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

[NoMessi]

Malkin.

/thread

 

[tony d]

Rick Nash I guess. He's developed into somewhat of a 2 way player the past few yrs.

 

[Reasoned Opinion]

Brandon Sutter.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Dmitrj Jaskin, I mean even Blues fans don't give him enough credit. When he's on the ice his team constantly allows much lower chances both quality and quantity wise, same goes for goals against. Yes he takes easy comp, but his team mates aren't anything special and it doens't matter how easy comp you take, if you're constantly top 10 of all forwards in quality suppression rates every single season yet you don't get defensive spotlight, you're underrated defensively.

 

[ESH]

Pretty much any defensive winger tbh. A guy like Michael Frolik is day-in, day-out putting in consistently great defensive effort, yet you’ll never hear about it really because wingers don’t get much recognition in Selke voting.

 

[Pancakes]

Malkin.

/thread

Yeah, he's really good defensively when he has a mind to be. Fantastic at stick lifts.

In 2009 when he won the Smythe everyone marveled at the points but he had some beastly defensive efforts. His game 7 defense vs Wings after the Pens got up was a sight to see. Back checking, breaking up plays, just so dominant.

 

[sabremike]

Eichel can be hit or miss but I mention him for a play I saw him make several times this season: the opposing team would end up with a clear no doubt about it breakaway but Eichel would come out of nowhere like a bat out of hell and break it up, often before the guy even got close to goal. It was just amazing to watch.

 

[Critical13]

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.

Of all the posters to come in and pump their own player's tires, I am least surprised it's you.

 

[CodeE]

Of all the posters to come in and pump their own player's tires, I am least surprised it's you.

 

[Pancakes]

I guess he's not exactly underrated but I've always though Nicklas Backstrom is a really solid two-way player. He takes care of his own zone.

 

[sabremike]

Of all the posters to come in and pump their own player's tires, I am least surprised it's you.

But he also happens to be 100% right.

 

[Atomos2]

Marner

 

[heretik27]

Pretty much any defensive winger tbh. A guy like Michael Frolik is day-in, day-out putting in consistently great defensive effort, yet you’ll never hear about it really because wingers don’t get much recognition in Selke voting.

I'm not so sure about Frolik for the purpose of this thread. He doesn't really have a great shot and didn't really seem to be an offensive dynamo with the Jets, but his defensive play was always what we loved about him.

 

[RibFrabcus]

Teravainen

 

[Mick Riddleton]

DeBrusk, kid is always back there busting up plays with his speed and tenacity

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Kuznetsov

 

[Klaus3154]

Jesper Fast is rarely out of position and a tenacious backchecker. Very surprised he doesn’t get as much recognition as I feel he deserves