Who was the best defenseman in the 90's?

[Robert Theodorson]

Zubov is a solid choice, 2 Cups, put up an average of around 45-50 points in the 90s

Prototypical 2 way defensemen

 

[Gary Roberts]

Chelios or Borque

 

[mhkehoe]

Leetch IMO

Homer vote to Hatcher

Kevin was quite a player....

I would vote Bourque. Fantastic defenseman in all aspects of the game. I am a Pens fan, and they had some guys go through there (Coffey, Murphy, Zubov), but none of them had the complete skill set of Bourque.

 

[Luca]

Personal favorite: Larry Murphy.

 

[chizzler]

Zubov is a solid choice, 2 Cups, put up an average of around 45-50 points in the 90s

Prototypical 2 way defensemen

Zubov was OK but not dominant. Zhitnik is a stretch. Bourque hands down.

 

[arsmaster*]

Bourque is the 2nd best defensman of all time.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

It comes down to Bourque, Lidstrom, Stevens, Chelios, MacInnis, Leetch, Murphy and Coffey. Guys like Desjardins, Housley, Hatcher, Duchesne or Zubov ought to be mentioned as great D-men of the 90s but aren't really in the running for best.

My personal pick is by the way Chelios for being a nasty S.O.B., intimidator and man of tremendous skill at the same time.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

If you say anyone other than Bourque or Lidstrom you are crazy. There were other great defenseman (Pronger, MacInnis, Blake, etc) but Bourque and Lidstrom were the toast of the league.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

If you say anyone other than Bourque or Lidstrom you are crazy. There were other great defenseman (Pronger, MacInnis, Blake, etc) but Bourque and Lidstrom were the toast of the league.

Lidstrom wasn't really considered the elite D-man in the league until the very late 90s and in the first half of the 90s he wasn't much of a factor in terms of looking at elite D-men. If you look at his career, the 2000s really were Lidstrom's decade.

 

[Bobo420]

Best overall: Ray Bourque

Best Defensively: Scott Stevens

Best Offensively: Paul Coffey

Personnal Favorite: Al MacInnis

Homer Favorite: Eric Desjardins

HM: Rob Blake, Ken Daneyko, Brian Leetch, Sergei Zubov, Nik Lidstrom, Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Chelios, Kevin and Derian Hatcher, Glen Wesley, Gary Suter, Phil Housley, Mark Tinordi, Adam Foote

 

[Maxpoweri*]

You are not thinking raight

Well I think that the main thing is for the defender is to defend the goal .. and no other than Teppo Numminen did that beter in the 90s!!!! So forget the flashy attackers hidden as defenders and choose Numinen!!!

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Chelios, Bourque, MacInnis, Blake, Zubov, Niedermayer, Sandis Ozolinsh for some of it. Lidstrom, Kostantinov *

I agree here. If not for Konstantinov's accident, he would have fully joined the elite.

 

[JackSlater]

Bourque
Lidstrom
Chelios
Leetch
MacInnis

Bourque was the best mainly due to the first six seasons of the decade. After that he was still a top end defenceman. Lidstrom was tremendous in the second part of the decade, and had a few years earlier where he was still a very god defenceman. Chelios was very solid throughout the decade, and I put him ahead of Leetch mainly due to durability. Leetch had a five year run where he was great. MacInnis may have been the defenceman of the decade had he been healthier.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Bourque
Lidstrom
Chelios
Leetch
MacInnis

Bourque was the best mainly due to the first six seasons of the decade. After that he was still a top end defenceman. Lidstrom was tremendous in the second part of the decade, and had a few years earlier where he was still a very god defenceman. Chelios was very solid throughout the decade, and I put him ahead of Leetch mainly due to durability. Leetch had a five year run where he was great. MacInnis may have been the defenceman of the decade had he been healthier.

Is very god better than demi-god? I keed, I keed.

 

[Maxpoweri*]

Bourque
Lidstrom
Chelios
Leetch
MacInnis

Bourque was the best mainly due to the first six seasons of the decade. After that he was still a top end defenceman. Lidstrom was tremendous in the second part of the decade, and had a few years earlier where he was still a very god defenceman. Chelios was very solid throughout the decade, and I put him ahead of Leetch mainly due to durability. Leetch had a five year run where he was great. MacInnis may have been the defenceman of the decade had he been healthier.

good list but where is t. numminen?

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

The thing with Lidstrom really is, would he be at the top of many of these lists if you ask this question in December 1999 and not know about the six Norris Trophies in the 2000s? He would probably make it into quite a few top 5s but I don't remember his reputation then being what it is now at all.

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

Bourque

Chelios
Leetch

Lidstrom
MacInnis

 

[JT Dutch*]

... As much as it pains me to say it, I think Chelios was the best of the 90s, followed by Bourque and Leetch. I'd give honorable mention to Coffey and Blake, two of my all-time favorite players.

 

[RabbinsDuck]

Bourque and Chelios were consistently the best defensemen of the entire decade.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Bourque and Chelios were consistently the best defensemen of the entire decade.

Agree. Stevens, Leetch, and MacInnis are next.

Lidstrom wasn't elite until the very end of the decade.

 

[fireworks]

Macinnis
Stevens
Chelios
Blake
Lidstrom
Leetch

All of the above are good defensemen,but in my opinion Bourque is the best!

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Norris trophy shares - 1989-90 to 1998-99

Defenseman|Norris share
Ray Bourque | 467
Chris Chelios | 262
Brian Leetch | 256
Al MacInnis | 235
Scott Stevens | 146
Nicklas Lidstrom | 132
Paul Coffey | 122
Chris Pronger | 78
Rob Blake | 75
Larry Murphy | 71

A "Norris share" represents how many votes a defenseman earned, out of the total number of possible votes. One unanimous Norris trophy is worth 100 points.

Note that this doesn't take playoff performance into account at all. If you think that the people who vote for the Norris trophy are idiots, you won't like this metric.

 

[reckoning]

Norris trophy shares - 1989-90 to 1998-99

Defenseman|Norris share
Ray Bourque | 467
Chris Chelios | 262
Brian Leetch | 256
Al MacInnis | 235
Scott Stevens | 146
Nicklas Lidstrom | 132
Paul Coffey | 122
Chris Pronger | 78
Rob Blake | 75
Larry Murphy | 71

Bourque's lead over everyone else is amazing.

 

[Big Phil]

I'd go with Borque, Chelios and Stevens. MacInnis was pretty good too.

Chelios started the 90's on fire (Norris in '93 & '95, 60-70 pts/year), MacInnis came on late (Norris in '99). Borque was solid throughout.

Pretty much this. Hard to argue with Bourque. Throw in Leetch as well, he also won a couple Norris trophies. Coffey and Lidstrom make the cut as well although they were not good at the same part of the decade.

 

[Hardyvan123]

http://www.hockey-reference.com/pla...val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=points

Hard to argue Bourque for the entire 90's

Although the plus/minus leader was Stevens.

I'd throw Chelios, for his overall play, and Lidstrom, for his strong finihs and playoff play, into the mix as well.

Surprisingly, Larry Murphy led defensive scoring and plus/minus in the playoffs in the 90's who would have guessed that?

http://www.hockey-reference.com/pla...val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=points

All 4 guys have their strong points and arguments for being the best in the 90's but I'd have to take Bourque at 1st blush.