Detroit's Best Defensemen This Season (2015-16)

[muchbetterthanlada]

DDK
Green
Marchenko
Smith
Quincey
Kronwall
Kindl
XO
Ericsson

 

[iDangleDangle]

Green
Dekeyser
Quincey

Marchenko
Smith
Kronwall
Ericsson

 

[Pavels Dog]

Yeah. Did I say terrible? At all? Like twisting facts to suit your argument. The guy is nothing more than an average middle pairing defender. Nothing wrong with that. Quincey had the better year yet because of his previous history he gets hammered for it.

Nah Dekeyser played the toughest minutes on Detroit's D and while he struggled at times, he at least kept afloat. He didn't fall apart. He very nearly played a legit #1 role (in terms of usage) and average middle-pairing d-men can't do that without falling apart. Danny is at the absolute worst a good #3.

Highest % d-zone starts
Most ES TOI/GP
Most SH TOI/GP
Most ES points

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

1 DeKeyser
2 Green
3 Quincey
4 Marchenko
5 Smith
6 Kronwall
7 Ericsson

 

[MTU hockey]

I don't agree with most people that have DeKeyser at the top of their list. He wasn't bad but he certainly wasn't as good as his previous couple of seasons. I thought during the second half of the season he struggled making tape to tape passes to start the breakout which is a bit concerning since that was one of his greatest strengths a few seasons ago. He also seemed to lose positioning in the defensive zone a little more than usual too. Hopefully it was just a down year for him but I was quite concerned when he was filling in for Kronner on the top pair while he was out, he struggled with those assignments. He still a very competent 2nd pair defenseman but I don't think he's top pair material like a few people on here seem to think.

Green didn't have an impressive offensive stat line but that's most likely from the poor PP since most d men collect a majority of their points there (but he still had 20 PPP, compared to Kronners 14). I don't think Blash gave him enough PP time either, even though Kronner was really bad this year Blash kept feeding him #1 PP time even though it was pretty obvious that he wasn't contributing much out there.

Quincey had a good year this year and I wish we could keep him and dump Ericsson instead. Quincey plays physical and is pretty solid in his own end, but my main beef with him is he simply can't move the puck. He either throws it down the ice looking for a tip and ices it or he just throws it off the boards/glass and out to center ice, essentially giving up possession and allowing the opposing team another offensive rush.

My rankings for this season:

Green
DeKeyser
Quincey
Smith
Marchenko
Kronner
Ericsson

 

[dangledangledeke]

1.Smith
2.Green

3.Dekeyser

4.Marchenko
5.Quincey
6.Kronwall
7.Ericsson

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

dekeyser
green
smith
kronwall
quincey
marchenko
kindl
ericsson

expectation, age, salary, offensive and defensive awareness all must factor in to the ranking decisions

 

[14ari13]

Whenever I saw Greene in the defensive zone, I was thinking him taking a penalty or costing us a goal.
He played Kindl's min and role. Sure he has his moments, he had great offensive insticts, but he is as brutal in the defensive zone as they come.

DeKeyser was the best, but the whole team struggled. Other than Larkin and Mrazek everybody underachieved.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Anyone who listed Kindl as a better defenseman than Ericsson this season might as well remove themselves from the conversation.

Like much of the blueline, Ericsson wasn't good this year. But he's still a better D-man than Kindl every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I know, I know. Errorson is terribad. He's the one ruining the whole defensive corps but inexplicably gets icetime because Holland forces Blashill (and formerly Babcock) to play him so much due to his contract. Or because of the Swedish mafia? I can't remember which.

Meanwhile a superior defenseman like Kindl can't hold a spot in the Wings lineup under two different coaches in his entire NHL career, clears waivers, then finally gets traded for a 6th rounder with the Wings eating part of his salary. With the fresh start in Florida Kindl is 9th in the depth chart behind studs like Steven Kampfer. He plays 12 minutes in one playoff game and is a -1.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

Anyone who listed Kindl as a better defenseman than Ericsson this season might as well remove themselves from the conversation.

Like much of the blueline, Ericsson wasn't good this year. But he's still a better D-man than Kindl every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I know, I know. Errorson is terribad. He's the one ruining the whole defensive corps but inexplicably gets icetime because Holland forces Blashill (and formerly Babcock) to play him so much due to his contract. Or because of the Swedish mafia? I can't remember which.

Meanwhile a superior defenseman like Kindl can't hold a spot in the Wings lineup under two different coaches in his entire NHL career, clears waivers, then finally gets traded for a 6th rounder with the Wings eating part of his salary. With the fresh start in Florida Kindl is 9th in the depth chart behind studs like Steven Kampfer. He plays 12 minutes in one playoff game and is a -1.

i think its most likely all a joke with the kindl/ericsson debate

that said, do you honestly believe JE ina trade 1 for 1 whereby no more then 360k total salary was retained could be traded for anything more than a 5th or 6th rd draft pick?

if the answer is no, then thats your answer because yes salary and contract 100% must be included because its part of what determines a players worth/value

 

[Fear]

How do so many of these lists have Marchenko ahead of Quincey???? I guess he still has that young player sheen but Quincy was easily the better player.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

How do so many of these lists have Marchenko ahead of Quincey???? I guess he still has that young player sheen but Quincy was easily the better player.

It depends upon what you value. Marchenko is exponentially better at moving the puck than Quincy. I thought both had relatively similar seasons in relation to their skill and ability.

 

[PelagicJoe]

Green
DDK
KFQ
Marchenko
Kronwall
Smith
Ericsson

 

[Satrebil]

OP, consider adding a poll

 

[Vladdy84]

3 of them we're above average to good. 2 of them we're horrible.

 

[snailderby]

Here's a table with everyone's rankings so far. (Click on the picture for a popup.) My apologies if I incorrectly transcribed (or missed) anyone's rankings.

View attachment 89983

In text form, here's a quick summary of the data:

#1 - 1.61 (1 to 3): DeKeyser
#2 - 1.72 (1 to 3): Green
#3 - 3.78 (2 to 6): Quincey
#4 - 4.31 (3 to 6): Marchenko
#5 - 4.36 (1 to 7): Smith
#6 - 5.56 (4 to 6): Kronwall
#7 - 6.67 (4 to 7): Ericsson

 

[DanZ]

Well at least we know our defense won't get much worse with the further decline/retirement of Kronwall. It could actually improve depending on who replaces him.

 

[irishock]

1.Brendan Smith
2.Mike Green
3.Kyle Quincey
4.Danny Dekeyser
5.Nik Kronwall
6.Jonathan Ericsson

 

[obey86]

1. Smith
2. Green
3. Quincey
4. Dekeyser
5. Marchenko
6. Ericsson
7. Kronwall

 

[Bench]

The Smith hype lives on.

 

[obey86]

The Smith hype lives on.

Less silly than ranking players based on their past reputations.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

I change my list to

1. Smith
2. Green

Can't do it

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Less silly than ranking players based on their past reputations.

I don't see anything of the sort. Kronwall and Ericsson are at the bottom

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

The Smith hype lives on.

when factoring in age, cap hit, contract length, expectation, potential and actual impact on games smith had a pretty solid year, its not hype, its just fact

 

[SoupGuru]

when factoring in age, cap hit, contract length, expectation, potential and actual impact on games smith had a pretty solid year, its not hype, its just fact

When factoring in zone starts, quality of competition, ability to actually play defense then his year really wasn't solid at all, especially since he couldn't stay in the lineup.

And I swear we need to start tracking a stat like "Unforced icings" and "Icings that lead to goals"