from what I hear.

 

[dirtydanglez]

sj followed by the habs

 

[Xspyrit]

Definitely not Ottawa. They have at least three #1D from what I hear.

Great mocking sarcasm but I think the term usually used is top pairing. Would you argue that Chabot and Chychrun are not top pairing D-men? I can understand why some haven't caught up on Sanderson yet as he's just 21 y/o but he's actually the best of them and arguably the Sens best player with/after Stutzle

Strangely, all 3 are ranked Top-30 in NHL's current fantasy ranking :

Fantasy hockey top 50 defenseman rankings | NHL.com

Most valuable options at position for standard leagues; new podcast episodes

www.nhl.com

Chabot 15th in PPG among D-men since his sophomore season in 2018-19 when he was 21 y/o and 3rd in TOI/GP behind Doughty and Seth Jones.

Chychrun has not been as good as he was in Arizona but 4th in the league in GPG since 2019-20 when he was also 21 y/o, also Top-30 in PPG since

Sanderson is 39th in PPG among D-men this season but it's more his 2-way play that stands out


All that being said, talent doesn't guarantee winning. I think people in general were all aware how Melnyk was an awful owner but even if they finally moved to another era, it took a lot of time, Andlauer only took control of the team in September so unfortunately, Sens were stuck with Pierre Dorion (easily one of the worst GMs of all-time) and DJ Smith (good guy but made to be an assistant coach) alllllll that time. I have been repeating since the beginning of the 2020-21 season that the Sens wouldn't go anywhere with them at the helm

So once the new ownership group were able to purge the past regime, the mandate for Jacques Martin and Daniel Alfredsson was to fix the bad habits and teach them to "play the right way". Very few players learned to play NHL hockey away from DJ Smith systems. Kubalik and Tarasenko were never good defensively (brought in by Dorion who had no idea how to construct an efficient roster, he just went by name recognition as much as possible). Dorion also brought back Hamonic who is really bad now.

The coaching change happened December 18th and results certainly weren't apparent at first (only newbies would have expected an instant turnaround) but since January 11th :

CA/60 : 2nd best
SA/60 : 5th best
xGA/60 : 3rd best
SCA/60 : 3rd best
HDCA/60 : Best

The "team game" is vastly improved from what it was under DJ Smith and it's already reflecting in advanced stats (which is a predicator of results, they were 6-2-2 in their last 10)

As for this poll, I would have voted Ottawa under DJ Smith, it was actually non existant defense. The way to prevent goals was : attack, wait for turnovers when defending, hope your goalie bails you out, which is why Ottawa has been a goalie graveyard during all the DJ Dorion Era.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Sanderson, Chabot, Chychurn and Zub, for Ottawa’s top 4, sure OP lol.

 

[olli]

It’s Sam Jose or Chicago. The other teams have much better d squads but bad defensive team play.

 

[Castle8130]

Hawks shouldn't be last. We have a horrible team, but Vlasic has proven to be a good NHL defenseman. Seth Jones is an average top 4 defender.

San Jose is probably worse than us in that area, but we are worse as an overall team.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

IMO its the Sharks. Hit them with speed and its comical. Where the Hawks will have 1 pair who isn't horrible.

 

[Xirik]

Some of these teams have terrible defense with a healthy lineup. Devils have been calling up rookies and AHL depth because their usual defenseman are injured. (Hamilton, Siegenthaller, Smith)

OP should stick to the BH board where he is somewhat knowledgeable.

 

[bossram]

Yeah, kind of a weird poll. We know it's the Sharks. Would be more interesting if they were excluded.

Low-key would include Arizona on the list. Watched the ARI-VGK game yesterday. ARI is competitive, but their defense is just really underskilled aside from Durzi (who you don't want as your 1D). They can't execute enough positive plays.

 

[Mrb1p]

Great mocking sarcasm but I think the term usually used is top pairing. Would you argue that Chabot and Chychrun are not top pairing D-men? I can understand why some haven't caught up on Sanderson yet as he's just 21 y/o but he's actually the best of them and arguably the Sens best player with/after Stutzle

Strangely, all 3 are ranked Top-30 in NHL's current fantasy ranking :

Fantasy hockey top 50 defenseman rankings | NHL.com

Most valuable options at position for standard leagues; new podcast episodes

www.nhl.com

Chabot 15th in PPG among D-men since his sophomore season in 2018-19 when he was 21 y/o and 3rd in TOI/GP behind Doughty and Seth Jones.

Chychrun has not been as good as he was in Arizona but 4th in the league in GPG since 2019-20 when he was also 21 y/o, also Top-30 in PPG since

Sanderson is 39th in PPG among D-men this season but it's more his 2-way play that stands out


All that being said, talent doesn't guarantee winning. I think people in general were all aware how Melnyk was an awful owner but even if they finally moved to another era, it took a lot of time, Andlauer only took control of the team in September so unfortunately, Sens were stuck with Pierre Dorion (easily one of the worst GMs of all-time) and DJ Smith (good guy but made to be an assistant coach) alllllll that time. I have been repeating since the beginning of the 2020-21 season that the Sens wouldn't go anywhere with them at the helm

So once the new ownership group were able to purge the past regime, the mandate for Jacques Martin and Daniel Alfredsson was to fix the bad habits and teach them to "play the right way". Very few players learned to play NHL hockey away from DJ Smith systems. Kubalik and Tarasenko were never good defensively (brought in by Dorion who had no idea how to construct an efficient roster, he just went by name recognition as much as possible). Dorion also brought back Hamonic who is really bad now.

The coaching change happened December 18th and results certainly weren't apparent at first (only newbies would have expected an instant turnaround) but since January 11th :

CA/60 : 2nd best
SA/60 : 5th best
xGA/60 : 3rd best
SCA/60 : 3rd best
HDCA/60 : Best

The "team game" is vastly improved from what it was under DJ Smith and it's already reflecting in advanced stats (which is a predicator of results, they were 6-2-2 in their last 10)

As for this poll, I would have voted Ottawa under DJ Smith, it was actually non existant defense. The way to prevent goals was : attack, wait for turnovers when defending, hope your goalie bails you out, which is why Ottawa has been a goalie graveyard during all the DJ Dorion Era.

Matheson has better stats than all these guys combined yet hes still a bottom pair D at best.

The sens definitely do not have 3 top pair Ds, stop that its ridiculous.

 

[pi314]

Your mom can't stop the D.

I'll go ahead and show myself out now.

 

[Rafafouille]

NJ has Hamilton and Hughes, Ottawa has 3 elite D's in Sanderson, Chychrun and Chabot, Cbus has Werenski, Provorov and Severson. These 3 teams don't belong here. As for the rest, eh, load of garbage all around. My Habs are basically Matheson and kids with that pylon Savard thrown in there. It's surprising our goalies can even get over .900%. Chicago has Jones, I guess cousin Vlasic is interesting. SJ has to be the worst though, holy crap, not a single half decent piece. Real Vlasic is completely done and is just collecting his paycheck, it's sad.

 

[Fig]

I'd probably break it down in this way... But I might be a little off on some of the teams that I don't watch enough.

SJS: Has depth, but no top pairing talent and not enough structure or health.
CBJ: Has adequate talent across all pairings, but not enough structure or health.
OTT: Has adequate talent across all pairings, but not enough structure or experience.
NJD: Has adequate talent across all pairings, but not enough experience or health.
MTL: Has depth, but not enough top pairing talent.
CHI: Has adequate talent across all pairings, but not enough structure or experience, especially on the bottom pairings.

After Hanifin and Tanev are traded, Calgary probably enters the fray with: has adequate talent across all pairings, but not enough experience on bottom pairings.

Pipeline talent can also be added as a category. I agree with the other poster it's SJS then MTL. I'd even go as deep to say that SJS solidifies their position vs MTL when the talent pipeline is taken into consideration.

 

[tfwnogf]

sj gave up 10 goals in back to back games, hard to top that

 

[Slats432]

The Blackhawks look like workers in a busy soup kitchen in their own zone.

This isn't even close.

Considering how badly they are losing in the poll, it has to at least be close.