How has Edmonton not been mentioned even once? With Sekera out we have one top pairing guys (Larsson) 2 #4s (Nurse/Klefbom) and then a bunch of trash.
Who has the worst D-Core in the NHL?
- Thread starter TeddyBare
- Start date
Without looking into it much Ottawa (assumingly no Karlsson), Detroit, and Montreal (especially no Weber) are right up there. The Leafs are really going to pad their numbers against these teams, especially given all three of those teams don`t have a goalie to cover up for the defensive woes (maybe Price).`
Conspiracy Theorist
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If Ottawa keeps EK we may have one of the best LHD RHD combo as far as skill /speed in Chabot and EK ...But the rest does need work.... sniff
AmericanDream
Thank you Elon!
ShelbyZ
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Detroit is definitely at the top of the list.
Green - Their best Dman, who is spotty in his own zone and would be a sheltered 2nd pairing/PP guy on a good team
Kronwall - Can barely skate and is pretty much a "PP specialist" at this point. This will be his last season
DeKeyser - Dropped way off after signing his big long term extension. Was better the 2nd half last season, so maybe he's still salvageable?
Daley/Ericsson - Both would be ideal 3rd pairing guys on a good team, but asked to play a bigger role in Detroit. For a while last season, they were actually decent playing together though. These two are also the only ones, with maybe the only exception being DeKeyser, that have anything close to average ability when it comes to killing penalties
Jensen - Can skate fast. That's it. Hopefully they can exploit that to con some GM into overpaying for him at the deadline like Gorton did with Brendan Smith
Witkowski - Can play 10 minutes on the 3rd pairing and beat people up if needed. FWIW, I thought he looked better playing D than when Blashill dressed him on the 4th line...
The silver lining is that they are supposed to promote one Dman out of camp for this season (likely Hronek, maybe Sulak). And other than DeKeyser, the other Dmen on the main roster are likely to leave either through retirement, free agency or the trade deadline over the next 2 years. In those two years they are likely to transition Hronek, Sulak, Hicketts and Cholowski to the main roster.
As for "why did they re-sign Green?". IMO, the development of their young forwards (of which they now have many - Larkin, Mantha, Bertuzzi, Athanasiou, now Rasmussen and likely Zadina, and at some point Svechnikov) probably goes smoother when they have at least one Dman that can effectively move the puck up ice at 5v5...
Green - Their best Dman, who is spotty in his own zone and would be a sheltered 2nd pairing/PP guy on a good team
Kronwall - Can barely skate and is pretty much a "PP specialist" at this point. This will be his last season
DeKeyser - Dropped way off after signing his big long term extension. Was better the 2nd half last season, so maybe he's still salvageable?
Daley/Ericsson - Both would be ideal 3rd pairing guys on a good team, but asked to play a bigger role in Detroit. For a while last season, they were actually decent playing together though. These two are also the only ones, with maybe the only exception being DeKeyser, that have anything close to average ability when it comes to killing penalties
Jensen - Can skate fast. That's it. Hopefully they can exploit that to con some GM into overpaying for him at the deadline like Gorton did with Brendan Smith
Witkowski - Can play 10 minutes on the 3rd pairing and beat people up if needed. FWIW, I thought he looked better playing D than when Blashill dressed him on the 4th line...
The silver lining is that they are supposed to promote one Dman out of camp for this season (likely Hronek, maybe Sulak). And other than DeKeyser, the other Dmen on the main roster are likely to leave either through retirement, free agency or the trade deadline over the next 2 years. In those two years they are likely to transition Hronek, Sulak, Hicketts and Cholowski to the main roster.
As for "why did they re-sign Green?". IMO, the development of their young forwards (of which they now have many - Larkin, Mantha, Bertuzzi, Athanasiou, now Rasmussen and likely Zadina, and at some point Svechnikov) probably goes smoother when they have at least one Dman that can effectively move the puck up ice at 5v5...
Kaners Bald Spot
Registered User
Are we talking only about name recognition?
If not, Chicago has to be right up there with Detroit and Montreal.
Go look at Keith and Seabrook's numbers last year. Abysmal.
The remainder of the group is a solid mid pairing guy(Murphy) and a bunch of AHL fodder(Gustafsson, Manning, Rutta)
If you actually watched the games last year, Murphy was their best defenseman most nights, but that isn't saying much. Keith and Seabrook have 4 and 6 seasons respectively remaining on their contracts so it isn't getting better any time soon. It remains to be seen, but if Keith doesn't bounce back this season, both he and Seabrook are bottom pairing defenders going forward. It is tough to be competitive when you have $12M of cap tied up on your bottom pairing.
If not, Chicago has to be right up there with Detroit and Montreal.
Go look at Keith and Seabrook's numbers last year. Abysmal.
The remainder of the group is a solid mid pairing guy(Murphy) and a bunch of AHL fodder(Gustafsson, Manning, Rutta)
If you actually watched the games last year, Murphy was their best defenseman most nights, but that isn't saying much. Keith and Seabrook have 4 and 6 seasons respectively remaining on their contracts so it isn't getting better any time soon. It remains to be seen, but if Keith doesn't bounce back this season, both he and Seabrook are bottom pairing defenders going forward. It is tough to be competitive when you have $12M of cap tied up on your bottom pairing.
PositiveCashFlow
Snowmen fall to earth unassembled
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It’s insane how only Oilers fans (and one Jets fan) mentioned the Oilers. They truly have the worst D core in the league and it’s not even close.
Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Russel
AHL Lifer-Benning
What could possibly be worse than this?
Sekera is out, that’s why he’s not on this list.
Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Russel
AHL Lifer-Benning
What could possibly be worse than this?
Sekera is out, that’s why he’s not on this list.
Nurse + Klefbom(if he bounces back) and Larsson isn't bad. Certainly not bottom 5.
JPeeper
Hail Satan!
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Didn't Edmonton also bleed shots last year too? I have seen a shot chart and they gave up a ton of chances right in the prime areas (slot/around the net). I didn't want to mention Edmonton because then it just becomes a flame war since I am a Flames fan. Flames defence also bled shots, just not as many from high danger areas.
For the money some of these teams are spending on D (like Edmonton, Detroit) it is astounding how bad some of these defences are.
Hahaha
The Leafs are sooo in your head that you are answering questions that haven't even been asked just so you can mention them.
But you aren't biased right?
For all the Leafs haters out there (we all know who you are), if you don't want to talk about the Leafs then STOP BRINGING THEM UP!
So are you saying that Toronto's defence is the WORST in your opinion?
Or are you just another Leafs hater that needs to get their hate out?
Volica
Papa Shango
- May 15, 2012
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Larsson, Klefbom and Nurse are all top 4 guys that are 25or under; Klefbom and Larsson have played at the level of top pair Dmen in their career before. Nurse is a young talent that has shown steady progress. Right now he's a decent middle pair guy.
Teams like Detroit lean on guys like Trevor Daley (35 to start the year), Jonathan Ericsson (34 going on 35), and Niklas Kromwall (37) to do heavy lifting. These guys haven't been able to do that kind of lifting in years (if ever).
I get taking pot shots at Edmonton, but honestly, there wouldn't be many teams who'd not give up some assets for their 3 guys on D. Compare that to Montreal (sans Weber) or Detroit. How many people are lining up to pickup the services of Jon Ericsson?
You know what I love about this thread... Instead of the normal "My Team' is better than your team" bullshit we get on here; we have a thread where the majority of posts are "My team is worse than yours" lolol This is awesome!
Most of the posts here seem to be highlighting the weakness of the position in the home town teams. Maybe this says more about how tough it is to find, develop, and keep good D?
Most of the posts here seem to be highlighting the weakness of the position in the home town teams. Maybe this says more about how tough it is to find, develop, and keep good D?
ManofSteel55
Registered User
Because we have one top pairing guy and there are a pile of teams that don't even have that.
ManofSteel55
Registered User
Take a look at Detroit, Islanders, Canucks, Canadians (especially without Weber), Ottawa and the Rangers and you'll see worse. And "AHL Lifer" will either be a recent Stanely Cup depth player or our best defensive prospect, not an actual AHL Lifer. Bottom 10? Easily. I wouldn't even argue if you put the Oilers next on this list after the teams above.
Name one team with worse RHD than the Leafs.
You cannot, so resort to emojis. I am pretty sure I tossed you on ignore, does this feature not work anymore?
Steeze
Dazed Dilettante.
- Jul 23, 2015
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The Leafs don't have a great defense, especially on the right side; however, anyone ranking them in the very bottom is delusional unless they also think Andersen is a top five goalie.
Steeze
Dazed Dilettante.
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Are you preparing to try and argue Toronto has the worst defense in the league? Because no one is going to bother ranking every teams RD situation in order to prove you wrong when they can much more easily point out the nineteen teams last year that had a worse GA than Toronto.
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Your top 6 defenseman and how many goals your team allows are different things.
Boston and LA both finished in the top 4 in goals allowed last season. I don't see them brought up like Nashville or Anaheim or Carolina or Calgary or Columbus or Tampa when talking about best D groups.
Goals allowed is a team stat. System, forwards, goalies and d-men.
The people arguing Toronto has the worst D core are obviously out of their mind, but the counter argument of "look at how many goals were allowed" isn't the right one.
The real answer here is Detroit regardless.
Boston and LA both finished in the top 4 in goals allowed last season. I don't see them brought up like Nashville or Anaheim or Carolina or Calgary or Columbus or Tampa when talking about best D groups.
Goals allowed is a team stat. System, forwards, goalies and d-men.
The people arguing Toronto has the worst D core are obviously out of their mind, but the counter argument of "look at how many goals were allowed" isn't the right one.
The real answer here is Detroit regardless.
Askel
By the way Benning should be fired.
Because its still better than the Canucks with their 2 injury prone no 2-3 d-men and 6 bottom pairing guys. The entire Canucks d-core score 21 goals last year. Or the crap that Detroit puts out behind Green. Montreal looks bad with Weber injured as well.
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