Best 1-2 Defencemen on a Team

[Nick Hansen]

I feel like Weber and Suter deserve a mention here

In terms of a 1-2-3 punch, they did play with Timonen for two seasons but that was before Suter and Weber was what they are today so not really relevant.

Same with Robinson/Chelios, who played together for a couple of seasons, but Chelios was just heating up and Robinson was at the end of his career.

 

[Tweed]

I feel like Weber and Suter deserve a mention here

Came here to post this.

Also Coffey & Murphy

 

[BenchBrawl]

Gerard and Cleghorn were arguably the two best defenders in the world while playing together.

Gerard and Boucher were also both very high on the list of defenders.

At some point Ottawa even had Harry Cameron.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

If you are looking at top-4 or 6 then...

Montreal defensemen who played more than half the season in their dynasty last Stanley Cup championship season of 1978-79 (and at least half the playoff games):

Larry Robinson
Serge Savard
Guy Lapointe
Rod Langway
Brian Engblom
Rick Chartraw

As Langway-Stevens was mentioned above, I'd like to point out that from the 79 Finals through to the Capitals trade, the Langway-Engblom duo was arguably a top 1-3 D pairing in the league for that three year stretch, better than Robinson-Savard, arguably on a par with Potvin-Morrow or Potvin-Persson. Bryan Murray broke them up in 82-83. Does anyone else remember the 79 Finals against the Rangers? That was when Langway really first came on my radar as something special. Lapointe was injured & Bowman was mostly playing Chartraw on the right wing with Gainey and Jarvis, & had Gilles Lupien dressed as a spare while he basically rolled two equal D pairs, with Langway-Engblom rolling with both Shutt-Lemaire-Lafleur and Gainey-Jarvis-Chartraw, & backing Gainey-Jarvis as the 1PK unit. The Habs played shutdown kitty-bar-the-door D, with Langway being especially effective at choking off the lane. The Rangers were having supreme trouble getting the puck into the offensive zone and weren't getting a lot of quality shots or passes. With Langway out there the rushes were stopped or mucked up at the blueline, & he forced a lot of turnovers. Langway is underrated in his passing ability, but you could see it even then: he was a skilled tape-to-tape passer with good vision who rarely coughed up the puck, & he worked out a nice double play combo with Engblom (the duo had chemistry even as rookies) hitting Engblom with passes to move the puck up the ice & pass to the forwards.

79-80 - Langway +36, 9th All-Star voting
Engblom +21
80-81 - Langway +52, 5th All-Star, 5th Norris
Engblom +63 (#1)
81-82 - Langway +66, 8th All-Star, 9th Norris
Engblom +78, 2nd All-Star, 6th Norris

They were actually much better than their voting record indicates.

 

[brachyrynchos]

Leetch and Zubov

And Beukeboom made a nice partner for Leetch. Maybe you remember, was Lowe paired with Zubov? I know later on I think Zubov-Karpovstev played a bit together, or was it Bruce Driver or both? Thanks.

 

[brachyrynchos]

1992-93 Devils had a pretty good group of defenseman: Stevens, Niedermayer, Driver, Daneyko, Fetisov, Kasatonov, and Albelin.
And I still curse the day Stevens signed with St Louis, 1989-90 Caps had a great mix, Stevens, Langway, Hatcher, Johansson, Rouse, and Houlder. Sheehy was there too to do the enforcing. The Caps were close, a little tweaking up front they could've had more success. Oh well.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

And Beukeboom made a nice partner for Leetch. Maybe you remember, was Lowe paired with Zubov? I know later on I think Zubov-Karpovstev played a bit together, or was it Bruce Driver or both? Thanks.

I believe Zubov played with Kevin Lowe and Jay Wells with Karpovtsev or Lidster, who rotated in during the '94 run. Bruce Driver joined the Rangers after Zubov was dealt to Pittsburgh.

 

[tony d]

Pronger/MacInnis for the Blues.

 

[VanIslander]

I have been a hockey fan since the 1970's but the most VIVID memories I have of a defensive 1-2 punch (not on the same pairing - one or the other seemingly dominating the blueline of every shift) is of...

PRONGER
MACINNIS

(Note: I haven't ever cheered for St. Louis and have been pained by the duo as a Sharks and Canucks fan.)

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Nice. The four-time Hart winner and the Hart trophy runner-up who won two cups and captained the Bruins for years.

BUT... better: Shore-Cleghorn was for a whole season. Cleghorn was coming off of his 2nd Hart trophy finalist season and captained the Bruins for Eddie Shore's rookie season, where Eddie led in defensemen scoring and the league in penalties, the season before his first of seven Hart trophy finalist nominations.

But wait, even better!!!!!

The winner of this thread (given they were peak performing together) is...

Eddie Shore - Dit Clapper

In 1938-39 they were both of the 1st team NHL all-star defensemen and won the Stanley Cup together on the Bruins blueline that year.

(Clapper would go on to two Hart trophy finalist seasons after Shore retires.)

Here is a photo of lucky goalie Tiny Thompson between the two defensive legends.

I've heard Clapper was pretty much irrelevant.

 

[VanIslander]

I've heard Clapper was pretty much irrelevant.

Lol...
Do you mean the 1st team all-star defenseman 1938-39 season in which he also won the Stanley Cup or the following two Hart trophy finalist seasons and his captaining the team to yet another cup?

Irrelevant. Huh. Who in hockey history with any credibility had said that? I've read over a hundred books without such an opinion. Please specify.

 

[streitz]

Lol...
Do you mean the 1st team all-star defenseman 1938-39 season in which he also won the Stanley Cup or the following two Hart trophy finalist seasons and his captaining the team to yet another cup?

Irrelevant. Huh. Who in hockey history with any credibility had said that? I've read over a hundred books without such an opinion. Please specify.

Maybe you should specify to help us all out?

 

[McFlash97]

Coffey- Lidstrom.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Lol...
Do you mean the 1st team all-star defenseman 1938-39 season in which he also won the Stanley Cup or the following two Hart trophy finalist seasons and his captaining the team to yet another cup?

Irrelevant. Huh. Who in hockey history with any credibility had said that? I've read over a hundred books without such an opinion. Please specify.

Its a little jab at a poster in the "Top 100" thread (see post 375) who doesn't seem very high on the great Dit Clapper.