Who are some players who don’t get enough credit for their strong defensive play?

[Fire Benning]

Opposite of the other thread.

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[Iapyi]

According to some over zealous posters Crosby fits this though it may have been the same genius who puts Ovechkin at the same or a higher level then Gretzky and Lemiuex.

I've seen guys like Tavares and Getzlaf be accused of this by less experienced fans.

 

[MacDonald4MVP]

In general its players of smaller stature.

 

[I am not exposed]

Reilly Smith.

Huberdeau for the Panthers.

 

[koyvoo]

Gardiner Jake

 

[hockeyguy1967]

McDavid. He is great in his own zone, tons of takeaways. People see the points and assume he is not but he is a top 20 Forward in his own zone easy.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Jake Muzzin.

His mistakes aren't often of the 'blown coverage' type, they're turnovers. His actual defensive play is very, very good.

 

[sethro109]

Landeskog

 

[Wewillrise]

Mcdavid

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Alex Kovalev was quite capable defensively and Oleg Petrov was subtly capable of changing things in his own end.
David Rundblad was incredible.
In today's game, Tomas Plekanec is really underappreciated.

 

[East Coast Icestyle]

I think people like to bash Monahan but he has really come into his own, defensively, same as Dougie Hamilton.

For the rest of the league, I think someone like Logan Couture. When we play the sharks, he's their best goal scoring threat but also one of their best all around players. I find he's generally just forgotten when talking about great players.

 

[end]

He is a defensive defensemen, so maybe not appropriate for this thread, but Ian Cole is a secret hero of the 16 and 17 Stanley Cup playoffs. Especially the 17 version where he had to play crucial minutes. I trusted no one more to get the job done when the puck was in our zone. I love his shotblocking, I love his ability to consistently crowd out forwards on 50-50 pucks in our zone, and his toughness throughout a grueling playoff run.

 

[izzy]

Berglund

 

[PensandCaps]

Playoff Malkin.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

Alex Kovalev was quite capable defensively and Oleg Petrov was subtly capable of changing things in his own end.
David Rundblad was incredible.
In today's game, Tomas Plekanec is really underappreciated.

Rundblad? Really?

 

[VoluntaryDom]

Steven Stamkos is a good choice for this, at least the way he’s played the last few months.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I don’t know how he’s perceived by other fanbases, but a huge part of Sebastian Aho’s value is his backchecking game.

 

[Appleyard]

Michael Raffl is one of the better defensive wingers in the NHL... but rarely gets talked about. Probably as even though he is also a great PKer objectively Hakstol hardly uses him.

 

[Lays]

I know this is turning into a name your own teams player thread but I have to mention Kevin Hayes, he played like a Selke caliber player after the deadline. Let’s hope it continues

 

[SlapshotTheMovie]

Rick Nash. Dude isn;t going to put up 40 goals anymore but he is far from done in the league.

 

[McDrailers]

Brayden Mcnabb / Nate Schimidt. Excuse the spelling

 

[Aladyyn]

Sam Reinhart

 

[Critical13]

Tyler Seguin looked good defensively in the half dozen Stars games I saw this season. I remember him being a trainwreck as a winger in Boston, so I was shocked when he looked decent as a C.

 

[Barrie22]

Joe thornton is good defensively even though people never think so because he always leads the league in turn overs.

 

[CodeE]

The narrative this year was that Barzal was an all offense/no defense player.

He actually led the Islanders in takeaways by a fair amount.