The future of Canada's defence

[Drew4u]

The 2014 Canadian olympic probably had one of the best defensive cores of all time with the likes of Keith, Doughty, Weber, Burns.

However, the future of Canada's defence doesn't look bright. Just compare their U25 defence with America.

Ekblad, Parayko, Rielly, Dumba??

Werenski, Jones, Slavin, Mcavoy, Ghostisbere.

There seems to be a major gap in talent between these defences which is strange considering that Canada has always had a much better defence. So what has changed?

Click to read more...

 

[Advanced stats]

Meh, add morrissy and Hamilton to team Canada and it's virtually equal again depending on the season.


Probably more suited for the "international hockey" fourm

 

[Silencio]

Chabot?

 

[Shakey Rustie]

I blame the government's lack of defence spending.

 

[MMC]

Chabot, Chychrun, Makar.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Dermott and Dunn also look good. Canada just won wjc gold too so we must be doing something right

 

[Viqsi]

Could be that Canada's better blueliners haven't really shown up yet. Or just that the growth of the game in the US has exposed that we're better at producing blueliners than was previously believed. Or just unusual timing. Or any number of things.

For my part, I'm just pleased that two of my team's stars are also likely going to be stars for my country.

 

[Juicy Pop]

I wouldn't count out Sanheim with the way he's been playing since the call up.

 

[Mickey Marner]

I'm sure we'll be fine. Keith, Subban and Weber were all second round picks. You don't always see great defensemen coming from a mile away like you do with forwards.

 

[Hogan86]

The 2014 Canadian olympic probably had one of the best defensive cores of all time with the likes of Keith, Doughty, Weber, Burns.

However, the future of Canada's defence doesn't look bright. Just compare their U25 defence with America.

Ekblad, Parayko, Rielly, Dumba??

Werenski, Jones, Slavin, Mcavoy, Ghostisbere.

There seems to be a major gap in talent between these defences which is strange considering that Canada has always had a much better defence. So what has changed?

While I will admit the US group you listed as better, I don't feel the gap is as much as you may think. Your list is also missing Dougie Hamilton, Brandon Montour, Thomas Chabot and Jacob Chychrun. Plus Doughty, Subban, Pietroangelo are all 27 or 28. Canada is still producing top Dmen, nothing to be to worried about. If the NHL goes back to the Olympics, Canada will be the favourite for years and years to come.

 

[Mike Lowry]

Plus Doughty, Subban, Pietroangelo are all 27 or 28. Canada is still producing top Dmen,

LOL. One of these things is not like the others

Games Played for Team Canada (Senior)

Drew Doughty (age 28) - 28 games
Alex Pieterangelo (age 28) - 19 games
PK Subban (age 28) - 2 games (1 of those we are being very generous in giving, since it was a nothing game and he saw almost no ice as the 7th D)

for reference

Ryan Ellis (age 27) - 13 games

Added that if the NHL went to South Korea earlier this year, the first two guys would have added to those numbers, while the 3rd would have stayed at home.

Please stop with this fairy tale about PK Subban. The facts simply do not match what the basement crowd has been trying to push. Ryan Ellis is not only ahead of him in Nashville, but would also be with Hockey Canada. Give Ellis some love

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Doughty and Pietrangelo still have another Olympics in them.

You can easily fill in the remaining four spots with top young talent.

 

[XXIV97]

Darnell Nurse???

He could be Canada's shutdown defencemen

 

[Juicy Pop]

LOL. One of these things is not like the others

Games Played for Team Canada (Senior)

Drew Doughty (age 28) - 28 games
Alex Pieterangelo (age 28) - 19 games
PK Subban (age 28) - 2 games (1 of those we are being very generous in giving, since it was a nothing game and he saw almost no ice as the 7th D)

for reference

Ryan Ellis (age 27) - 13 games

Added that if the NHL went to South Korea earlier this year, the first two guys would have added to those numbers, while the 3rd would have stayed at home.

Please stop with this fairy tale about PK Subban. The facts simply do not match what the basement crowd has been trying to push. Ryan Ellis is not only ahead of him in Nashville, but would also be with Hockey Canada. Give Ellis some love

If you had a point, then you just lost it there.

 

[JackSlater]

Canada has been a bit weak at producing defencemen over the last decade, relative to stronger Canadian periods or recent American and especially Swedish defence production. It's something that should be looked at but isn't yet a glaring issue. Also, given the large number of Canadian players it is likely that a few elite defencemen will show up unexpectedly.

 

[Warden of the North]

Parayko, Ekblad and Rielly are nothing to sneeze at. I think you're underrating them to be honest.

 

[Viqsi]

LOL. One of these things is not like the others

Games Played for Team Canada (Senior)

Drew Doughty (age 28) - 28 games
Alex Pieterangelo (age 28) - 19 games
PK Subban (age 28) - 2 games (1 of those we are being very generous in giving, since it was a nothing game and he saw almost no ice as the 7th D)

for reference

Ryan Ellis (age 27) - 13 games

Added that if the NHL went to South Korea earlier this year, the first two guys would have added to those numbers, while the 3rd would have stayed at home.

Please stop with this fairy tale about PK Subban. The facts simply do not match what the basement crowd has been trying to push. Ryan Ellis is not only ahead of him in Nashville, but would also be with Hockey Canada. Give Ellis some love

The Human Rocket Ship has long been one of my favorite players on the Preds (arguably the favorite), and continues to be so, and likely will remain such for quite some time to come. He's tremendously underrated, and the most overwhelmingly underpaid player in the NHL not on an ELC. But he's not ahead of Subban.

 

[BKarchitect]

Canada's always going to have huge depth so while I think this next generation of American defenders in terms of the top, top might actually be better, it's not like TC is going to go into any serious tournament seriously handicapped defensively in any way.

The American core is awesome though - still think Jones is the best of the best in terms of the younger guys (having yet to see Dahlin in the NHL).

 

[Mike Lowry]

The Human Rocket Ship has long been one of my favorite players on the Preds (arguably the favorite), and continues to be so, and likely will remain such for quite some time to come. He's tremendously underrated, and the most overwhelmingly underpaid player in the NHL not on an ELC. But he's not ahead of Subban.

And yet, he continues to play ahead of him, and while I don't think he would have been picked for Team Canada last month, he was sure as sh1t higher up the depth chart than Subban was.

But what do facts matter right?

 

[Bob Barker]

And yet, he continues to play ahead of him, and while I don't think he would have been picked for Team Canada last month, he was sure as sh1t higher up the depth chart than Subban was.

But what do facts matter right?

Lol this is hilarious. Facts matter, but you are giving Ellis the edge because he has played in... the World Championship? The one that isn't best on best?

Facts don't lie folks. You're crazy if you think Tyler Seguin (10GP) would be ahead of Matt Read (16GP) on the Team Canada depth chart!

 

[Viqsi]

And yet, he continues to play ahead of him

...because Lavi has separated Subban and Ekholm so that they can cover for weaknesses elsewhere in the blueline lineup. Or did you really think Emelin was the best possible partner for Subban?

Look. We get it. You hate him. You've made that abundantly, overwhelmingly clear. In the past month, with 75 posts, 20 of those posts - nearly one third - have been about your disdain for PK Subban and anyone claiming he's good. (And a fair bit of the rest have been anti-Taylor and Tyler, but I digress.)

Interestingly, you seem to react similarly when the topic is Seth Jones. I wonder why that might be.

 

[tony d]

There's talent there but we need another impact defenseman to step up and fill the void when Doughty and Keith retire.

 

[613Leafer]

There's no clear Canadian legit elite #1 defenceman under the age of ~27-28 that I can think of. Doughty, Pietrangelo, Keith, Weber, Subban, etc all broke out as legit #1 guys by age ~20-24, so I think the current younger generation is definitely a bit weaker than what we had previously, because there are bunch of solid #2-3, or even 1B guys in that age range, but nobody that looks like they'll be contending for a Norris anytime soon.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Maker has massive potential

 

[Big Phil]

Yeah we'll be fine. When our best guys are 30 and under then there is no problem. Keith, Weber and Burns are over 30. Letang is 30 right now. Subban, Doughty, Pietrangelo are all under 30. They will all be there (Subban too maybe?) in 2022 and be still in their best years. Who knows who steps up by then.

We had this discussion about Canada's forwards and while I was skeptical at the beginning the more I looked into it the more I convinced myself that not only are we still going to be by far the best in 2022 but we are just fine in 2026 as well.