What Team has the top future D corp ?

[Guadana]

Werenski is still young, I could see him and Mateychuk and Jiricek potentially being better than the Devils trio.

I don't. And many others don't see it too.

There are some D corps that can develop better in the next 4-7 years but not Jackets. All of Jackets core pieces have lower ceiling, worser skating, worser defensive habits.

Overall Colorado and Dallas should be good in the next 4-5-even 7 years, but Devils defensive corp is great to be on the level with them.

Jackets have intriguing center core. In case of strength and if Lindstrom will be healthy - potential is very intriguing. But its a theme for another topic.

 

[Baksfamous112]

Filling the #1D spot is by far the most difficult thing. I think Montreal’s being overrated with that in mind. Reinbacher is their only realistic hope for a true #1 and he had a really bad d+1 by any measure, even more so considering how much he had to prove he was worth the draft position.

Did he? He got pretty comfortable when he came to NA. 5 points in 11 games and +6 on a team that went 4-7 in the final stretch and -11 in goals diff in that time.

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

Did he? He got pretty comfortable when he came to NA. 5 points in 11 games and +6 on a team that went 4-7 in the final stretch and -11 in goals diff in that time.

Guessing he means in Europe which is kinda true maybe the injuries and that horrible team didnt help but he did good here in Laval will see how he does this year

 

[Nocashstyle]

Apparently folks in this thread decided that D can no longer be elite after the age of 28.

I'm willing to bet that Cale Makar will be better at age 32 than Luke Hughes will be at age 27.

Or, it’s the prospects board and the discussion is about prospects and very young dmen.

Makar has 315 regular season games played.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

It'd be nice if OP had created some expectation how 'top' and 'future' should be measured before starting this pissing match and dipping midstream.

 

[My3Sons]

A fair amount of this sort of outcome is going to turn on how the morons that administer the game decide to run it. For a while it seemed that the people in charge were going to really crack down on obstruction and head shots and clutching and grabbing and that would favor guys with skating and skill. More recently, however, the geniuses in charge are allowing a fair amount of clutching and grabbing and slow play and hits to the back and lightly penalize hits to the head. So we will have to see how the game evolves. You notice that most of the contenders for potential best defense have loaded up on skill and few of the names mentioned include old school style defenders.

 

[majormajor]

Or, it’s the prospects board and the discussion is about prospects and very young dmen.

Makar has 315 regular season games played.

Yeah but that's just plain silly in a topic called "what team has the top future D corp?". "Best prospect D group" would be great for the discussion you want to have.

 

[Guadana]

Yeah but that's just plain silly in a topic called "what team has the top future D corp?". "Best prospect D group" would be great for the discussion you want to have.

For jackets/devils it works well as short as long term. May be jackets will draft best defenseman in top 10 next draft and it may change the whole picture, but for now it is what it is.

 

[crazyhawk]

It's going to be Chicago ... but I'm an unabashed homer!
If and it's a good sized if Levshunov hits along with Korchinski and Rinzel plus we have Vlasic who is already showing as a top shut down D then add in Del Mastro, Allan and Kaiser I think we have a good chance to have one of the better D cores if not the best in 3 years.
Notice I didn't mention Jones ... yeah we have him too!

 

[McDonald19]

Ducks might win this for depth of D prospects, but need another top end guy to go with Minty to win the poll overall.

 

[My3Sons]

It's going to be Chicago ... but I'm an unabashed homer!
If and it's a good sized if Levshunov hits along with Korchinski and Rinzel plus we have Vlasic who is already showing as a top shut down D then add in Del Mastro, Allan and Kaiser I think we have a good chance to have one of the better D cores if not the best in 3 years.
Notice I didn't mention Jones ... yeah we have him too!

It's always difficult to assess good players on bad/mediocre teams. Until they can do what they do on a good team with all the constraints they impose it's hard to say what may and may not translate.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Ducks might win this for depth of D prospects, but need another top end guy to go with Minty to win the poll overall.

Well, Ducks GM Verbeek and a knee infection prior to the start of the WJC kinda derailed that high-end promise in RD Luneau. And since Luneau didn't turn 20 years old until Jan, Luneau was not eligible to be put into the AHL. Verbeek kept Luneau with the NHL club until the WJC in order to put Luneau into a bulking and weight lifting program, which is why Luneau played a total of 13 pro games (7 NHL and 6 AHL on a rehab/haven't played in a while stint). At the WJC is when that knee infection hit and Luneau never got back onto the ice until long after the season ended. There was so much hype about Luneau participating at the WJC and being one of its leaders.

If Luneau would have been sent back to the QMJHL, then we probably would have seen the 2022-23 QMJHL d-man of the year (DotY) continue his dominance upon the league. Maybe we will have to re-visit this a year from now to see what Luneau has to offer. There is no denying that top-end talent is there for Luneau.

Anaheim boasts three DotY

• Zellweger: WHL DotY x2 (2022, 2023), CHL DotY (2023)
• Mintyukov: OHL DotY (2023)
• Luneau: QMJHL DotY (2023)

All three saw some time in the NHL in 2024.

Then factor in "The Most Violent Man in the 2024 NHL Draft", according to Elite Prospects, in LD Stian Solberg and the Ducks look pretty mighty in their top-4. While Solberg is mostly known for his devastating hits, his sneaky, slow developing offensive game gets overlooked. His offense pops when playing against his peers (U18, U20), But because his physical play and skating are so far advanced for his age, Solberg has been playing in the Norwegian men's league for the past three seasons. Of course that all paid off at the 2024 World Championships, where Solberg proved his play against men at a higher competition level and his stock skyrocketed from that point onward. The question isn't if Solberg will be in the NHL, but rather when will the Norwegian Nightmare terrorize the NHL.

Anaheim flaunted four rookies at the NHL this season and that fourth rookie d-man is LD/RD Jackson LaCombe. Left shooting LaCombe is a fast skating, 2-way D-man. Unfortunately, due to injuries, LaCombe was hoisted into the top pairing RD role less than 10 games into the season. That baptism by fire probably would have cratered most rookies, but LaCombe rode through it and the head coach identified him as the most improved player throughout the season. If LaCombe can develop a more aggressive mindset, then his talent floor could rise. Right now, he's settled in as a 2nd/3rd pairing guy who can play either side.

We haven't even talked about the late blooming offensive d-man in Rodwin "Hot Rod" Dionicio. If you like Parekh's offense, then you'll also love Hot Rod's offense.

Anaheim's Potential top-6 in the future

Mintyukov - Luneau​

Solberg - Zellweger​

Dionicio - LaCombe​

Of course, the Ducks still have some notable talents in their pipeline in 6'3 LD/RD Tyson Hinds (2023 QMJHL defensive d-man of the year), 6'5 RD Noah Warren, and 6'3 RD Ian Moore. All three are defensive d-men who are taking their time to develop.

And with a projected top-5/10 pick in the 2025 draft, Anaheim will most likely add another defenseman into its pipeline.

 

[Finster8]

Dionicio had to step up his game in the OHL playoffs and The MC due to Parekh playing hurt and he certainly did.
When he came over from Windsor it wasn’t that hard to see why DD wanted him for his club. Anaheim you have another quality D and some good scouts

 

[Bounces R Way]

Probably New Jersey. Big believer in Nemec. Less so in Hughes and Silayev but they'll probably be at least decent top 4 guys. Casey is going to play NHL games too.

After that it gets murkier, but Anaheim's track record with dmen is quality. Sabres have an interesting mix, Dahlin and Power clearly are capable of another step(s) but I dunno about the rest of them. Habs I don't think have a sure bet to be a top pairing guy but lots of interesting names in their pool. Detroit and Chicago still mostly unconvinced.

Flames have an weird mix of all or mostly offense kids like Parekh, Bruzstewicz, Poirier, and Mews and all or mostly defense like Grushnikov, Kuznetsov, Solovyov, and Morin.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Probably New Jersey. Big believer in Nemec. Less so in Hughes and Silayev but they'll probably be at least decent top 4 guys. Casey is going to play NHL games too.

After that it gets murkier, but Anaheim's track record with dmen is quality. Sabres have an interesting mix, Dahlin and Power clearly are capable of another step(s) but I dunno about the rest of them. Habs I don't think have a sure bet to be a top pairing guy but lots of interesting names in their pool. Detroit and Chicago still mostly unconvinced.

Flames have an weird mix of all or mostly offense kids like Parekh, Bruzstewicz, Poirier, and Mews and all or mostly defense like Grushnikov, Kuznetsov, Solovyov, and Morin.

Anaheims/Montreal issues are they prob the lack those big names/proven guys compared to the other teams on the list.

If guys like luneau zellweger Mintyukov take big steps this year (and Reinbacher/Hutson etc for Montreal) maybe there is more conversations to be had for ducks/Canadians

Devils have those guys you listed
Sabres have a nice top end list, with solid depth
Detroit has some top end guys like Seider edvinsson and ASP but also have a lot of depth around them

 

[majormajor]

Heiskanen, Harley, Bichsel > Nemec, L Hughes, Silayev

 

[Hisch13r]

Probably New Jersey. Big believer in Nemec. Less so in Hughes and Silayev but they'll probably be at least decent top 4 guys. Casey is going to play NHL games too.

After that it gets murkier, but Anaheim's track record with dmen is quality. Sabres have an interesting mix, Dahlin and Power clearly are capable of another step(s) but I dunno about the rest of them. Habs I don't think have a sure bet to be a top pairing guy but lots of interesting names in their pool. Detroit and Chicago still mostly unconvinced.

Flames have an weird mix of all or mostly offense kids like Parekh, Bruzstewicz, Poirier, and Mews and all or mostly defense like Grushnikov, Kuznetsov, Solovyov, and Morin.

Hughes was already a good top 4 guy as a rookie

 

[Bounces R Way]

Hughes was already a good top 4 guy as a rookie

He was -25 with 69 giveaways while starting 70% of his shifts in the OZ.

Very promising offensively, needs improvement defensively.

 

[CraigBillington]

Montreal fans just throwing out a ton of names completely reminds me of Philly years back pushing real hard saying Provorov/Gostisbehere/Myers/Sanheim was going to be the next top group in the league. Its pretty much going back to Majors point that a D group needs vets/externals additions and if you are banking on the majority of your prospects to hit you'll likely be very disappointed

And I'd wager that Sanheim is the only one that hit his potential.

 

[My3Sons]

He was -25 with 69 giveaways while starting 70% of his shifts in the OZ.

Very promising offensively, needs improvement defensively.

You aren't wrong. That said, plus minus doesn't tell the story. A fair number of those goals against were scored when NJ had an empty net. A number also came on short handed goals against. Looks like his five on five plus minus was -4 based on natural stat trick (I'm looking at venue adjusted numbers so it may be a bit different). Moreover, at five on five, the majority of his zone starts were either in the neutral zone or defensive end. He did have a large number of ozone starts but overall they are roughly in a ratio of 5 in the ozone to 7 in the other two zones. He wasn't particularly sheltered. His advanced numbers were all pretty good on a bad team. Corsi, Fenwick, expected goals percentage were all above 50%. His PDO was low .988 which explains some of the goal disparity as well. He also played over 21 minutes per game on a bad team as a raw rookie. He had to drag around Brendan Smith as a partner at times as well. NJ didn't exactly set him up for success. Nonetheless you raise a fair point which is that he has to improve defensively. I'm sure he'd be the first guy to agree with you. Given his natural talent I would expect he will do fine with some experience and better coaching. All the tools are there.

 

[Chainshot]

You aren't wrong. That said, plus minus doesn't tell the story. A fair number of those goals against were scored when NJ had an empty net. A number also came on short handed goals against. Looks like his five on five plus minus was -4 based on natural stat trick (I'm looking at venue adjusted numbers so it may be a bit different). Moreover, at five on five, the majority of his zone starts were either in the neutral zone or defensive end. He did have a large number of ozone starts but overall they are roughly in a ratio of 5 in the ozone to 7 in the other two zones. He wasn't particularly sheltered. His advanced numbers were all pretty good on a bad team. Corsi, Fenwick, expected goals percentage were all above 50%. His PDO was low .988 which explains some of the goal disparity as well. He also played over 21 minutes per game on a bad team as a raw rookie. He had to drag around Brendan Smith as a partner at times as well. NJ didn't exactly set him up for success. Nonetheless you raise a fair point which is that he has to improve defensively. I'm sure he'd be the first guy to agree with you. Given his natural talent I would expect he will do fine with some experience and better coaching. All the tools are there.

Only four SHGA per the NHL stat site. His even-strength goal differential was -21, next worst on the Devils was Siegenthaler at -8. He certainly has the tools and the growth in his game will be most pronounced if he gets the game in his own zone more refined.

 

[dgibb10]

Only four SHGA per the NHL stat site. His even-strength goal differential was -21, next worst on the Devils was Siegenthaler at -8. He certainly has the tools and the growth in his game will be most pronounced if he gets the game in his own zone more refined.

Did you not read the post that explicitly mentioned empty net goals?

He was -25 with 69 giveaways while starting 70% of his shifts in the OZ.

Very promising offensively, needs improvement defensively.

Luke Hughes started 11.94% of his shifts in the ozone, and 9.77% of his shifts in the dzone.

A ratio of 1.22:1

NJDs overall ratio of ozone to dzone starts was 1.23:1

(5.07% ozone, 4.12% dzone)

 

[My3Sons]

Only four SHGA per the NHL stat site. His even-strength goal differential was -21, next worst on the Devils was Siegenthaler at -8. He certainly has the tools and the growth in his game will be most pronounced if he gets the game in his own zone more refined.

As noted you have to take out the empty net goals against as well. I’m not suggesting he was great defensively but he wasn’t awful either. He had plenty of room for improvement which isn’t surprising given his age and background.

 

[dgibb10]

He was -25 with 69 giveaways while starting 70% of his shifts in the OZ.

Very promising offensively, needs improvement defensively.

Also btw

2.41 goals against/60 for luke 5v5.

Here are some notable dman to give up more goals/60

Every other devils dman
Miro Heiskanen
Brock Faber
Jake Sanderson
Owen Power
Cale Makar
etc

Luke's problem was actually scoring goals, not preventing them, and that stemmed from the fact that NJD struggled to finish their chances with him on the ice, sporting a 7.16% shooting%, and 0.8 xGoals/60 below expectation (18 goals below expectation total)

As noted you have to take out the empty net goals against as well. I’m not suggesting he was great defensively but he wasn’t awful either. He had plenty of room for improvement which isn’t surprising given his age and background.

Luke actually gave up less 5v5 goals than every other devils dman last year.

His +/- comes from empty netters and the fact that NJD couldn't finish for shit with him on the ice 5v5 (18 goals below expectation, and a 7.16% shooting rate)

 

[Chainshot]

Did you not read the post that explicitly mentioned empty net goals?

I did. Looking around to see if there is ENGA numbers somewhere relative to get a picture for that. Found that NJ gave up 9 SHGA overall and only 4 with Hughes on the ice but no player breakdown for the goals against by personnel strength. NJ had 35 such goals scored against them (6-on-5, 6-on-4, 5-on-4, etc...). I don't see individual ENGA numbers posted in a quick to find location. Do you have one?