dirtydanglez
Registered User
- Oct 30, 2022
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Kieth is easily the best defensively of the group and 1D’d the Hawks to 3 Cups and 2 WCF appearances. He had 2 Norris trophies was considered a top 3 Dman for over half a decade.
Karlsson’s offense was so amazing he won 3 Norris trophies despite his pretty bad defense. His 2017 run was phenomenal as well.
Not sure why this is such a blowout especially with Q. Hughes being the clear cut weakest of the bunch.
The irony here is that Hughes won his Norris in a much more convincing fasion than EK ever did.It's close.
But it's also clear that Quinn Hughes is still, for whatever reason, wildly underrated. He's a top 5 player in the NHL.
Are some of you really going to act like Quinn Hughes is not clearly the 4th best defenseman of the group?
I really doubt given a choice a GM would choose Hughes over any of Karlsson, Makar, or Keith. Q. Hughes is great but he has one Norris win and a top 9 finish. Makar has [1, 2, 3, 3 ] finishes, Karlsson [1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 7], Keith has [1, 1, 4, 6, 6, 7]. Q. Hughes definitely wasn't playing at a Smythe level this past playoff campaign either. Something Makar did at 22 years old, somethign Karlsson did in 2017, something Keith did 3x in his career.I don’t know if it’s clear cut. His regular season play since the start of last year is basically as good as any of them. He hasn’t had the playoffs of the others yet though
I really doubt given a choice a GM would choose Hughes over any of Karlsson, Makar, or Keith. Q. Hughes is great but he has one Norris win and a top 9 finish. Makar has [1, 2, 3, 3 ] finishes, Karlsson [1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 7], Keith has [1, 1, 4, 6, 6, 7]. Q. Hughes definitely wasn't playing at a Smythe level this past playoff campaign either. Something Makar did at 22 years old, somethign Karlsson did in 2017, something Keith did 3x in his career.
He's a dynamic player and one of the best in the league, he's still behind these 3 overall.
That's fair. I personally would have a hard time putting Hughes above these guys until he has a monster run in the playoffs. It's the most important thing and something all of the great defenseman have done.I agree for career he’s definitely a ways behind and GMs would take the guys who are more proven in the playoffs. But his Norris at 24 was the same year Keith even started getting any Norris votes, and he’s been even better this year. There’s still lots of time to pull ahead eventually. It’s very doubtful he’ll have the playoff career of Keith, but he could have the better regular season career. Obviously a long way to go though.
I think the big thing here is that Keith started a bit late and Karlsson’s career was impacted by significant injury, so there’s potential for the younger guys to have a fuller prime, even if a peak to peak comparison might still end up in the old guys’ favour.
That's fair. I personally would have a hard time putting Hughes above these guys until he has a monster run in the playoffs. It's the most important thing and something all of the great defenseman have done.
Yes since this is highlighted in the OP and this misguided notion that hughes isn't good defensively is getting not only tired but lazy.Are some of you really going to act like Quinn Hughes is not clearly the 4th best defenseman of the group?
Sure but are people really going to look at one great run and then not look at the overall picture even playoff wise?That's fair. I personally would have a hard time putting Hughes above these guys until he has a monster run in the playoffs. It's the most important thing and something all of the great defenseman have done.