Most underrated defenseman on your team

[Raccoon Jesus]

Christian Folin

Yep, this season its surely Folin. Silent Killer. Prime Matt Greene +.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

Murphy gets too much criticism.

 

[TheGoldenGod]

Edmundson for the Blues

 

[Vachon23]

Karl Alzner

 

[Ducks in a row]

Cam Fowler gets underrated.

 

[Josepho]

idk... biega?

 

[DeltaSwede]

Underrate - underestimate the extent, value, or importance of (someone or something).

Alex Edler for the Canucks. Always one of the first to get hated on, happens to be the franchise leader among defensemen in points. Has shown incredible dedication to the organization and city. Usually the steadiest guy on the blue line and he's been there for so long you take him for granted. Hats off for you Eagle.

I think some posters are just posting names of players they think are better than they actually are.

 

[Vachon23]

Underrate - underestimate the extent, value, or importance of (someone or something).

Alex Edler for the Canucks. Always one of the first to get hated on, happens to be the franchise leader among defensemen in points. Has shown incredible dedication to the organization and city. Usually the steadiest guy on the blue line and he's been there for so long you take him for granted. Hats off for you Eagle.

I think some posters are just posting names of players they think are better than they actually are.

I wanted him last year !

 

[dk2k]

Brent Seabrook.

 

[Hammond]

Habs: Jeff Petry

He was a beast all year

 

[LeafGrief]

Gardiner doesn't get no rispek

 

[SladeWilson23]

Ben freaking Lovejoy!

Also, John Moore gets way too much hate as well.

 

[LordNeverLose]

Idk ... Pulock?

They all collectively suck.

 

[Fig]

Matt Bartkowski. Yes I'm serious.

I'm not talking about his play though, I'm talking his contract.

The fact we were able to meet expansion draft dmen exposure requirements for a "mere" $612,500 for 2 seasons was fricking genius by Treliving. Bartkowski gets way too much hate for being a Flame (because Gully over played him), but in all honesty, it could have been a different story without Bartkowski. We could have had to sign someone else for longer and more money instead due to expansion requirements. Anyone slagging him being a waste of money and a contract is mistaken. His contract saved the Flames org money they would have had to allocate to someone else while also risking said player to expansion such as Engelland or Stone. He is worth that contract and more off the ice from an expansion draft point of view. Consider that Barkowski was willing to accept that low contract (which was a two way contract, so he'd earn far less in the AHL if demoted) to be cannon fodder for Vegas to ignore. That's a hell of a swallowing of pride as very few FAs (if any other than Bartkowski) would have signed a contract that ultimately could have meant they could be taken by Vegas.

No comment regarding that contract for on the ice though... but I just want to give him a mild appreciation along with good wishes as we really want that slot for someone else. If this wasn't the point of the thread... oh well.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Not sure if you could consider Darnell Nurse 'under-rated' (though he has taken flak for his slow development in past seasons here). But he was our best and most consistent defenseman all season. He's a legit top-3 Dman now who can play top pairing very effectively with a decent RHD, of which we only have one of in Larsson who has had personal issues (death of his father) and injuries this season which really limited him, plus he usually plays with Klefbom (who played with a bad shoulder all season and it obviously affected his performance a lot, with even players from other teams noticing it).

So the answer is Nurse, if he qualifies. I think he does, as I haven't heard much or any talk about him at all, but may have missed it. I haven't seen any Nurse 'hype trains' -- not that he necessarily deserves one, but I'm just saying he was our best Dman all season, and was our only Dman to break 25 points -- which is quite telling of how badly we need an offensive Dman -- while consistently being very good to great defensively: his plus/minus was by far the best among all our Dmen with a +15 (2nd best among all Oilers) while usually playing the toughest match-ups, and on a team with near a -30 in goal differential. That's pretty impressive, and the eye test told the same story as someone who watched most of our games. If we had four Nurse's to play our top-4 we probably make the playoffs.

If you don't think he qualifies for the criteria of being 'under-rated' (a highly subjective term in this context) then feel free to disregard this post.

 

[Castle8130]

Gustafsson: Probably the best defenseman on the hawks right now, but thats not saying much.

 

[Sabresruletheschool]

Ristolainen. If you put some of these players that are considered awesome young defenceman in his place, they wouldn't look so good anymore. Nobody could play that many minutes on a horrific team against the other teams best and look good doing it.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Pionk.

This.

 

[Mobiandi]

I'm fully aware of the meme status of our defense but Hamonic isn't this jabroni HF makes him out to be. He's a solid 2nd pairing defensive Dman

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Yeah definitely Hamonic. Kulak is pretty good. In fact as much as our blue line gets flack on hf. It really is one of the best in the league. It’s not their fault we can’t score.

 

[M2Beezy]

Gudbranson. Everyone calls him an 8 or a 9 when hes actually a SOLID #7 on our bottom 5 d group

 

[Belhammer16]

Kulikov was absolutely great before his injury, Joe Morrow has been pretty good since getting his opportunity

 

[Mr Hockey]

easily Nikita Zaitsev on the Leafs.

 

[Avs44]

As said by Ivan, Barrie in Colorado really easily. As I posted on the Avs, board, the guy just had a 68 point pace, second in defensman PPG. Since he joined the league in 2013/14 he's 11th in total points amongst defensmen, 10th in PPG, and 9th in even strength points. Also 11th in goals scored amongst all D across that timeframe. I've called him sheltered in the past, but he's proven me wrong there - he's averaged the most even strength minutes per game of any of the 69 players thats been on the Avs since 14/15, including more than EJ.

He's a huge piece of the Avs D core and one of the best offensive D in the league, but he still gets zero respect from a bunch of the Avs fanbase.

 

[MR4]

Gardiner's underrated within the fandom because fairweathers think he's bad defensively.

Rielly's underrated outside of it because he developed late.

Id go Rielly.

You're both forgetting Dermott. Bruins are expecting to dominate our 3rd pair when he's got like a +7% Corsi Rel