Ranking NHL Teams By Defencemen

[Larry Fisher]

Let's keep this simple, then. Plain and honest: if Seth Jones abruptly ceased to exist, where would you rank Columbus's blueline?

I'm placing my bets at "below 25th", like you did for the forwards, because you've consistently demonstrated a lack of any respect for any Blue Jacket that didn't come here from another organization, and that's all we'd have left on the blueline save Scott Harrington.

Yes, without Jones, I wouldn't rank Columbus' defence in the top 20. He's a legit Norris contender going forward and now the Blue Jackets' best player. He'd be every bit as big of a loss as Panarin and Bobrovsky.

I don't know where you got this narrative came from that I don't like Columbus' homegrown talent. Talent is talent. I judge them all the same, regardless of where they came from or how they got to Columbus.

 

[Viqsi]

Yes, without Jones, I wouldn't rank Columbus' defence in the top 20.

Because Werenski is meaningless. Yes, yes, you've made it clear how you think now.

I don't know where you got this narrative came from that I don't like Columbus' homegrown talent.

Because you only ever give any credit to the folks who came in via trades, and when they're out of the picture, you dismiss everyone else left as meaningless garbage. Every single time, at every single position - you have not once given one iota of fair credit to a single homegrown Jackets player. Not one. It may well be subconscious, but it's so painfully, blatantly, overwhelmingly obvious I'm now no longer sure whether I should be annoyed with you for recycling old garbage, or pitying you for being unable to see your own problems.

EDIT: Here, let's have another example. How many goals do you think Cam Atkinson scores this year? I'm betting you'll have him well under 30, because something something Panarin Bobrovsky. (Never mind that he cracked the 30-goal barrier well before Panarin was ever a Blue Jacket.)

EDIT 2: And while we're at it, what's your projection for Pierre-Luc Dubois? Most people would probably assume some sort of building on what he's already done coupled with taking a hit 'cause Panarin's no longer on his wing leading to a small regression or a wash. You? At the rate you're going, I'd bet you'd expect him to go under half a point per game.

 

[CartographerNo611]

Oilers and Ducks are 30 and 31. Gibson/Miller really bailed out the Ducks in the first half of the season. Klefbom is a borderline 2nd pairing d-man on any other team.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Because Werenski is meaningless. Yes, yes, you've made it clear how you think now.


Because you only ever give any credit to the folks who came in via trades, and when they're out of the picture, you dismiss everyone else left as meaningless garbage. Every single time, at every single position - you have not once given one iota of fair credit to a single homegrown Jackets player. Not one. It may well be subconscious, but it's so painfully, blatantly, overwhelmingly obvious I'm now no longer sure whether I should be annoyed with you for recycling old garbage, or pitying you for being unable to see your own problems.

EDIT: Here, let's have another example. How many goals do you think Cam Atkinson scores this year? I'm betting you'll have him well under 30, because something something Panarin Bobrovsky. (Never mind that he cracked the 30-goal barrier well before Panarin was ever a Blue Jacket.)

EDIT 2: And while we're at it, what's your projection for Pierre-Luc Dubois? Most people would probably assume some sort of building on what he's already done coupled with taking a hit 'cause Panarin's no longer on his wing leading to a small regression or a wash. You? At the rate you're going, I'd bet you'd expect him to go under half a point per game.

Werenski is a stud too, but he's not on Jones' level and without Jones that blue line looks mediocre as a whole IMO.

I do like Atkinson and Dubois, they are both legit top-six forwards.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Oilers and Ducks are 30 and 31. Gibson/Miller really bailed out the Ducks in the first half of the season. Klefbom is a borderline 2nd pairing d-man on any other team.

I honestly expected more people to speak out against Edmonton being too high/not low enough. You might be the first. The future should be bright for Edmonton's defence, but the present is still quite bleak — certainly bottom five, which is where I have the Oilers ranked.

As for Anaheim, many commenters here believe the Ducks should be higher, not lower. Mixed opinions on that group.

 

[Viqsi]

Werenski is a stud too, but he's not on Jones' level and without Jones that blue line looks mediocre as a whole IMO.

I do like Atkinson and Dubois, they are both legit top-six forwards.

Quit ducking the question. What's your projection for those guys?

 

[Larry Fisher]

Quit ducking the question. What's your projection for those guys?

For Atkinson and Dubois? I'd say they both finish with 60-70 points again in a healthy campaign. I don't think anybody on Columbus tops 70 points this season. And if league-wide totals match last season, that would mean Columbus doesn't have a single player in the top 50 in league scoring.

 

[Viqsi]

For Atkinson and Dubois? I'd say they both finish with 60-70 points again in a healthy campaign. I don't think anybody on Columbus tops 70 points this season. And if league-wide totals match last season, that would mean Columbus doesn't have a single player in the top 50 in league scoring.

The funny thing is, that was also true in 2016-2017, and that season saw the Jackets finish sixth overall in goals for. (249, tied with Winnipeg and just behind Toronto. Said team also managed over 100 points, but that was mostly because Vezina Bob got us the second-lowest goals against that year as well, which barring a heavenly miracle will not happen this year.)

 

[Larry Fisher]

The funny thing is, that was also true in 2016-2017, and that season saw the Jackets finish sixth overall in goals for. (249, tied with Winnipeg and just behind Toronto. Said team also managed over 100 points, but that was mostly because Vezina Bob got us the second-lowest goals against that year as well, which barring a heavenly miracle will not happen this year.)

Columbus will score and win by committee this season, much like the Islanders did last season. That may help in the standings and perhaps even in my preseason predictions, but it won't help in these positional rankings and power rankings based on the talent level of the teams.

 

[Viqsi]

Columbus will score and win by committee this season, much like the Islanders did last season. That may help in the standings and perhaps even in my preseason predictions, but it won't help in these positional rankings and power rankings based on the talent level of the teams.

Why the heck not? That's basically saying your on-paper evaluations care primarily about Big Names, not about high-quality second- and third-rank players - even though the Stanley Cup was just won based on that kind of depth, and the best expansion season in North American sports history the year prior came on the back of that kind of depth.

EDIT: I mean, now that I think about it, that would go a long way towards explaining... well, nearly everything broken about your evaluations here.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Why the heck not? That's basically saying your on-paper evaluations care primarily about Big Names, not about high-quality second- and third-rank players - even though the Stanley Cup was just won based on that kind of depth, and the best expansion season in North American sports history the year prior came on the back of that kind of depth.

EDIT: I mean, now that I think about it, that would go a long way towards explaining... well, nearly everything broken about your evaluations here.

Why not? Because the Blue Jackets aren't as talented as the teams ranked ahead of them. Why is that so hard for you to understand/comprehend?

 

[Viqsi]

Why not? Because the Blue Jackets aren't as talented as the teams ranked ahead of them. Why is that so hard for you to understand/comprehend?

Because it's in large part demonstrably untrue? And the part that isn't demonstrable depends in great deal on your own personal biases w/r/t prospects?

 

[CherryToke]

7th best defence

 

[Pia8988]

Hahahaha. Toronto is 7th. Okay. 2nd in forwards, 9th in goaltending. Over. Rated.

 

[Signupnow]

But but, Morgan is a top 5 dman in the league. I will go pray dahlin isn't *lucky* enough to reach his heights. As suggested.

 

[A1LeafNation]

It's October and 1 of the top 4 has been in Toronto longer that half a season.

Isn't defence all about chemistry and knowing the other guy?

 

[Green Blank Stare]

New season, same Toronto defense.

 

[CartographerNo611]

San Jose looks really bad back there.

 

[Theo Von]

Heavily disagree with Minnesota being so low, they're definitely top 10 at least. Minnesota has the best defensive metrics in the league since 2016, and while their forwards defense is excellent, their defense does need some more recognition, especially Spurgeon.

the same minnesota team that has given up 55 goals in their last 17 games (3.23 GAA/game) dating back to last season?

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Montreal should be 32nd. Don’t ask how.


I’m partly kidding but the defense is beyond atrocious.

 

[Dr Salt]

Carolina should be #1. Drop Chicago and Winnipeg. Anaheim should be higher. Dallas and Minnesota too.

 

[CherryToke]

I can't get over the 7th ranked team on this list

It was so obviously wrong at the time but people were defending it. Anyone still believe this?

 

[majormajor]

Larry you whiffed on this one. Leafs D even with Muzzin is at best average. They are absolutely, unquestionably worse than the Jackets D. Your concerns about the Jackets depth on D is strange, their 7th D is Nutivaara who is light years better than Marty Marincin, and arguably better than Ceci, and Holl. I'd say he's similar in quality to Dermott.

 

[w e l o s t b o y s]

I knew this thread would resurface soon

 

[Sweetpotato]

Carolina should be #1. San Jose on paper is better but in practise I like the Canes.