The Most Underrated Defensemen in the NHL

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Just let it go man. We get it, Fox is good.

To be clear, I was responding to people who quoted my post and wanted to disagree with my opinion.

 

[krutovsdonut]

i mean fox is no bobby orr and he's no brad park either. he's not even close to a consensus number 1 or 2 dman for his era. to argue he's underrated as a top 5 is just projecting the insecurity of rangers fans.

 

[STL fan in MN]

I’m going to throw out a name - Nick Leddy. Perhaps not the most underrated but definitely underrated none the less.

Admittedly, most of us Blues fans cringed a bit when Leddy was paired with Parayko on the top pair. But by golly, he handled it beautifully! He and Parayko play some of the toughest minutes in the league (combo of QoC and defensive zone starts) and on a team that finished a collective -11, he finished +14, best on the team. He’s known as an offensive d-man but he’s quite good at transitions and his plus skating ability allows him to get back when most other d-men would be beat.

Not ideally a top pairing guy but he’s currently getting paid to be the Blues #4 yet playing the #2 role and doing it quite well.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Speaking of defensemen, I had no idea OEL was still in the league. Is he still any good? Maybe he's another candidate for this thread?

 

[Uberpecker]

Mikey Anderson is underrated, #2D on the third best GA team in 2023/24, plays 20:52 and is only 24, it's not always about points.

If you're a grown ass man and you call yourself "Mikey" you probably deserve to be underrated.

@Fatass

Dahlin

Not sure if "underrated" is the word I'd use for Dahlin. I have no doubt in my mind, however, that he'd be unanimously considered a superstar in the game if he played for a different team.

 

[byrone12]

Slavin

 

[I am not exposed]

Yeah Forsling is a great answer.

 

[I am not exposed]

Speaking of defensemen, I had no idea OEL was still in the league. Is he still any good? Maybe he's another candidate for this thread?

Yeah, he's had a really solid season in Florida. Very happy with the pick up. He's probably priced himself out of an extension with Florida though.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Yeah, he's had a really solid season in Florida. Very happy with the pick up. He's probably priced himself out of an extension with Florida though.

Did you know he was still in the league before he signed? LOL I think of OEL, I think of the Coyotes from 2012 and probably earlier. I was legit a completely different person then.

 

[TLEH]

Alex Vlasic. Chatfield a good one from page 1.

 

[Buck Naked]

Weegar is still underrated after all these years.

 

[Sdevils42]

Forsling

 

[Sdevils42]

Fox has finished top 5 in Norris voting every year of his career other than his rookie year. Josi has finished top 5 in the Norris 4 of 11 years other than his rookie year.

Yes, Fox is the better defenseman.

Citing Norris votes is an extremely flawed way of evaluating defenseman. It's maybe the most controversial award there is, usually goes to best offensive dman.

I think Fox is a good player. He's an extremely cerebral player that helps make up for his lack of physical gifts, he's not a good skater, he's slow, he's not strong on the puck, but he's incredibly smart and savvy with his decision making and has good hands.

I don't think he's a #1 on a Cup team though. His speed and physicality gets exposed in the POs. He's not a Keith, Doughty, Hedman, Makar etc imo... If anything I'd say he's a bit overrated from the Norris win in the Covid year.

 

[Buck Naked]

Citing Norris votes is an extremely flawed way of evaluating defenseman. It's maybe the most controversial award there is, usually goes to best offensive dman.

Why do people keep saying this like it's true?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Citing Norris votes is an extremely flawed way of evaluating defenseman. It's maybe the most controversial award there is, usually goes to best offensive dman.

I think Fox is a good player. He's an extremely cerebral player that helps make up for his lack of physical gifts, he's not a good skater, he's slow, he's not strong on the puck, but he's incredibly smart and savvy with his decision making and has good hands.

I don't think he's a #1 on a Cup team though. His speed and physicality gets exposed in the POs. He's not a Keith, Doughty, Hedman, Makar etc imo... If anything I'd say he's a bit overrated from the Norris win in the Covid year.

He’s not a #1 on a Cup team but he literally won the biggest prize in the game for a defenseman and is routinely a top 5 defenseman in the league?

That’s a take. Good chance it’ll be tested this year too.

 

[Sdevils42]

He’s not a #1 on a Cup team but he literally won the biggest prize in the game for a defenseman and is routinely a top 5 defenseman in the league?

That’s a take. Good chance it’ll be tested this year too.

Karlsson won it last year and is nowhere near a "defenseman" in that regard. Like I said Fox is a good player but he's not like the guys mentioned above. Keith, Doughty, Hedman, did it all, scored, played physical etc. Fox racks up PP points and is downright "soft" as a defenseman. Again, his best trait is his smarts and savvy, he doesn't dominate physically. The style he plays certainly won't age well imo.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Karlsson won it last year and is nowhere near a "defenseman" in that regard. Like I said Fox is a good player but he's not like the guys mentioned above. Keith, Doughty, Hedman, did it all, scored, played physical etc. Fox racks up PP points and is downright "soft" as a defenseman. Again, his best trait is his smarts and savvy, he doesn't dominate physically. The style he plays certainly won't age well imo.

That Nick Lidstrom wasn’t a good player?

 

[Hale The Villain]

That Nick Lidstrom wasn’t a good player?

He wasn't throwing bone-crushing body checks so he's a soft weenie that obviously you can't win with.

 

[AslanRH]

quinn hughes for sure

The rookie from the Devils?
Seems a bit early for that I think

 

[blueandgoldguy]

Josh Morrissey. As a top-10 d-men in the league he doesn't get talked of as such.

 

[Raistlin]

Vlasic. Bedard gets all the hype, the roster and organisation is trash, so no one notices him.

 

[Sdevils42]

He wasn't throwing bone-crushing body checks so he's a soft weenie that obviously you can't win with.

Yea totally took that in the right context lol... He's not physical in the slightest with his body, gets moved off the puck, beat to the puck etc. He's very good at slashing and cross checking though

He’s not a #1 on a Cup team but he literally won the biggest prize in the game for a defenseman and is routinely a top 5 defenseman in the league?

That’s a take. Good chance it’ll be tested this year too.

Certainly is a take

 

[McDrailers]

Ekholm simply for the fact he’s the only Oilers Dman that knows how to…defend.

 

[Oak]

Citing Norris votes is an extremely flawed way of evaluating defenseman. It's maybe the most controversial award there is, usually goes to best offensive dman.

I think Fox is a good player. He's an extremely cerebral player that helps make up for his lack of physical gifts, he's not a good skater, he's slow, he's not strong on the puck, but he's incredibly smart and savvy with his decision making and has good hands.

I don't think he's a #1 on a Cup team though. His speed and physicality gets exposed in the POs. He's not a Keith, Doughty, Hedman, Makar etc imo... If anything I'd say he's a bit overrated from the Norris win in the Covid year.

This is a really good description of Fox imo.

Fox being top 5 in the league is highly subjective. He is definitely not top 2.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Devils fans are something else. Good luck with winning a cup with Luke Hughes as your number 1.