Best defensive pairings ever

[Peter25]

What do you think are the best defensive pairings ever? You can pick any pairing from NHL or European level. The only criteria is that the two defensemen have played together as a defensive pairing.

Click to read more...

 

[CRUNK JUICE]

Since I'm sure plenty of people will chime in and mention some NHL pairings, I'll bring up Kasatonov and Fetisov for the USSR's Green Unit.

 

[Peter25]

Since I'm sure plenty of people will chime in and mention some NHL pairings, I'll bring up Kasatonov and Fetisov for the USSR's Green Unit.

Kasatonov and Fetisov would be my choice as well.

Others worth mentioning are:

Suter - MacInnis (Calgary)
Smith - Chelios (Chicago)
Pervukhin - Bilyaletdinov (Dynamo Moscow)
Stevens - Niedermayer (Devils)
Lidtstrom - Murphy (Detroit)
Fetisov - Konstantinov (Detroit)
Bourque - Blake (Colorado)
Stelnov - Starikov (CSKA)
Zubov - Malakhov (CSKA)
Konstantinov - Malakhov (CSKA)
Pronger - MacInnis (St.Louis)

 

[Wisent]

OK, another Soviet blue line. Alexander Ragulin and Alexander Gusev.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Blake-Foote
Bourque-Blake

 

[Kaizer]

I thought that Bourque was paired with Foote.

 

[pp33]

Kasatonov and Fetisov would be my choice as well.

Others worth mentioning are:

Suter - MacInnis (Calgary)
Smith - Chelios (Chicago)
Pervukhin - Bilyaletdinov (Dynamo Moscow)
Stevens - Niedermayer (Devils)
Lidtstrom - Murphy (Detroit)
Fetisov - Konstantinov (Detroit)
Bourque - Blake (Colorado)
Stelnov - Starikov (CSKA)
Zubov - Malakhov (CSKA)
Konstantinov - Malakhov (CSKA)
Pronger - MacInnis (St.Louis)

Actually Suter didn't play that much with MacInnis. Both had more defensive counterparts during the Flames' prime years, Suter with McCrimmon and Mac with Macoun, I believe. Same goes with Bourque-Blake and Pronger-MacInnis.

Mentioning McCrimmon, it reminds me of one of the most underrated pairings ever: Mark Howe - McCrimmon.

Others:

Smith-Orr
Stapleton-White
Potvin-Morrow
Stevens-Murphy
Kluzak-Bourque (too bad Kluzak's knee woes ruined his career)
McPhee-Carbonneau

 

[Peter25]

OK, another Soviet blue line. Alexander Ragulin and Alexander Gusev.

I don´t think they played together, at least for many years, since Ragulin was a lot older than Gusev.

Ragulin was the corner stone of the Soviet defense of the 60´s with Viktor Kuzkin and Vitali Davydov. Gusev was more of a 70´s player. The "Big 4" of Gusev, Valeri Vasilyev, Gennady Tsygankov and Vladimir Luchenko were the cornerstone of the Soviet defense of the 70's. Of course later in that decade came in players such as Bilyaletdinov, Pervukhin, Sergei Babinov and Vyacheslav Fetisov.

 

[crump]

Serge Savard and Larry Robinson

and

Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe


were pretty good too.




My Fav Leaf pairings..

Salming - Turnbull
Horton - Stanley
Carl Brewer - Bob Baun

 

[mcphee]

Savard and Larry Robinson
Orr and Dallas Smith weren't bad.
Chelios and Ludwig were tough.

 

[John Flyers Fan]

Kasatonov and Fetisov would be my choice as well.

Others worth mentioning are:

Stevens - Niedermayer (Devils)

Stevens and Niedermayer almost never play together.

 

[John Flyers Fan]

Mark Howe and Brad McCrimmon should get a nominee or two. They were the best pairing of the mid-80's.

Combined +/-
84-85 - 103
85-86 - 168 .. they finished 1,2 in the NHL
86-87 - 102

 

[Aki Berg]

Stevens-Daneyko
Bourque-Foote
Robinson-Savard
Berg-Lumme
Matvichuk-Hatcher
Konstantinov-Fetisov

 

[Snap Wilson]

Serge Savard and Larry Robinson

Gets my vote.

 

[Zopust]

Leetch-Beukeboom

 

[VanIslander]

How about the three-time world championship tourney's best defenseman awards between them, three time world championship gold medalist, three time silver medalist, five-time tourney all-star awards between them as well as Olympic silver medalists in Czechoslovakian legends on the blueline:

Jan Suchy - Frantisek Pospisil

"They were everywhere and could put the puck anywhere"

Pronger - MacInnis (St.Louis)

I would agree, even though I detest the Blues, except at the height of their careers together, and certainly in the playoffs, they played on different pairings, so that EITHER Pronger OR MacInnis was ALWAYS on the ice, nearly 30 minutes a game each, and each amazing at their job (grumbling Canucks and Sharks fan here).

 

[Ogopogo*]

Stapleton and White were a great pair.

 

[Slats432]

Berg-Lumme

Did you keep a straight face while typing this?

 

[Big Phil]

Robinson and Savard would have been the toughest set to score against IMO. That and they had just as good offensive intentions

Fetisov and Kasatonov were both pretty complete as well

 

[Malefic74]

A few who srping to mind are....

R. Langway-B. Engblom (Montreal/Washington)
P. Coffey-C. Huddy (Edmonton)
D. Potvin-K. Morrow (NYIslanders)
R. Bourque-G. Wesley (Boston)
B. Leetch-S. Zubov (NYRangers)
D. Hatcher-S. Zubov (Dallas)
R. Matvichuk-D. Sydor (Dallas)
E. Desjardins-M. Schneider (Montreal)
C. Chelios-S. Smith (Chicago)
S. Stevens-L. Murphy (Washington)

 

[Bacchus]

B. Leetch-S. Zubov (NYRangers)

I think they only played together on the PP.
Leetch was paired with Beukeboom at ES.

 

[Hedberg]

Who did Doug Harvey play with?

 

[naihlflames]

Konstantinov and Lidstrom could have been unbelievable if they had a few more years together. Lidstrom with his strong two way play and Konstantinov with his open ice hits and strong oulet passes.

Could have been the best pairing ever. It's a shame what happened to the Vladinator.

 

[Malefic74]

I think they only played together on the PP.
Leetch was paired with Beukeboom at ES.

Thanks for that, I wasn't 100% on it.

 

[gr8haluschak]

How about the three-time world championship tourney's best defenseman awards between them, three time world championship gold medalist, three time silver medalist, five-time tourney all-star awards between them as well as Olympic silver medalists in Czechoslovakian legends on the blueline:

Jan Suchy - Frantisek Pospisil

"They were everywhere and could put the puck anywhere"



I would agree, even though I detest the Blues, except at the height of their careers together, and certainly in the playoffs, they played on different pairings, so that EITHER Pronger OR MacInnis was ALWAYS on the ice, nearly 30 minutes a game each, and each amazing at their job (grumbling Canucks and Sharks fan here).

Yeah I don't remember seeing Chopper and Pronger as a pair for St Louis but they did play togther for Team Canada in 2002.