What are some offensive-minded defenseman that flat out suck on D?

[mattihp]

Offensive defensemen need to be way better defensively now than 10-15 years ago. There really isn't many who can't play a lick of defense like way back.

No Andy Elmore...

 

[Foppberg]

Yandle, Gostisbehere.

 

[JasonRoseEh]

John Carlson is the worst high profile offensive defenseman in the league for the last 3 years.

 

[SwedishFire]

Gostisbehere?

 

[Elysian]

Klingberg. Can't believe this thread went this long without his name being thrown out.

 

[Regal]

Quinn Hughes didn't have a spectacular season defensively, but I wouldn't write him off just yet. He missed Tanev a lot this year, and looked lost defensively without him.

I think he also got better as the year went on. He had a truly horrific start that his numbers never recovered from. To be honest, I question his training regiment (and the team seems to have a long-running problem of prospects/young players gaining size to the detriment of their skating), as he seemed slower and less agile coming into the year and it burned him as he relies a lot on his skating defensively.

 

[TheHelmet]

Shea Theodore
Thomas Chabot

 

[TheHelmet]

Girard, Theodore, Dumba don’t belong here, they’re offensive minded dmen but they’re not incompetent defensively. I don’t get how you could say them but not someone like Hughes. You even said Myers on Vancouver but he’s not even someone who would be considered an offensive minded dman.

Nurse definitely doesn’t belong with those others, he’s not even an offensive specialist. He plays top 3 minutes in the NHL with very little PP time. The whole he doesn’t have hockey IQ was put to rest by the strides he made this season.

Theodore belongs

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Mike Green at one point

One of my favorite red wings of all time but his name crossed my mind as well

 

[Rubi]

I figured Ristolainen's name would be the first name posted in this thread.

The guy has a career +/- of -163. Is there anyone worse?

 

[57special]

What is “Jonas Brodin”.

???

 

[txpd]

Offensive defensemen need to be way better defensively now than 10-15 years ago. There really isn't many who can't play a lick of defense like way back.

No Andy Elmore...

No? I remember when the Caps had Larry Murphy, Kevin Hatcher, Al Iafrate, Scott Stevens, Calle Johansson. They were all good defensively. In time Sergei Gonchar became good defensively. Delmore was not typical. Lets be fair. Offensive skills require talent and come out right away where experience is very valuable playing defense. Young offensively gifted defensemen need more time to learn the defensive game because they are doing more than a defense first defenseman.

Offensive skills from a defenseman are very different than with a forward. There are players that have those skills but never become good defensively. Lastly, seems that every top offensive defenseman becomes a whipping boy at some point because they have the puck a lot and are expected to make plays with it. They turn the puck over a lot more than the guy that goes glass and out. I remember when Caps fans basically ran Larry Murphy out of town and he is a hall of famer

 

[saintunspecified]

Nick Leddy

At least back in his Blackhawks days he was a smooth skater with a good breakout pass but a disaster in front of his own net.
Not sure how he is with the Isles.

He's good at some things, bad at others. He's great one v one, or angling skaters, and he uses his speed to get in position. He gaps up + is pretty good on odd man rushes, too. When there's a cycle established and there are players going everywhere, his decision-making/awareness can be suspect. He's always played with a netfront defender (Boychuk, Mayfield) to alleviate his weakness. But he's never looked as bad defensively for NYI than many of the defenders listed on this thread.

 

[sufferer]

Risto isn't even offensive-minded per se, he's just racked up a ton of secondary assists on the powerplay with Eichel.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Devils legend Eric Gelinas, his shot was like Sheldon Souray and his defensive awareness was non existent

Speaking of defensemen that couldn't play D...

Sheldon Souray was mediocre on his best days in his own zone.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

Speaking of defensemen that couldn't play D...

Sheldon Souray was mediocre on his best days in his own zone.

Souray was a defensive wizard compared to Gelinas, but ya he was a bit of a train wreck too

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

John Carlson is this thread.

 

[Seanaconda]

In his defence,

In his double defense he is only like 5'6 and knocked out an opposing goalie with his shot

 

[FlyTimmo]

Gostisbehere?

He definitely doesn't flat out suck on D. He is one of the Flyers better d-men when it comes to defense. It might not be saying much but still.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Mathieu Schneider made some pretty boneheaded plays during his career. Great on the powerplay but there were times I wondered if he knew what position he was playing in his own zone.

I don't remember Sergei Gonchar being particularly good in his own end ever.

 

[JianYang]

Some of these guys being listed took a regular shift throughout their entire careers, so they couldn't have been the worst defensively.

The answer to this thread are the guys who don't play regular shifts, and seem to get most of their ice time on the PP.

So the people who have put out names like bergeron, and Gustafsson are on the right track.

 

[Nemesis Prime]

letang

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

I figured Ristolainen's name would be the first name posted in this thread.

The guy has a career +/- of -163. Is there anyone worse?

That’s not really from being offensive minded though, that’s from playing #1 D for 25 minutes a night for awful teams. Ditto the points- he’s got some decent offensive skills, but he isn’t offensive-minded, he just plays lots and plays PP. He’s a 6’4” hitter for Pete’s sake, he’s just consistently played above his actual proper spot since he entered the league.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Rielly's name has been thrown out here but he does not flat out suck on defense. Not for a while anyways.

Jake Gardiner fits the bill perfect. Absolute disaster in his own end, and there were a bunch of mistakes he made that were often blamed on other guys (mostly Zaitsev near the end).

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Hughes, Karlsson, Fox

Fox's defense is literally better than his offense. How do you say you haven't watched Fox play without saying you haven't watched Fox play?