Rank your team's defensemen based on their play this season

[Ace of Hades]

Nah , Edler has been the best Canuck D this year. Tanev didn't do **** this year and he missed 40 games. If anything it's Edler by default. Tanev is starting to get overrated.

Both of them are interchangeable, you can replace Tanev with Edler, it doesn't mean shit..

Our defence as a whole has been craptastic.

 

[Crabapple]

Nurse
Russell
Larsson
Sekera
Bear
Klef
Benning

 

[olli]

Nurse
Russell
Larsson
Sekera
Bear
Klef
Benning

Klef has really been that bad?

 

[Mobiandi]

Giordano




Hamonic


Brodie
Hamilton



Stone/Kulak

 

[rent free]

What happened to Zaitsev? Haven't been following the Leafs too closely.

He became gardiner without the points.

 

[Trap Jesus]

For the bruins:
McAvoy
Chara
Krug

Grzelcyk
Brandon Carlo
Kevan Miller

Holden
McQuaid

Postma

McAvoy - Was just incredible from the get-go and never suffered a setback from that aside from his injury.

Krug - He was just OK the first half but completely took off in the second half.
Chara - Completely different player from Krug. I could see either one being ranked 2/3. Major factor on the PK once again.

Grzelcyk - Big-time revelation this year. Isn't in the top group because he didn't play tough minutes or was asked to do as much, but realistically couldn't have had a better start.

Kevan Miller - Solid year, not much to say about him. I think he'll be huge in the playoffs though.

Brandon Carlo - Finished strong but his play was uneven throughout the year

Holden - Didn't look great, not awful, but a small sample size

McQuaid - Not very good

 

[mw2noobbuster]

Pietrangelo
Edmundson
Dunn
Parayko
Bortuzzo/Schmaltz
Gunnarsson

Butler

 

[Lebowski]

Weber
Petry
Mete
Reilly
Juulsen
Jerabek
Alzner
Schlemko
Benn
Lernout

 

[Martinez]

Mike green
The rest

 

[Kcb12345]

Klingberg




Lindell

Hamhuis
Johns
Pateryn (he and Hamhuis became unreliable towards the end, but started very good, most Stars fans won't give him credit for good things he has done).
Honka (not given a very good chance, Hitch effect)
Heatherington

Methot (because he was injured nearly the entire year)

 

[East Coast Icestyle]

Giordano




Hamonic


Brodie
Hamilton



Stone/Kulak

...

It's a lot easier to watch the flames and say that Hamilton is their best d than to say that Hamonic and Brodie had better seasons. Let alone to put such a gap for Hamonic, pretty laughable.

 

[Wabit]

Wild:
Suter

Based this on health, but is really a pickem'
Dumba
Brodin
Spurgeon

Prosser

Pickem'
Seeler
Olofsson
Murphy


Quincey- he was just bloody awful.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Klef has really been that bad?

Yes, although he had shoulder issues all year and had 22 bone chips vacuumed out of his shoulder

 

[Mobiandi]

...

It's a lot easier to watch the flames and say that Hamilton is their best d than to say that Hamonic and Brodie had better seasons. Let alone to put such a gap for Hamonic, pretty laughable.

Both Giordano and Hamonic were excellent at preventing goals this season. Hamilton was MIA offensively until Jan/Feb and was making defensive errors or taking penalties that hurt the team all season. Brodie had a poor season offensively but was stronger defensively in my opinion.

 

[FlyTimmo]

Gostisbehere (low end #1)
Provorov (low end #1)


Sanheim (#4)




Gudas (#6)






MacDonald (#7)




Hagg (AHL)
Manning (AHL)

 

[Sasso09]

I feel like there's usually a thread like this after every season, so I thought I'd get it started.

For the Flames, I'd say:

Mark Giordano - still a beast defensively. He actually seemed faster this year than last year. He can still rip shots on net and I don't even want to imagine what the Flames' defense would look like without him.
Dougie Hamilton - I've been saying that he reminds me of Burns-lite. He has a wicked shot that he loves to use and he's great at moving the puck up the ice. He's shown to be more than capable at handling top-pairing minutes defensively over the past couple seasons.

T.J. Brodie - probably the most frustrating player on the team over the past 2 seasons. It's like he forgets how to play defense the majority of the time, and then he'll go and shutdown Crosby in a game against the Penguins. Definitely the best skater on the Flames, so it's shocking how often he gets beat wide.
Travis Hamonic - him and Brodie struggled a lot early on, but he adjusted as the season went on. Mostly pretty solid defensively, he's big and strong. I'm sure he has more to give offensively, but it seemed like he was mostly content to either hammer a shot wide of the net or just dump it deep.

Michael Stone - he actually posted a harder shot in the Flames skills competition than anyone in the NHL skills competition did (so did Gio, but Stone's was faster). Little good it does him getting him a whopping 3 goals though. He's strong and pretty solid in his 3rd-pairing minutes. No complaints.

Rasmus Andersson - didn't play many games this season, but I expect a spot to be opened up for him next season. He has pretty good puck skills.
Brett Kulak - I feel like a lot of Flames fans see more in him than I do, but I've never thought of him as anything more than an okay 3rd-pairing guy. Doesn't do anything notable, but rarely makes a noticeably bad play either.




Matt Bartkowski - he's just not very good. He won the Flames' fastest skater competition if that means anything. If there's one thing he can do it's skate the puck through the neutral zone, but as soon as he's past either of the blue lines he forgets how to play hockey.

Flames defense is a lot better than I realized

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Doughty - Nothing this guy can't do. Would easily be team MVP in any other year when Kopitar wasn't having the best Kings season in 25 years.


Phaneuf - Short tenure so not enough time to make big mistakes I guess but the dude changed the entire complexion of our team upon his arrival. Total asshole in front of our net, good at moving the puck, the scoring was just a bonus. Everyone raves about his communication and positivity. Guess he finally found the ideal role next to Martinez.
Martinez - Guy has been put in a more defensive role than ever and is a shot blocking machine. underrated. Finally found a great middle pairing partner in Phaneuf and has been nails since. Most versatile d-man in the lineup next to Drew.
Muzzin - a bit uneven play. Great next to Drew. Great on the bottom pairing with either Folin or LaDue. Somehow can't carve out a role on the 2nd pairing which has hurt us for a long time. Was having a fantastic stretch before injury.
Folin - Did not expect the physicality. Wanted to rate him higher here as he's likely been the best relative to expectations, dude just kills it. Great at stopping forwards dead in their tracks and snuffing out plays at the red line instead of backing off. Super aggressive and I love it. Prime Matt Greene replacement to say the least.
Forbort - Miscast next to Drew but has proven he can handle 20 hard minutes a game. Would ideally play down the lineup. However, the 20 games before his injury (RIP) were the best of his career and a big reason we were having success. Hope he can come back and pick up where he left off. Before that, he was kind of a mess, up and down.

Beyond these six, we're in deep trouble.

 

[Wolfpuck]

Slavin (came down to Earth a bit, but still our best all-around defenseman)
Hanifin (his game is finally coming into form)
Pesce (steady as she goes)
TvR (the best pickup of the past offseason, very solid)
Faulk (a down year, no question)
Dahlbeck (surprisingly serviceable in a pinch)
Fleury (clearly a rookie)

McKeown didn't play enough to rank, but looked good in a limited role

 

[East Coast Icestyle]

Both Giordano and Hamonic were excellent at preventing goals this season. Hamilton was MIA offensively until Jan/Feb and was making defensive errors or taking penalties that hurt the team all season. Brodie had a poor season offensively but was stronger defensively in my opinion.

Hamonic might be better defensively but when every play dies on his stick I didn't feel he was much better than stone this year. Stone just has some dumb moments.

Brodie has been pretty bad offensively for the last few years with maybe average defense. He makes way more mistakes than he ever used to. He used to be my favourite flame but you can't just ignore that he's not more than a top 4 at this point and plays like that

Meanwhile Hamilton was always the main driver offensively for the d core, has stepped up defensively in the second half very well, and has demonstrated that he can play physically even if it's still inconsistent. Combine that with his overall talent and he's easily our #2 d who turned a meh start into a fantastic season (like he does every year. He's a slow starter. We know that by now.) as for penalties, I don't see penalties as a huge issue. He's not exactly on Bennett's level there.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Weber
Petry
Mete
Juulsen
Reilly
Jerakek (traded)
Benn
Schlemko
Morrow (traded)

 

[RebuildinVan]

Edler, actually had a good year and not a big fan of him

Uninjured Tanev
Del Zoto's hit #s
InjuredTanev
Pouliots 2nd unit PP play
Injured Tanev
Stecher
Injured Tanev

The rest
Injured Tanev
Gudbranson

 

[Garbage Goal]

Ghost/Prov : Elite production in different roles.

Sanheim : Steady albeit unimpressive, would argue coaching stunted his growth.

Gudas : Weirdly down year in every way.

MacDonald/Manning/Hagg : Throw em all in the furnace.

 

[Zamuz]

1. Byfuglien - simplified his game this year and committed more to defense, still got 45 points
2. Morrissey - it's hard to see the progress because he's looked calm and steady like a vet since his first game but he keeps getting better
3. Trouba - hurt too much
4. Kulikov - awesome signing, unfortunately hurt now (huge loss for the playoffs)

5. Myers - actually played 82 games

6. Enstrom
7. Chiarot

Chiarot worst? strongly disagree.

 

[Maukkis]

Chiarot worst? strongly disagree.

Out of those seven, yes. In a way, it is very unfair; Chiarot has been very solid for a good while. Then again, our depth at D is incredible.

T1. Byfuglien
T1: Trouba
3. Morrissey

4. Myers
5. Enstrom
6. Kulikov

7. Chiarot
8. Poolman (limited sample size)

Watching this defense has been blissful.

 

[DL44]

Edler: Beast for us. Every situation #1. Most underrated asset by Canuck fan.

Tanev: when healthy is a stabilizing force on the backend. Never healthy therefore never stabilizing.

Del Zotto: solid, mobile, surprisingly physical dman. Defensive zone roller coaster. But added a lot to transition and started on fire.

Gudbranson: fantastic run of games leading up to him being shut down for the season. Finally looked like the guy we were expecting.

Stecher: really rough start to the season. Earned some healthy starts.. but has been steady since return to lineup. Physically challenged, but a gamer and effective transitioning with his feet.

Pouliot: cant skate backwards! WTF! Trouble in his own zone when challenged by elite offensive players. But one our best outlet passers. Good in transition. Great offensive instincts. Has good bomb of a shot. Will have to see where his game goes next year.

Hutton: most disappointing dman this yr. Bad on his edges, weak, poor positioning, doesn't take lanes away, bad stick ... on the positive he is good skating and transitioning with his feet. Good offensive zone instincts and knowing when to support and pinch. Powder puff shot.