Best D-Man since Lidstrom?

[Gnome17]

You could, but I don't think it would be a very compelling argument.

How so? top 3 in voting for best defenseman, 5 years in a row. Won a conn smythe and stanley cup last year.
What players have been a lot better than him, so much better that you cant even argue that hes been the best?

 

[Lebowski]

How so? top 3 in voting for best defenseman, 5 years in a row. Won a conn smythe and stanley cup last year.
What players have been a lot better than him, so much better that you cant even argue that hes been the best?

Starts with Mc ends with David, and it's not even close.

 

[Herby]

Starts with Mc ends with David, and it's not even close.

We are discussing defenseman, right?

I would vote for EK, his peak while maybe not as long as Hedman's will be was flat out special.

 

[Gnome17]

Starts with Mc ends with David, and it's not even close.

So playoffs doesnt matter at all? Defense doesnt matter at all?

 

[Gurglesons]

Hedman.

 

[Lebowski]

So playoffs doesnt matter at all? Defense doesnt matter at all?

As I said, you can make that argument if you’d like, but to me it’d be borderline laughable.

 

[Gnome17]

Some people seem to struggle with keeping "Best" and "Most entertaining" apart.

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

I was going to go Hedman but I feel like thats recency bias. Keith was a big factor in the Hawks dynasty years. I think maybe slightly more impactful than Hedman relatively but its almost a wash. Keith also has some slightly better international medals although Hedman hasnt gotten the chance in his prime. But really....Olympic medals should be best on best....Hedman doesnt have that.

IMO another cup and a couple medals and another Norris and he will have matched Keith.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Best player is Karlsson. Best career is definitely going to be Hedman, if he isn't already. Among the listed players, Hedman is behind only Chara for most Norris finalists (5x) and I'm pretty sure he'll get a few more. Has a smythe and other great playoff runs. Has a cup and chances to win more in Tampa. Ticks every box. Only argument for better career imo is Keith. Keith's 2015 smythe run is better than anything Hedman has done. But Hedman is a 5x Norris finalist, with potential to add, vs 2x for Keith. 5x AST vs 3x for Keith. That gap is bigger than Keith having a better smythe run. Today it's a coin flip, but by the time he's done it should comfortably be Hedman.

 

[Adele Dazeem]

If you're not voting for Karlsson you fall under these three categories.
1. You don't know a thing about hockey - a fair weather fan (nothing wrong with that)
2. You only watched small clips of Karlsson when he'd made a mistake - you know because he's human.
3. You have a strong hate for Karlsson for whatever irrelevant reason

 

[Regal]

If you're not voting for Karlsson you fall under these three categories.
1. You don't know a thing about hockey - a fair weather fan (nothing wrong with that)
2. You only watched small clips of Karlsson when he'd made a mistake - you know because he's human.
3. You have a strong hate for Karlsson for whatever irrelevant reason

Sure thing bud.

 

[nickdawg95]

Karlsson at his peak was the most game breaking defencemen i've seen. stop disrespecting that man.

 

[Adele Dazeem]

Karlsson at his peak was the most game breaking defencemen i've seen. stop disrespecting that man.

You're an intellectual person, most are not.

 

[AuraSphere]

best dman at their peak no doubt Karlsson. Him and Stone taking Ottawa to the top 4 with a trash team was remarkable. That to while injured.

He's bad now but people forget how insanely good he was.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Karlsson was unbelievable at his peak and the stuff he was doing on the ice was ridiculous.

Those 4-5 years were just an onslaught of highlight-reel plays.

 

[x Tame Impala]

If you're not voting for Karlsson you fall under these three categories.
1. You don't know a thing about hockey - a fair weather fan (nothing wrong with that)
2. You only watched small clips of Karlsson when he'd made a mistake - you know because he's human.
3. You have a strong hate for Karlsson for whatever irrelevant reason

 

[Eisen]

Best at their best Karlsson. Best career, so far, Keith but Hedman could change that(I mean technically Karlsson still could aswell but he seems pretty done).

I see it the same way.

 

[Voight]

Checks out.

At Keith's peak he was an offensive and defensive force who could change the momentum in a game with his play. He could score a key goal or lay out another player at ease while playing 25/30 minutes a night.

Karlsson was a great offensive player, but his defensive play (or lack of) left much to be desired.

 

[Bustedprospect]

Hedman. With 5 straight nominations, 1 Norris, 1 Smythe, and 1 cup he is clearly the best of his generation. Looking very consistent and could string a nice career if this continues.

 

[x Tame Impala]

It was actually in the 2015 Cup Finals that I realized Hedman was the real deal. I think in the first 3 games of that series Kane had 0 points, was a -2, only put up 3 shots in game 1 and 0 in both game 1 & 2. A lot of that was Victor Hedman.

I guess i just have a fundamental disagreement with a lot of hockey fans here but I can’t see how it’s possible to wish you had Karlsson as your team’s #1 Dman rather than Kieth/Hedman. We’ve watched a lot of Cup Finals with Kieth/Doughty/Hedman in them and it’s crystal clear having a #1 D being not only elite on offense but who can also shut down opponent’s best forwards game in and game out when the games matter most is the way better way to go.

Use the “strength of team” excuse if you want but it’s blatant that Karlsson’s type of skill-set isn’t good enough to win Cups. And this new wave of young, offensively-elite, dmen coming through the league are going to have the same lack of results Karlsson did. You’ve gotta be able to play elite-shutdown defense to win in the playoffs. Bottom line

It’s not even worth arguing about anymore because we’ve been doing it since like 2013. Just a fundamental disagreement, which is fine. Karlsson was so awesome to watch play. Definitely must-see hockey whenever he was on the ice, but I’ll always think Kieth/Doughty/Hedman were better.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Prime Erik Karlsson had the highest peak, but Hedman has been a more consistent Norris quality D.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

If Hedman gets the cup and another Norris I’d start considering him.

For me, it’s Keith, with Karlsson at 2.

Keith was a good margin better defensively than Hedman imo.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

I mean, considering career its Chara, but I dont count him as a "post Lidstrom" defenseman. He was a cohort

1,2,2,3,3,3,4,5 Norris voting
3x AS-1
4x AS-2


For the true "post Lidstrom" it's Keith

 

[TheProspector]

Hedman. With 5 straight nominations, 1 Norris, 1 Smythe, and 1 cup he is clearly the best of his generation. Looking very consistent and could string a nice career if this continues.

I think with 1 Norris, 1 Symthe, and 518P in 816GP + 84P in 124 postseason GP (total = 602P in 940GP), at 30 years old, Victor Hedman has already strung together a nice career IMO. Probably first ballot HHOFer.

 

[Phil McKraken]

Well defense is more important than points when comparing defensemen because...defensemen.

That's just semantics though. In Swedish for example, they're called backs.

Imagine if forwards were called offensemen - would that actually change Bergeron's impact?