Who was the best defenseman in the 90's?

[Hardyvan123]

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.

This is a usefull metric and I took Bourque for the decade as well.

One thing in Bourque's favor, and we will see it again this year I think with Lidstrom, is that the voters as a whole seem to reward reputation and older guys and younger guys who might have better years need to pay their dues and wait to bump already established guys from the Norris and all-star teams.

Also I took my 90's from 91-2000 (I'm on of those 1999 wasn't the actual end of the millennium guys).

 

[overg]

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.

But would the list really change that much if you do take playoffs into account? Chelios and Leetch probably close the gap on Bourque a bit, but pretty much everyone on that list had some great and not so great runs during the 90's.

 

[Merya]

Norris trophy shares - 1989-90 to 1998-99

Pet peeve of mine. 90s is 90-91 to 99-00. You start and end at a round number. Or you go 1-10, 1-100, 1-1000, etc.

 

[blogofmike]

Pet peeve of mine. 90s is 90-91 to 99-00. You start and end at a round number. Or you go 1-10, 1-100, 1-1000, etc.

So what years would be included if we looked at the top playoff d-men of the 1990's?

1991-2000, with 1990 excluded?

I prefer 89-90 to 98-99, or the 10 years that crowned teams that were 199X champions. The 1990 playoffs should be part of the 1990's, shouldn't they?

 

[Gobias Industries]

Pet peeve of mine. 90s is 90-91 to 99-00. You start and end at a round number. Or you go 1-10, 1-100, 1-1000, etc.

I'd prefer 89-90 to 99-00...that way you get every second of "the 90's"..

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I'd prefer 89-90 to 99-00...that way you get every second of "the 90's"..

I rolled with that.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

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

best overall: bourque

best defensively: bourque (but it is close)

best offensively: leetch

personal favourite: vladimir konstantinov

homer favourite: gerald diduck

in the 90s, bourque was in a class of his own. he had the highest peak ('89-'90 season and playoffs), easily the best consistency, outscored everyone, was the best defensively for a lot of the decade, though he had stiff competition from chelios and stevens on that count. and he probably played enough minutes to be in the top twenty in minutes as a goalie in that decade. the cut-off for the top twenty is about 20,000 minutes. he would have had to average just under 27 minutes a game to reach that total, which he almost certainly did.

after that, it's easily chelios. he took three norrises from a prime bourque, two of them came in the 90s. that is amazing. had a defining playoff run, workhorse, was utterly utterly dominant.

after that, you would have to choose between leetch and stevens. remember that stevens only wins one cup in the 90s, though he had a very strong playoff record regardless. i think leetch wins this-- it's close, but there is clear separation. their whole careers, i'd take stevens without thinking twice. but leetch had a better 90s.

after that, you have macinnis and coffey, who were fantastic at times. i'd put lidstrom and blake in this conversation too. macinnis was dynamite at the beginning and end of the decade, but average (by elite standards) for most of the middle. coffey had an MVP-like norris year (lockout abbreviated), and had some other solid years, but he wasn't close to the coffey of the 80s except in short bursts. blake and lidstrom didn't really step into that level until closer to the end of the decade.

1. bourque
2. chelios
3. leetch
4. stevens
5. macinnis
6. lidstrom (playoffs vault him over coffey)
7. coffey
8. blake
9. murphy
10. could be a lot of guys... desjardins?

 

[sr edler]

Calle Johansson

Zhitnik

Olausson

Ken Daneyko

Teppo Numminen

Jyrki Lumme

 

[Merya]

I'd prefer 89-90 to 99-00...that way you get every second of "the 90's"..

That's eleven seasons, decade is ten, as implied by "deca". So it's fundamentally wrong. You can think 00 to 09, or 01 to 00. Although most of the world uses 01-00, and all of the scientific community does. *ramble*

I won't say Bourque since he failed to win. Lidas maybe because he was so great in the latter half of the decade. But I think I'll reluctantly give the nod to Stevens. Perhaps not the best but maybe the scariest.

ps. @the edler. Giving thumbsdown to Teppo Numminen means you have no soul.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

If the 1990's start with the 1989-90 season, I would say Bourque

If the 1990's start with the 1990-91 season, I would say Leetch

Both won two Norris trophies in that decade, but Leetch had a 100-point season, a Conn Smythe, and Captained the 1996 World Cup team that won gold

Plus, Bourque was a mind-numbing -28 in the postseason during the decade. While +/- shouldnt be an end-all/be-all stat, you have to consider his +124 in the regular season during that span

I will add that the reason why I omitted Chelios was because he had the luxury of playing on better teams with better goaltending but was a part of some pretty significant playoff failures.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Lol, someone actually picked Ken daneyko?

 

[Sens Rule]

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.

I agree.

1) Bourque
2) Chelios
3) MacInnis
4) Stevens
5) Leetch

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Stevens in 94 > MacInnis in 99

 

[BubbaBoot]

Bourque
Stevens
Chelios
Murphy
MacInnis
Leetch
Lidstrom
Blake
Desjardins`
Lefebvre
Coffey
Johansson
Numminen
Duchesne
Daneyko
Suter
Reekie
Samuelsson
Chiasson
Lumme
Svoboda


more or less in order.


EDIT: should place Housley and Kevin Hatcher somewhere around here....Zubov and Schneider should be in the lower reaches of the top 25 too, maybe Olausson.

 

[tony d]

Top 5:

1) ray bourque
2) Chris Chelios
3) Scott Stevens
4) Nicklas Lidstrom
5) Brian Leetch

 

[CHGoalie27]

Top 5:

1) ray bourque
2) Chris Chelios
3) Scott Stevens
4) Nicklas Lidstrom
5) Brian Leetch

!

LOL My top 5 is:

1) Scott MF Stevens
2) Lidstrom
3) Leetch/Bourque
4) Leetch/Bourque
5) Chelios