Best offensive defensemen tandem - Post 1990s

[Dump and Chase Demon]

With Erik Karlsson joining Brent Burns in San Jose, it's not unrealistic to think that the Sharks could have 2 defensemen with 70+ points in the same regular season.

Any insights/memory on teams that have had 2 high scoring defensemen playing together since the 1990's ?

60-ish points or equivalent in ppg

Out of the blue, I was thinking of :

Chris Pronger/Al MacInnis - St. Louis Blues
Brian Leetch / Sergei Zubov - New York Rangers
Niklas Lidtrom / Brian Rafalski - Detroit Redwings
Wade Redden / Zdeno Chara - Ottawa Senators
Chris Pronger / Scott Niedermayer - Anaheim Ducks

They don't have to be an official playing pair together.

Thanks!

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[Jeffrey Pedler]

With Erik Karlsson joining Brent Burns in San Jose, it's not unrealistic to think that the Sharks could have 2 defensemen with 70+ points in the same regular season.

Any insights/memory on teams that have had 2 high scoring defensemen playing together since the 1990's ?

60-ish points or equivalent in ppg

Out of the blue, I was thinking of :

Chris Pronger/Al MacInnis - St. Louis Blues
Brian Leetch / Sergei Zubov - New York Rangers
Niklas Lidtrom / Brian Rafalski - Detroit Redwings
Wade Redden / Zdeno Chara - Ottawa Senators
Chris Pronger / Scott Niedermayer - Anaheim Ducks

They don't have to be an official playing pair together.


Thanks!

Definitely Pronger and Niedermayer, both had double digit goals during their Stanley Cup winning season.

 

[67Leafs67]

Another interesting question? What other teams have had multiple Norris trophy winners on the same back-end?

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

post-1990s means after 1990? macinnis and suter

Another interesting question? What other teams have had multiple Norris trophy winners on the same back-end?

post-expansion and off the top of my head—

mac-pronger
nieds-pronger
bourque-blake
coffey-lidstrom
chelios-lidstrom
chelios-robinson
blake-robinson

feel like i’m missing at least one...

 

[McGarnagle]

I remember McCabe & Kaberle being something fearful back in the mid-2000s.

 

[JackSlater]

Their main competition is probably Leetch-Zubov or MacInnis-Suter, but at offensive peak I would pick Karlsson and Burns.

When was the last time two defencemen who have been top ten scorers in any given season played together?

 

[Johnny Engine]

Here’s one I wouldn’t have thought of without looking it up: in 1992, Phil Housley and Frederik Olausson combined for 148 points. Housley led the team while Olausson finished 3rd behind Eddie Olczyk.

 

[ShelbyZ]

chelios-lidstrom

By the time Chelios and Lidstrom were on the same team, Chelios wasn't really what you'd consider "high scoring" anymore. His highest points in a season with the Red Wings was 39, and in his first full year there, he was #4 in D points behind Lidstrom, Murphy and Duchesne.

If we're talking "after the 90's" (like 2000 to now), the highest scoring D pairing for the Red Wings was Lidstrom and Schneider.

2005-06: Combined for 37 goals and 102 assists with Schneider missing 10 games and Lidstrom 2.
2006-07: Combined for 24 goals and 90 assists with Schneider missing 14 and Lidstrom 2.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Their main competition is probably Leetch-Zubov or MacInnis-Suter, but at offensive peak I would pick Karlsson and Burns.

When was the last time two defencemen who have been top ten scorers in any given season played together?

bourque and park is one, can’ think of anything more recent than that.

 

[mrhockey193195]

Post 90s, Leetch-Zubov in 94 takes the cake for me (although I'm certainly biased). Zubov led the team with 89 points in the RS (Leetch had 79), and Leetch had a playoff to remember with 34 points while Zubov had 19 (in 22 games).

Combined, they had 221 points in 207 games in the playoffs and regular season that year.

 

[tony d]

This is Leetch/Zubov for me, 2 pure offensive defensemen there for sure.

 

[VanIslander]

Exactly 10 years ago both Chara & Wideman had a 50-point season for Boston. (AND BOTH were top-10 in powerplay goals on ice for, with only Lidstrom, Green and Phaneuf as blueliners more in the thick of pp success.)

 

[VictoriaJetsFan]

Would like to throw in some props for Zubov-Leetch

 

[agentblack]

Post 90s, Leetch-Zubov in 94 takes the cake for me (although I'm certainly biased). Zubov led the team with 89 points in the RS (Leetch had 79), and Leetch had a playoff to remember with 34 points while Zubov had 19 (in 22 games).

Combined, they had 221 points in 207 games in the playoffs and regular season that year.

Man i keep forgetting what a monster season Zubov had in 94, such an underrated D

Def can see a repeat of those two D numbers in SJ with Burns and EK