No. 9 - HFBoards Top 32 Defenseman in the NHL - 2026 Offseason Edition

[Lavar Ball]

Offseason is here fellas - time for some polls to rank the best players in the league! Please drop suggestions on who should be added in the future or any other notes.

Rank​	Player​	Team​	% of Vote​
1​	Cale Makar​	Avalanche​	28/34 (82.4%)​
2​	Quinn Hughes​	Wild​	36/48 (75.0%)​
3​	Zach Werenski​	Blue Jackets​	63/104 (60.6%)​
4​	Rasmus Dahlin​	Sabres​	40/64 (62.5%)​
5​	Miro Heiskanen​	Stars​	25/50 (50.0%)​
6​	Moritz Seider​	Red Wings​	27/53 (50.9%)​
7​	Lane Hutson​	Canadiens​	24/51 (47.1%)​
8​	Jake Sanderson​	Senators​	14/67 (20.9%)​
9​

To Be Added:
Mikhail Sergachev
Gustav Forsling
Jakob Chychrun
Erik Karlsson
John Carlson
Devon Toews
Noah Dobson
K'Andre Miller
Mattias Samuelsson
Filip Hronek
Travis Sanheim
Shayne Gostisbehere
Thomas Chabot

 

[Machinehead]

Is HF going to show its entire boil covered ass and not put Adam Fox in the top 10?

 

[wetcoast]

Is HF going to show its entire boil covered ass and not put Adam Fox in the top 10?

How about the guy who arguably had the best season last year in Bouchard?

It's getting close even if I have Fox/Schaefer ahead right now I'm a vacuum.

 

[Xspyrit]

lol at Bouchard not being in the Top-10 (#1 PPG in the playoffs the last 4 years and 3rd in regular season the last 3 years)

Since 2022-23, Bouchard has 79 pts while #2 (Heiskanen) has 38 pts... lol and comfortably the best PPG (1.22)

Hutson and Sanderson are very good but not sure they should have been voted over Fox, Schaefer and Bouchard.

Well, at least the Top-6 is quite good like that.

 

[Sting]

lol at Bouchard not being in the Top-10 (#1 PPG in the playoffs the last 4 years and 3rd in regular season the last 3 years)

Since 2022-23, Bouchard has 79 pts while #2 (Heiskanen) has 38 pts... lol and comfortably the best PPG (1.22)

Hutson and Sanderson are very good but not sure they should have been voted over Fox, Schaefer and Bouchard.

Well, at least the Top-6 is quite good like that.

I mean, particularly in the case of Sanderson, it's not all about points. The guy not only puts up respectable numbers, he's also facing the opposing team's best lines and is a superb shutdown player. Evaluating them on points alone is not a great strategy. Agreed on Hutson, though.

 

[amnesiac]

to add: Harley, Parayko

 

[D1az]

These days defensemen are apparently largely ranked based on how well they play as the 3rd or 4th forward.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Slavin

 

[Xspyrit]

I mean, particularly in the case of Sanderson, it's not all about points. The guy not only puts up respectable numbers, he's also facing the opposing team's best lines and is a superb shutdown player. Evaluating them on points alone is not a great strategy. Agreed on Hutson, though.

I can't post my list in every thread but I did in the #8 poll

#1- Cale Makar
#2- Quinn Hughes
#3- Zach Werenski
#4- Rasmus Dahlin
#5- Adam Fox
#6- Moritz Seider
#7- Miro Heiskanen
#8- Evan Bouchard
#9- Matthew Schaefer
#10- Lane Hutson
#11- Jake Sanderson
#12- Brock Faber
#13- Charlie McAvoy
#14- Jaccob Slavin
#15- Josh Morrissey
#16- Jackson LaCombe
#17- Erik Karlsson
#18- Roman Josi
#19- Gustav Forsling
#20- Devon Toews

If you analyze my posts and lists, you'd quickly observe that my rankings are not defined by "Evaluating them on points alone". If that was the case, I would not have Seider 6th and Hutson 10th, for example. Hutson has the 7th best PPG in the league since his rookie season.

Production is certainly a factor, like defensive play is, all of this in regards to usage and role difficulty. I think my list takes all of this in consideration (but of course, I'd need way more tools and access to paywalls to have a deeper analysis, with more time too. I am not paid to do this)

Specifically in regards to Sanderson, he finished 10th for the Norris last year and this season so my 11th placement can't be too far off.

 

[HavingACow4Cowan]

lol at Bouchard not being in the Top-10 (#1 PPG in the playoffs the last 4 years and 3rd in regular season the last 3 years)

My impression is that many think he's just a guy with a big shot who's a product of McDavid and Draisaitl offensively, terrible defensively and a giveaway machine.

He's not Chris Pronger, but I'm not sure he's particularly bad defensively for an offensive defenseman.

 

[SillyRabbit]

Everyone complaining about their guy not being on the list already but who are you taking off?

Sanderson is the only one I can see the argument for being lower.

Huston soundly defeated Bouchard in a head to head poll less than a month ago so people clearly have him ahead.

 

[Montreal Shadow]

lol at Bouchard not being in the Top-10 (#1 PPG in the playoffs the last 4 years and 3rd in regular season the last 3 years)

Since 2022-23, Bouchard has 79 pts while #2 (Heiskanen) has 38 pts... lol and comfortably the best PPG (1.22)

Hutson and Sanderson are very good but not sure they should have been voted over Fox, Schaefer and Bouchard.

Well, at least the Top-6 is quite good like that.

Yeah, he scores lots of points. Almost everyone else in the top 10 could post gaudy numbers if they played the run and gun offense with putrid defense that is Edmonton’s system.

 

[Spawn]

I mean, particularly in the case of Sanderson, it's not all about points. The guy not only puts up respectable numbers, he's also facing the opposing team's best lines and is a superb shutdown player. Evaluating them on points alone is not a great strategy. Agreed on Hutson, though.

Not all about points. Unless its Makar, Hughes Werenski or Hutson.

 

[dgibb10]

Fox or Slavin.

No idea how fox has lasted this long.

Fox had a dominant on ice performance on one of the worst teams in the league (his metrics compared to his teammates are mind boggling).

He was ELITE on the PP.

And was still at a PPG.

If he didn't get hurt it was arguably the best year of his career.

 

[Xspyrit]

Yeah, he scores lots of points. Almost everyone else in the top 10 could post gaudy numbers if they played the run and gun offense with putrid defense that is Edmonton’s system.

Do you think Montreal's system was any different?

Actually, numbers tell us it was worse.

Ranking per xGA/60 at 5v5 :

1- Vegas 2.27
2- Ottawa 2.32
8- Carolina 2.49
13- Edmonton 2.63
26- Montreal 2.85

Ranking per xGA/60 all strengths :

1- Vegas 2.72
2- Ottawa 2.82
4- Carolina 2.89
14- Edmonton 3.18
27- Montreal 3.46

The difference between the 2 team was goaltending.