Ranking NHL Teams By Defencemen

[Larry Fisher]

No offense, but this seems like "searching for a reason" to me.

He was out 50 games, not 3 years.

That's fair and he's 25, not 35 years old, so he should be able to rebound quite quickly at this stage of his career. I'm a big Dumba fan, always have been since he broke into the WHL and even before that in minor hockey/academy. But 50 games and the actual time (months) that he's been off could hinder his performance, at least in the first half of the season. Fortunately, that shouldn't be a recurring injury and he should be an impactful player again sooner or later.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Yes, and some are far better than others. Your lists appear to be the others.

And Steve Yzerman's opinion on Seider would also be the others?

 

[Larry Fisher]

The basic problem with your calc is that Jensen is a player. Yea, a defense corp with a Norris Trophy caliber defenseman on one pair but Radko Gudas on the 2nd pair is a problem. You are underrating Jensen by making him interchangeable with Gudas and by that underrating the defense corp.

I like Jensen, I don't underrate him at all. In fact, that's the reason I had him anchoring the third pairing with one of the younger D (Djoos/Siegenthaler), to carry that pairing. I think you'd be in more trouble placing an unpredictable Gudas with a young D, but Reirden will probably do some experimenting with his pairings in the preseason. I doubt they are set in stone without having seen Gudas in a Capitals jersey. We shall see how it plays out. Perhaps your pairings will prove true. As mentioned, mine were probably copy and pasted from CapFriendly's depth chart page since that is what I was working off as a base for this project.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Larry do you drink as you read your hate mail? I imagine you drinking doubles as like a mental preparation for dealing with pissed off people with opinions.

Not today, if I was drinking, then my reasoning would really be "incoherent" haha but, yes, I might need a drink when I decide to tap out on responding to comments for today and brace for another round when the forward rankings publish tomorrow morning. Stay tuned!

 

[Mike Liut]

Blues should be #1. They pretty much just proved it.

 

[joe dirte]

I really like the top 3. I think SJ deserves top spot for Burns and Karlsson.

I probably dont know enough about most teams depth defenders to adequately rank the rest but i enjoyed reading it.

Curious to see how others react.

They had karlsson and burns last year and finished 11th worst in goals against.

This year will be more of the same.

Karlsson is garbage in his own end.

 

[joe dirte]

I personally find the Hawks and Leafs a fair bit too high, and the Oilers too low.

Larsson, Klefbom, Nurse, and Russell when healthy is a solid top-4. Nurse just hit 41 points, and Klefbom was on pace for 40 before he got injured. If Larsson can return to 2016-17 defensive form, the Oilers D becomes much better than 28.

No its not its among the worst in the league.

 

[joe dirte]

The juxtaposition of the praise of a "masterful job" by Dubas with the inclusion of CODY CECI on the top pairing is just too much to take. Someone looking to get on little Kyle's Christmas card list? lol

Where are some people getting the foolish idea ceci will be top pairing?

He will start on the second or third pairing and may end up in the press box.

 

[Trocity]

They had karlsson and burns last year and finished 11th worst in goals against.

This year will be more of the same.

Karlsson is garbage in his own end.

Or, you know, 20th.

11th worst lmao.

 

[Panthaz89]

While I think most here seem to underestimate the Sabres group 9 is about 5-7 spots too high they arent a top 10 D yet.

 

[joe dirte]

What if 4-5-6 is Dermott, Ceci and Sandin? That is one of the worst in the league?

Rielly-Sandin
Muzzin-Barrie
Dermott-Ceci

That isn't a good D core? That's what it could look like in the second half and into the playoffs. This ranking is for the season as a whole, not opening night. Sandin is LD, so either him or Dermott would have to play their off side to make that depth chart work. However, Liljegren is RD, so maybe slot him in there instead if Babcock insists on the L-R pairings. Still a very good group IMO.

Dermott is fine and can handle second pairing. Sandin is an unknown. Ceci sucks. Maybe he ends up passable as a third pairing dman but im not counting on it.

 

[joe dirte]

Or, you know, 20th.

11th worst lmao.

Same thing?

Its in the bottom portion of the league.

 

[bobholly39]

They had karlsson and burns last year and finished 11th worst in goals against.

This year will be more of the same.

Karlsson is garbage in his own end.

Good thing that in the NHL - defensemen are allowed to play hockey outside of their own zone and cross into the offensive zone...I hear Burns and Karlsson aren't half bad there.

Also - i'm sure GAA matters, but it'd probably be relevant to speak about the horrendous goaltending San Jose got all of last year. This probably accounts for something.

 

[joe dirte]

Rielly is not “elite”
Barrie is not a #1
Muzzin is not a #2

Ceci is meh


Take off the blue glasses bro

Rielly is definitely elite. No question. Produces among the best and is excellent defensively.

Barrie, im not sure. Definitely top pairing. Not gonna argue not a number 1 though.

Muzzin played a lot of number 2 in LA. He certainly can handle it.

Ceci flat out sucks.

 

[joe dirte]

Good thing that in the NHL - defensemen are allowed to play hockey outside of their own zone and cross into the offensive zone...I hear Burns and Karlsson aren't half bad there.

Also - i'm sure GAA matters, but it'd probably be relevant to speak about the horrendous goaltending San Jose got all of last year. This probably accounts for something.

Yes, he is good. In one end. Hes still terrible in his own.

 

[Mattb124]

They had karlsson and burns last year and finished 11th worst in goals against.

This year will be more of the same.

Karlsson is garbage in his own end.

The high GA was largely a system issue and not a player issue per se as it emphasized D men pinching to hold the o-zone. This led to a lot of odd man rushes against, which was hell on GA and goalie sv %.

Karlsson was also adapting to a new team/system (and sucked defensively the first ~1/3 of the season, partially due to being paired w/ Vlasic who was uncharacteristically awful) and then missed 29 games (the last 1/3+ of the season) with an injury, so not sure calling him out when referencing the team GA makes any sense.

 

[Viqsi]

I have explained my reasoning in the analysis and in the comments here. You don't like the reasoning, so you keep furthering the disagreement. Maybe go back and read my analysis and read my responses to you here. Obviously you are missing something. My stance hasn't changed, you haven't presented any facts in favour of Columbus' defence that made me go "wow, I didn't know that, I really should have ranked them higher ... "

You're acting as though Nutivaara is a #6 and Savard is a #4-5, with no basis I can see beyond ATOI. How does one explain to someone "no, Evgeni Malkin is not a #2C on most teams"?

 

[nbwingsfan]

On no planet does a team who might have Marincin/Ceci/Holl in its starting lineup have a better D than one with Werenski/Murray/Savard/Jones.

Columbus and Toronto should be switching spots, and then drop Toronto a bit more. Buffalo should also be quite a bit lower.

Detroit definitely deserves its placement. I remember the days of Lidstrom/Rafalski/Kronwall/Stuart guarding our blue line together

 

[nbwingsfan]

Rielly-Hedman
Barrie-McDonagh
Muzzin-Cernak
Dermott-Sergachev
Ceci-Shattenkirk
X-Coburn

I'm not really convinced that Toronto's defense is so much worse that there's an outcry for them being ranked 7th, but nothing about Tampa being 2nd

Because other than Cernak/Muzzin, Tampa wins every single one of those matchups?

 

[Michael HOMERUNing]

On no planet does a team who might have Marincin/Ceci/Holl in its starting lineup have a better D than one with Werenski/Murray/Savard/Jones.

Columbus and Toronto should be switching spots, and then drop Toronto a bit more. Buffalo should also be quite a bit lower.

Detroit definitely deserves its placement. I remember the days of Lidstrom/Rafalski/Kronwall/Stuart guarding our blue line together

There is absolutely no way Marincin, Ceci, or Holl are in the Leafs starting lineup. Babcock is bad, but not that bad

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Because other than Cernak/Muzzin, Tampa wins every single one of those matchups?

sure, you can make the case Tampa is better. I never claimed otherwise. I don't see such a massive gap that Toronto doesn't even deserve to be top 10 and Tampa is deservedly 2nd, though

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

I don’t hate the list overall, just a few spots that made me scratch my head. I do like Toronto’s new defence group, but I think their placement is a little to high. Likewise with Buffalo, it’s improved but not top ten worthy in my eyes. Maybe to much emphasis on depth? It’s nice that Buffalo has 12 NHL quality defencemen, but they are only going to play 6 of them.

 

[GOALOFSSON]

At least someone paid attention to what the Sabres did to their defensive core.

And Dahlin.

 

[nbwingsfan]

There is absolutely no way Marincin, Ceci, or Holl are in the Leafs starting lineup. Babcock is bad, but not that bad

With injury to Dermott and Babcocks reluctance to playing rookies over vets? Don’t bet on it.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Because other than Cernak/Muzzin, Tampa wins every single one of those matchups?

Not offensively.
It would be great if D could score too.