Ranking Star Scoring Centres Defensively

[DitchMarner]

In terms of defensive ability/impact, rate the following star centres:


Nathan MacKinnon
Connor McDavid
Auston Matthews
Jack Hughes
Connor Bedard
Jack Eichel
Tim Stutzle
Elias Pettersson
Trevor Zegras
Tage Thompson


Of the teams these players play for, I watch Toronto the most (obviously), followed by Edmonton. Objectively speaking, Matthews has always been solid to good defensively for a star centre. He routinely outscores the opposition at even strength and has good defensive metrics. He's a good positional player who can win battles and strip players of the puck. I guess you can argue that that he's not really in that Barkov/Kopitar group of defensive forwards since he doesn't play a shut down role, but he he's a two-way C.

I feel McDavid has improved considerably when it comes to defense. He's one of my favorite players to watch because of his offensive ability, but I feel as though he's transitioned from being a great rush and counter-attack player to being a guy who can more or less control games overall when he's on the ice. He's better in his own end than he used to be and he's another guy who constantly outscores the opposition at even strength and puts up good possession numbers.

I watch MacKinnnon a fair bit in the playoffs but not too much otherwise. He's a physical specimen and a force. I'm not sure his defensive skills are particularly refined or about his attention to detail in his own zone and such, but I don't think he's any sort of a liability.

Jack Eichel received praise for his two-way play in the 2023 playoffs. I'm not sure how good he is defensively most of the time, but I'm sure he also is no liability.

Pettersson has a reputation for being a smart player and reliable defensively and it seems fair.

My impression is Stutzle, Zegras, Hughes and Bedard are still developing their defensive games. I honestly have no idea about Thompson. I'm only familiar with his offensive capabilities. I never watched any of these teams unless they're playing a team I follow.

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[miscs75]

Mcdavid
Mackinnon

Most of the others you listed

Bedard (lack of experience)

Tons of other top line centers


Trevor Zegras



Hot shot just isn’t someone I trust in the defensive zone. There’s no hair stylist or Michigan opportunities for him.

 

[tarheelhockey]

There are guys missing from the list who are a lot better offensively than Zegras or Stutzle, and also a lot better defensively. Crosby, Barkov, Aho jump to mind.

 

[Three On Zero]

There are guys missing from the list who are a lot better offensively than Zegras or Stutzle, and also a lot better defensively. Crosby, Barkov, Aho jump to mind.

Yeah, majority of these offensive juggernauts are subpar to below average defensively. None of the true defensively sound centers are listed

 

[Regal]

Probably

Matthews
Eichel
Pettersson
McDavid
MacKinnon
Hughes
Stutzle
Thompson
Zegras
Bedard

 

[Three On Zero]

Probably

Matthews
Eichel
Pettersson
McDavid
MacKinnon
Hughes
Stutzle
Thompson
Zegras
Bedard

I would put Hughes above McDavid and Thompson above Stutzle. But that entire group can be interchangeable

 

[dgibb10]

Define defense?

McDavid and Hughes defense revolves around controlling possession. Other team can't shoot or score if they don't have the puck.

In terms of positioning, stick work, etc when the other team DOES have the puck, they aren't nearly as good.

So depends on your question of what defense is.

Is it the overall ability to limit the opposing team from scoring when on the ice, or is it what they do when the opponent has the puck?

 

[Three On Zero]

Define defense?

McDavid and Hughes defense revolves around controlling possession. Other team can't shoot or score if they don't have the puck.

In terms of positioning, stick work, etc when the other team DOES have the puck, they aren't nearly as good.

So depends on your question of what defense is.

Is it the overall ability to limit the opposing team from scoring when on the ice, or is it what they do when the opponent has the puck?

The bolded is more of their offensive game, I don’t know how you could consider that defensive ability

 

[DitchMarner]

There are guys missing from the list who are a lot better offensively than Zegras or Stutzle, and also a lot better defensively. Crosby, Barkov, Aho jump to mind.

It's just a list of guys who were drafted in the last decade or so and were expected to be better offensively than defensively. It's not supposed to be a list of the best offensive or defensive Cs. Crosby is much older than anyone listed. Barkov is the defending Selke winner and a noted two-way and good defensive forward. People responding are free to add Aho or whoever else.

Define defense?

McDavid and Hughes defense revolves around controlling possession. Other team can't shoot or score if they don't have the puck.

In terms of positioning, stick work, etc when the other team DOES have the puck, they aren't nearly as good.

So depends on your question of what defense is.

Is it the overall ability to limit the opposing team from scoring when on the ice, or is it what they do when the opponent has the puck?

Mostly the former here. It's more about defensive impact than just in-zone defense.

 

[dgibb10]

The bolded is more of their offensive game, I don’t know how you could consider that defensive ability

You can't get scored on if you have the puck. I'd argue it's the best way to stop the other team from scoring

 

[dgibb10]

It's just a list of guys who were drafted in the last decade or so and were expected to be better offensively than defensively. It's not supposed to be a list of the best offensive or defensive Cs. Crosby is much older than anyone listed. Barkov is the defending Selke winner and a noted two-way and good defensive forward. People responding are free to add Aho or whoever else.





Mostly the former here. It's more about defensive impact than just in-zone defense.

McDavid
Matthews
Eichel
Pettersson
Hughes
Mackinnon
Tage
Stutzle
Zegras
Bedard* (Tough to tell how much of his struggles are because of the dogshit team, how much are rookie struggles, or both. But the results were not pretty. Not worried long term about him at all)

 

[SillyRabbit]

If we're talking about defense as "what does this player do when the other team has the puck" then I think Matthews is clearly the best defensive center on this list followed by Eichel and Pettersson.

The rest are harder to rank.

Gotta give a shoutout to JT Miller though as his defensive game last season was better than both Eichel and Pettersson's, but it was the first season we've seen him play at that level defensively.

 

[Knies iT]

The Selke finalist #1.

 

[Raistlin]

I would rank them

Auston Matthews
Elias Pettersson
Jack Eichel
Nathan MacKinnon
Connor McDavid
Jack Hughes
Tim Stutzle
Connor Bedard
Trevor Zegras
Tage Thompson

Eichel and Pettersson are close if they are at the top of their games. Pettersson edges out because he has a better possession game, I consider that a contributor to their defensive repertoire. Mackinnon has a physical dimension that edges out McDavid. I have no clue how good Bedard is defensively at this stage, but it cannot be worse than Zegras and Tage.

 

[BKarchitect]

Basically splitting hairs. I think of this group, AM and EP have the most natural defensive instincts and Eichel, during the Cup run, showed a level of two-way play that was pretty awesome.

Ultimately, any of these guys could be defensive fiends if that was their priority. Clearly having guys like McDavid and MacKinnon expend an inordinate amount of energy being “defensively inclined” would be a fireable offense. You don’t want somebody outright lazy but I wouldn’t call it a major differentiating factor in the “level” of any of the mentioned players.

 

[kingsfan28]

There are guys missing from the list who are a lot better offensively than Zegras or Stutzle, and also a lot better defensively. Crosby, Barkov, Aho jump to mind.

Kopitar has entered the chat . Half the guy on that list can't even spell defense, and think it's what the other guys do and I don't half to.

 

[biturbo19]

Honestly, other than Matthews, Pettersson (when he's not getting knocked over in the breeze), and maybe MacKinnon (though that team plays so little defence in general, always on the attack so it's hard to say)...the rest of these guys are honestly pretty bad, or worse when it comes to their own zone.

A lot of them have to lean heavy on the offensive end of things to keep their metrics above water overall, and mostly keep their reputation out of the dirt. Which is fine, because most of them have the offensive chops to do just that, and be a major net positive. But there's some absolutely embarrassing defensive play out of most of these guys...to varying degrees.


The other thing, is that for a lot of these guys...they're more so just bad in their own zone, or disinterested or disengaged. Their offensive smarts let them be effective enough neutral zone defensive players to get by. Though a lot of them are also prone to doing too much and irresponsible puck management trying to generate offense above all else, as well as overcommitting at the offensive end.

 

[frisco]

Elite or close
Auston Matthews

Top end
Jack Eichel
Elias Pettersson

Above average, giving Thompson the edge for reach and compete
Tage Thompson
Nathan MacKinnon
Connor McDavid

Quite a bit below the top six. Hughes just gets overwhelmed physically as does Bedard. Stutzle is not interested and Zegras even less so
Jack Hughes
Connor Bedard
Tim Stutzle
Trevor Zegras

My Best-Carey

 

[DearDiary]

Good
1. Matthews
2. Pettersson
3. Eichel

Average
4. Hughes
5. Mackinnon
6. McDavid

Bad
7. Thompson
8. Bedard

Pylon
9. Stutzle
10. Zegras