To be clear, I thought a half dozen defensemen had better years than Hedman, though he is one of few left standing.
Josi, Hamilton, Carlson, and now Heiskanen have IMPRESSED me more than Hedman.
Hedman ain't no Bourque or Lidstrom. He might be a rich man's Rob Blake or poor man's Chris Pronger. Yeah, that's his window. That puts him on a HHOF path...
Yet,...
Of course, what separates the wheat (HHOFers) from the chaff (also-rans) is consistency and brilliance in championships. On that front, the jury is out.
EDIT: Someone else took Shea Weber 102nd in ATD 2020 and I applauded it then and since. Hedman ain't in the same tier i thought, though, again, dang, the jury has to be out given his play most recently... i ain't no scout; i am a student of hockey history, more often than not, though I also use my eyes and brain. Usually sober, sometimes not. (Dang smartphone! Tell me you haven't ever texted at 2am in bed on your smartphone?!)