Klefbom - #2
Bear - #3
Nurse - #3
Larsson - #4
Russell - #6
Benning - #6
#2-#3
#3-#4
#6-#6
The defensive core is pretty decent. If Bouchard can be a #3 by next season, we will be in fantastic shape.
I'd say-
Klef- #2
Bear- #3 (on the whole I'd say Bear has outplayed Nurse and if you think him a product of Nurse, his numbers were even better when he was paired with Klefbom)
Nurse- #3/#4 (becoming less inconsistent with time, but it still dogs him a bit)
Larsson- #5 (seems to be quickly trending out of this tier, but too much bad hockey out of him in the past year and a half to consider him 2nd pairing quality, in my eyes he slipped a rung and is in the process of climbing his way back up)
Russell- #5 (I've long considered him a 4/5D tweener, but I think his game has sunk enough that he's just a great #5D now)
Benning- #5 (Him and Russell were demolishing the competition numbers wise this season, two #6's don't fair that well if they are both truly #6D, Russell- Benning is a stronger duo than 90% of the 3rd D pairs in the league)