Top 10 defensemen

[SallyBalls]

Yep. Hutson bonafide top10

 

[newfy]

Yep. Hutson bonafide top10

Maybe in 2-3 years

 

[SallyBalls]

Maybe in 2-3 years

Weeks.

 

[ahmedou]

Yep. Hutson bonafide top10

My top 10 defensemen:

1) L
2) A
3) N
4) E
5) H
6) U
7) T
8) S
9) O
10) N

 

[SallyBalls]

My top 10 defensemen:

1) L
2) A
3) N
4) E
5) H
6) U
7) T
8) S
9) O
10) N

Makes perfect sense.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

This year I'd go with something like this, but the 5-10 is basically interchangeable, and I'm sure I'm forgetting people:

Hughes
Makar
-
Werenski
Fox
-
Morrissey
Hedman
Heiskanen
Dahlin
Josi
Theodore

I might lower Fox and raise Josi but hard to argue with this top 10.

I was thinking of my 11 and 12s but besides changing the order this is all 10 players I'd have in my top 10 this year.

Hughes
Makar
Werenski
Morrissey
Josi
Hedman
Fox
Heiskanen
Dahlin
Theodore

 

[TheUnusedCrayon]

On ice expected goals against per 60:

Hughes: 2.06
Makar: 2.09

On ice shot attempts against per 60:

Hughes: 46.11
Makar: 52.81

On ice high danger attempts per 60:

Hughes: 2.11
Makar: 1.99

One ice goal differential:

Hughes: +17
Makar: +7

On ice expected goal differential:

Hughes: +8.3
Makar: +9.1

Shots Blocked per game:

Hughes: 0.8
Makar: 1.1

Relative Corsi: (BY FAR THE BEST STAT TO INDICATE HOW IMPORTANT YOU ARE TO THE TEAM, indicates how effective you are with you on the ice vs off the ice)

Hughes: 25.4 (NHL record), even strength is 17.6, next closest is Adam Fox at 11.2. For context McDavid is at 9.5 for even strength.
Makar: 6.8, even strength is 4.4

Corsi % at even strength:

Hughes: 58.7
Makar: 55.2

Relative expected goals %:

Hughes: 14.9% (#1 in league including forwards)
Makar: 8.2% (#14 in league)

In majority of the advanced stats, Hughes is not only the better defender, but better controller of the game, while playing with a far far far worst cast of players (especially defensive partners). He's producing at a higher point per game pace, getting zone exits and controlled exits and entries far more than any other defender in the league and is in general controlling the play far more. It's not even close.

This was from a couple weeks ago:

Buddy is carrying the team by himself.

 

[PepsiCenterMagic]

 

[avsfan9]

I disagree. In my opinion, the belief that offensive defensivemen contribute more is because their impact can be measured. When a player makes a nice breakout pass that leads to a goal, it shows up on his stat sheet. You can visually correlate that breakout pass to the goal.

When a player clears a dump in that would lead to a goal, it doesn't show up on the stat sheet. As the goal never occurred, people ignore the possibility of the goal occuring and therefore it becomes a routine play rather than an impactful play such as the pass that leads to a goal. The defensemen basically get no credit for all the goals they prevent. It's not as if we have a crystal ball and could see all the goals that were prevented that seemed like an uneventful play at the time.

An ideal would obviously be a mix of the two, but I'm not convinced that if we were to isolate one or the other that any would be better. A defensive defenceman basically only gets credit when he stops an obvious goal, like he blocks a puck that was going into an empty net on a rebound. Most of their plays, breaking up passes, stopping 2 on 1's, etc. are easily forgotten and there's basically no record of them after the game.

So if you were starting a team from scratch what player are you taking first overall as a dman? I guarantee 99.9 % of people are taking Cale Makar. (Except Canuck fans) because as reported by every sports outlet and players league wide he is the best overall dman in the league but sure you can take Jacob Slavin or some other random “ great defensive dman “if you want to.

 

[TheUnusedCrayon]

So if you were starting a team from scratch what player are you taking first overall as a dman? I guarantee 99.9 % of people are taking Cale Makar. (Except Canuck fans) because as reported by every sports outlet and players league wide he is the best overall dman in the league but sure you can take Jacob Slavin or some other random “ great defensive dman “if you want to.

Funny because the award for best overall dman went to Hughes last year, as voted on by sports outlets...

Odd.