Is it a stretch to consider Mark Giordano a top 10 Dman if he manages to hit 50+ points this season?

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Mark Giordano since 2013-2014 has been an elite defensive player. His suppression and goal prevention relative stats are off the roof amazing. This is while he takes some of the most difficult competition along with more relative Dzone starts in the league (On a team that has been hindered more times in the Dzone than in the Ozone for most of those seasons to present). Pretty much everyone that plays with Giordano looks far better than without Giordano (Exception being small sample size Brodie with Kris Russell during the Hartley era).

Offensively even though 50+ points is a big jump from the high 30s he's produced in the Gulutzan era, Giordano produced at a 60 point pace from 2013-2014 to 2015-2016, all while having elite defensive metrics. Giordano was better than Karlsson for a portion of the 2014-2015 season. He produced at an 18 goal pace as well.

I for one don't think it's a stretch to consider Giordano a top 10 Dman if he manages to score at least 15 goals and 50 points in the 2018-2019 season.

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[zar]

Giordano will never be a top 10 dman in the league anymore. He is still a very good and effective dman... and at one time was a top 10 or very close to it. Those days are behind him.

Again, don't get me wrong... he's a very good dman and I would take him on my team in a heartbeat.

 

[HansonBro]

Gio probably falls into one of our most under rated threads. But i think top 10 is a bit of a stretch

 

[Mobiandi]

Yes. If he finds that offensive gear which Gulutzan suppressed, he could be a top 10 guy. That said, I think he's not too far away from that as it stands

 

[SmellOfVictory]

Noting my team affiliation, yes he is, depending how you classify a top 10 dman. Gio doesn't put up the numbers to compete with guys like Karlsson and Burns most seasons, but he controls play in all three zones as well as any other dman. He makes everyone on the ice with him better.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Gio probably falls into one of our most under rated threads. But i think top 10 is a bit of a stretch

If he has a big offensive year I don't think it's a stretch.

Guys who are better than Giordano entirely:

1. Karlsson
2. Hedman
3. Doughty
4. Subban
5. Pietrangelo
6. Burns

Everything else is debatable. Klingberg only outproduced Giordano in 2 seasons, same for Josi and neither come anywhere close defensively, so that's why they are debatable. Besides Josi's QOT is much better than Giordano's. Klingberg's defenseman partners aren't, but his main forwards sure are. Jones is excellent, but look no further than his elite partner in Werenski, and again not as dominant in the metrics sheet as Giordano. One has a good argument for Suter, but Suter also has a stud in Spurgeon helping him out. Spurgeon is definitely better than both Hamilton and Brodie. And Suter doesn't produce nearly as good of defensive results as Giordano. In the past Keith, OEL, and Letang also fit, but not anymore, all 3 have declined, while Giordano is still the same as 2013-2014 minus slight decline offensively.

 

[HansonBro]

If he has a big offensive year I don't think it's a stretch.

Guys who are better than Giordano entirely:

1. Karlsson
2. Hedman
3. Doughty
4. Subban
5. Pietrangelo
6. Burns

Everything else is debatable. Klingberg only outproduced Giordano in 2 seasons, same for Josi and neither come anywhere close defensively, so that's why they are debatable. Besides Josi's QOT is much better than Giordano's. Klingberg's defenseman partners aren't, but his main forwards sure are. Jones is excellent, but look no further than his elite partner in Werenski, and again not as dominant in the metrics sheet as Giordano. One has a good argument for Suter, but Suter also has a stud in Spurgeon helping him out. Spurgeon is definitely better than both Hamilton and Brodie. And Suter doesn't produce nearly as good of defensive results as Giordano. In the past Keith, OEL, and Letang also fit, but not anymore, all 3 have declined, while Giordano is still the same as 2013-2014 minus slight decline offensively.

Forgot Yandle but at least you did your homework lol

 

[ESH]

Giordano deserves every bit of praise he generates. He has been a rock for the Flames over the past few years. He doesn’t need to be scoring st 60 point paces to be one of the best defensemen in the league because he’s an elite shutdown defenseman. No matter how you look at it, he’s among the leagues best. Anyone who’s watched him over the past couple years knows how good he’s been anchoring the Flames blueline, and the stats back it up too. He has consistently excelled against the best competition in the league.

He’s my pick for the Flames’ MVP over the past couple years and he hasn’t showed signs of slowing down. I honestly thought he got faster last year. He shows up every year among the fittest players on the Flames.

Is he a top-10 defenseman? I don’t know, but it’s hard to imagine that there’s too many better defensemen in the league than him.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Forgot Yandle but at least you did your homework lol

I don't see how Yandle deserves a mention here lol.

 

[Claypool]

Doesn't he take most of the blame for the Flames' poor defense the past several seasons?

 

[Calgareee]

Doesn't he take most of the blame for the Flames' poor defense the past several seasons?

Not sure where you’d get that from... Other than the couple of occasions when he was out for an extended period of time. Those were definitely his fault.

 

[Elvs]

all I'll tell you is, according to the folks on HFboards, there's a huge differance between a 50 point season and a 49 point season.

 

[Tkachuky]

all I'll tell you is, according to the folks on HFboards, there's a huge differance between a 50 point season and a 49 point season.

Especially with players that played less than 82 games.

 

[NHL WAR]

By my W.A.R stat, Giordano was the 16th most valuable defenseman last season. So if he could improve from 38 points to 50+, I think he would be a top 10 defenseman.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

He leads the league in 5 on 5 shot differentials and scoring chances for/against in the last two seasons.
Some one correct me if I’m wrong.

Good luck finding 10 better D than this guy as of right now.

 

[Yung Rotini]

Doesn't he take most of the blame for the Flames' poor defense the past several seasons?

Not even close. The issue with the Flames defense has been chemistry with the other pairings, the top pairing has been a rock this entire time, whether it was Brodie or Hamilton as Gio’s partner.

 

[tony d]

I like the guy but top 10 defenseman in the league is a bit of a stretch? Top 20-25 is more like it.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Tbh he has been the best defensive dman in the league the last two years and if he hits 55+ he should win the Norris. However our PP doesn't seem to be incorporating him very effectively. Just have him camp on the right circle taking one timers instead of QBing at the top, and boom 60 pts.

Doesn't he take most of the blame for the Flames' poor defense the past several seasons?

No, the Flames haven't even had poor defense in these seasons, and if they have had breakdowns it's been guys like Wideman, Bartkowski, and Brouwer at the bottom of the lineup causing them.

Don't be confusing goaltending with defense. Elliott and Johnson were overall pretty bad and Smith had his own struggles last year keeping his five hole closed on routine saves.

 

[Snakepit]

He already is top 10

 

[MessierII]

He’s past his prime. He was top 10.

 

[Pyrophorus]

all I'll tell you is, according to the folks on HFboards, there's a huge differance between a 50 point season and a 49 point season.

QFT.
4 points is "way more"

As far as the question goes, he's only done it once.
Would love for him to come home....yes

 

[Fire Benning]

He already is.

 

[HenrikW]

Any team looking to make a deep run would love to have Giordano. He's not top 10 even if he gets 50 points. Thats not a knock on Gio though, it's tough competition.

 

[BillNy]

Mark Giordano is very easily a top-10 defenseman in the league, and has been for a long time.

 

[FerklundCGY]

Giordano is very easily one of the most underrated players in the game, let alone D-men.

His defense the among the very elite of the elite and his offense is superb and should return to 45+ point form at minimum this season.