Do you also concede that he is the best “Defender” in the world?
So I’m a huge Weber fan but wouldn’t go so far as to say he is the best defender in the world. There have to be guys that play less minutes that are total shut down types. I think you could make an easy argument that he is top 5 for players that play big minutes. I’m sure if I watched 30 teams play 60 games a year I could find a better defender but I am pretty sure there aren’t many better.
Bottom line is there is no real objective criteria to define a top defensive player. But to me, his positioning is unreal, he is almost always in the right spot. And not because he plants himself, quite the opposite - he is constantly challenging on his off side, on zone entry’s, at the other teams blue line. He is incredibly efficient at closing space. This is why you can put any plug with him and that guy suddenly looks NHL material - he covers both sides of the ice. Last, he is physical and blocks a lot of shots, one this year that was for sure a goal and two very dangerous ones last night. There are elite d men in the league that only block a shot if they can’t get out of the way quick enough. Sorry but if you aren’t willing to block as many shots as you can you are not a top defender IMO. Its always been a part of playing defense.
There is so much sublety to the defensive game and I’ve given up trying to convince posters around here as to why his so impressive. Some people are so confused about the d zone that they mistake his being in position for lack of speed. I mean if you aren’t chasing, sliding all over are you really playing good defense? There is one guy in the league thats considered a top defender that is consistently out of position, lets his coverage get behind him a LOT. He has a good stick though and can recover but makes a ton of mistakes that aren’t always glaringly obvious like a give away or getting blown around.
Someone needs to create an app that would allow a fan to break down film easily, would be fun to use examples to demonstrate.