What Team Has the Top Future D Corp

Anaheim massively fumbled the bag.

That is one risk with young DMen, it's a lot easier to asset mismanage.

It’s also a development issue with young players. A team can do everything correct and the player just cannot turn the corner. I’m reluctant to be too critical of a team in a true rebuild. We see how difficult it is to get past it even with adding top picks. It’s not a three year process it’s more like 7-8 for whatever reason.
 
It’s also a development issue with young players. A team can do everything correct and the player just cannot turn the corner. I’m reluctant to be too critical of a team in a true rebuild. We see how difficult it is to get past it even with adding top picks. It’s not a three year process it’s more like 7-8 for whatever reason.
With Defensemen, they often have a choppy 7-8 years post-draft. Sometimes they'll make a huge leap and look ready to be a top 4 D for years to come at age 20 then by 22 they look like they don't belong at all and then finally settle in as a solid middle pair guy around 25.
 
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concerning detroit : he doesnt have a high ceiling because of not being big enough or offensively talented enough , but johansson is very smart / athletic skating / competitive / physically sturdy / puck handler . the type d that can play on all 3 pairs and bring excellent defense shadowing anybody , while also being able to smartly handle the puck under pressure = COACHES LOVE THIS GUY !
 
This is why Anaheim has to be my choice as most of their dmen are second round picks or later
Wait, are we still talking about the original question that was asked by the creator of this thread… “What team has the top future D core”?

Who cares what round the players were picked, it has nothing to do with answering the question. Using that theory players like Makar and Heiskanen should never win the Norris Trophy because they were high 1st round picks.

Furthermore, Anaheim did select Mintyukov and Solberg in the 1st round as well as Drydale who they chose to deal for a young forward.
 
Montreal wins because of Hutson.
Gamebreaking talent matters and while other team boast about their promising prospects, Hutson is on pace to have a 70 pts season in the NHL at the same age.

I agree that Ghule and Reinbacher have injury red flags. But the difference between Hutson and the other D prospects is just too big to ignore.
 
Montreal wins because of Hutson.
Gamebreaking talent matters and while other team boast about their promising prospects, Hutson is on pace to have a 70 pts season in the NHL at the same age.

I agree that Ghule and Reinbacher have injury red flags. But the difference between Hutson and the other D prospects is just too big to ignore.
I think Reinbacher needs to develop into a high end top 4 D to give Montreal the consensus dub here
 
Montreal wins because of Hutson.
Gamebreaking talent matters and while other team boast about their promising prospects, Hutson is on pace to have a 70 pts season in the NHL at the same age.

I agree that Ghule and Reinbacher have injury red flags. But the difference between Hutson and the other D prospects is just too big to ignore.

Eh lacombe is having a pretty game breaking season in all sides of the puck (minus powerplay, but no one in Anaheim is doing shit on powerplay)
 
Sure he is having a good breakout season but it's still 20 pts less with Lacombe being 3 years older as well.
Sure points are good. But playing defense is nice too sometimes. Especially for a position that has that exact word in the name.
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how far in the future are we going?

Id take makar and whoever is next to makar as my top if its like next year or the next 3.

Otherwise im interested in how rasmus dahlin and owen powers continue to develop. I still think if buffalo can figure out how to play they certainly have the pedigree to be tops
 
If his defense was as bad as this indicates, Montreal would not be in the playoffs.
Agreed. For whatever downsides that Hutson currently has in his own end, he makes up for them times five with his offensive play. And I'm saying that as a huge Canadiens hater, I can be objective about how positively impactful Hutson has been.
 
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Agreed. For whatever downsides that Hutson currently has in his own end, he makes up for them times five with his offensive play. And I'm saying that as a huge Canadiens hater, I can be objective about how positively impactful Hutson has been.

Offensive production should have context. Hutson is 22 points behind Montreal's top scorer in Suzuki at 86 points. LaCombe is only 10 points away from Anaheim's stop scorer in Terry at 53 points. PP rankings: MTL is 20th at 20.63% efficiency; Ana is 32nd at 11.98% efficiency... or should I say deficiency. It's scary how inept Anaheim's offensive scheme is at EV and PP.

Hutson's offensive play might be "times five" because his offensive start % is at 67% at EV. Conflate that stat with MTL being ranked 9th best at EV FOW% at 51.4% and that is probably why he's able to secure 64 points (6g, 58a). Although put into a sheltered, offensive role, Hutson's CF% is at 51.7%. His 22:39 is mostly in a sheltered, offensive role or the PP. Is Hutson playing on the top pair or 2nd pair with top pairing minutes? He's a fantastic offensive specialist, no doubt. (Stats from Hockey-Reference: MTL, ANA.)

Compare that to LaCombe. Although he has only 43 points, he's scored 14 goals. That has him ranked 7th on the team and ranks 11th overall in the league for d-men. Then LaCombe's EV OZ Start % is at 46.3%, but has a CF% of 49.4%. Which means he is tilting the ice when his CF% > OZ Start %. What makes that more impressive is that the Ducks ranked 32nd at EV FOW% at 44.6%, implying they Ducks OZ Start possession is already lost at a stagaring rate. LaCombe's ATOI of 22:09 is spread out for all three phases of the game: EV (1st pairing D), PP, and PK #1 unit. LaCombe is looking like an upper echelon, two-way D.

The JFresh cards share in a previous post does reflect all this between the two defensemen.
 
Offensive production should have context. Hutson is 22 points behind Montreal's top scorer in Suzuki at 86 points. LaCombe is only 10 points away from Anaheim's stop scorer in Terry at 53 points. PP rankings: MTL is 20th at 20.63% efficiency; Ana is 32nd at 11.98% efficiency... or should I say deficiency. It's scary how inept Anaheim's offensive scheme is at EV and PP.

Hutson's offensive play might be "times five" because his offensive start % is at 67% at EV. Conflate that stat with MTL being ranked 9th best at EV FOW% at 51.4% and that is probably why he's able to secure 64 points (6g, 58a). Although put into a sheltered, offensive role, Hutson's CF% is at 51.7%. His 22:39 is mostly in a sheltered, offensive role or the PP. Is Hutson playing on the top pair or 2nd pair with top pairing minutes? He's a fantastic offensive specialist, no doubt. (Stats from Hockey-Reference: MTL, ANA.)

Compare that to LaCombe. Although he has only 43 points, he's scored 14 goals. That has him ranked 7th on the team and ranks 11th overall in the league for d-men. Then LaCombe's EV OZ Start % is at 46.3%, but has a CF% of 49.4%. Which means he is tilting the ice when his CF% > OZ Start %. What makes that more impressive is that the Ducks ranked 32nd at EV FOW% at 44.6%, implying they Ducks OZ Start possession is already lost at a stagaring rate. LaCombe's ATOI of 22:09 is spread out for all three phases of the game: EV (1st pairing D), PP, and PK #1 unit. LaCombe is looking like an upper echelon, two-way D.

The JFresh cards share in a previous post does reflect all this between the two defensemen.
I never said anything about LaCombe being bad or far worse than Hutson. I just said Hutson has been awesome despite some downsides.

LaCombe 2 way has been better with your nuance included, for sure. I will point out that Hutson is 3 years younger than LaCombe, making his season & production that much more impressive to me. We'll see how it plays out moving forward.
 
If I were starting a team, my top defenseman would be Makar, Hughes, Dahlin, Seider, Faber, Sanderson, Schaefer, Lacombe, Hughes, Levshunov, Edvinsson and Hutson in that order. Nikishin, Buium, ASP, Parekh, Dickinson, Yakemchuk, Mintyukov, and Rinzel are my top prospects. Still like Nemec's upside. Ideally, I'd have a top shutdown D as well, Vlasic, Simashev, Silayev, and Guhle would be top of the list. Anaheim has like five other guys who could push themselves onto this list as well.

Lot of Minnesota, Detroit, Chicago, Anaheim, and Montreal on that list. I'd probably lean toward Detroit, due to the proven nature, followed by Chicago and Anaheim. If a third Montreal D can take a big step- or Hutson takes yet another- they enter the convo as well. Given the option of Makar or Hughes and five other dudes, I'm probably opting for that though given their still young age and superior talent.
 
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Blackhawks : Levshunov Vlasic Korchinski Del Mastro Rinzel Allan Kaiser Phillips , A mix of everything , size , skill , speed , offence , defence

Levshunov : probably top 4
Vlasic : solid top 6
Korchinski : very incertain top 4 (maybe a bust)
Rinzel : solid top 4
Del Mastro : 6th/7th DEF
Allan : 6th/7th DEF
Kaiser : AHL Player
Phillips : AHL player

No guy matches an elite (#1) or very good (#2) defender. These guys are in place and Chicago's level is catastrophic.

This is very insufficient. Some are no longer young either (players born in 2001 are already 24 years old).

Very worried for Chicago. A very complicated 7th season. Very questionable choices over the last 7 years with many failures (the Dach project, Seth Jones, the profile of the forwards drafted to surround Bedard who always seems alone in the world, the selections of Levshunov and Korchinski so high).

And what's more, the guy who was supposed to be a leader isn't really that strong and needs to be well supported (which isn't the case at all).

There's still a lot missing in Chicago. They've fallen behind and are at the level of a team after two years of rebuilding. However, this has been going on for seven years. San Jose is much further ahead in the rebuild.
 
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Lacombe is great, but he’s like three years older than Hutson and in his second NHL season compared to first.

I don’t suspect it’ll be close when they’re both in their prime and settled into the NHL. And I’m someone who buys into Lacombe as an eventual 1D (maybe not an elite 1D, but top 30).
 
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Levshunov : probably top 4
Vlasic : solid top 6
Korchinski : very incertain top 4 (maybe a bust)
Rinzel : solid top 4
Del Mastro : 6th/7th DEF
Allan : 6th/7th DEF
Kaiser : AHL Player
Phillips : AHL player

No guy matches an elite (#1) or very good (#2) defender. These guys are in place and Chicago's level is catastrophic.

This is very insufficient. Some are no longer young either (players born in 2001 are already 24 years old).

Very worried for Chicago. A very complicated 7th season. Very questionable choices over the last 7 years with many failures (the Dach project, Seth Jones, the profile of the forwards drafted to surround Bedard who always seems alone in the world, the selections of Levshunov and Korchinski so high).

And what's more, the guy who was supposed to be a leader isn't really that strong and needs to be well supported (which isn't the case at all).

There's still a lot missing in Chicago. They've fallen behind and are at the level of a team after two years of rebuilding. However, this has been going on for seven years. San Jose is much further ahead in the rebuild.
Well, you know, that's just like, uh, your opinion man.

Philips isn't a part of the Hawks organization any longer so won't comment any on him. Without him, the oldest player on this list is Vlasic at 23. There are no 24yo in that group.

Speaking of Vlasic, sorta underselling him by a "solid top 6" which basically means he's a decent everyday defenseman. But he's more than been solid. For this season, his sophomore year, he's in the top 60 for points from defensemen, despite being way more of a shutdown defender (The Athletic even had an article this time last year calling him the 2nd best shutdown D in the league after Gudas) , and he is logging 1D minutes this year. He's not a solid top 6 guy, he's a solid #2 defenseman.

It doesn't sound like you are a fan of Levshunov, and that's quite alright. But between what he's done last year in the NCAA, what he's done this year in the AHL (top 3 in SOG before the call up despite being the youngest defender in the league), and now already playing in the NHL in his D+1 season (with 5pts in 15 games), he's on a good pace to be a top pair D. Never mind the fact he's a big RHD that can skate, those types don't grow on trees.

Sam Rinzel, meanwhile, is a stud. Another big RHD that can skate (how we managed to get two of those, I'll never know). He's already averaging over 22 minutes a game (with 6 total NHL games) and looks to follow in the footsteps of Faber and LaCombe as the next great defenseman from the University of Minnesota. He is only 20.

The others on your list are closer to being accurate. Korchinski has potential but his career could go in a number of ways at this point. I like Del Mastro more than just a #6/7, but I'm not so high on him that I'm going to take the time to defend him. Out of Allan and Kaiser, Kaiser is more likely to stick in the NHL long term, but I'm not high on either of them and I have my doubts either are more than bottom pairing D in the future.

All in all, I think you are undervaluing a lot of players here. I can understand doing so for the prospects with little to no NHL experience. Every fanbase hypes up their prospects and it certainly doesn't always work out. However, it is weird how you greatly undervalued Vlasic, who has already made a name for himself in the NHL at the age of 23.
 
Sure points are good. But playing defense is nice too sometimes. Especially for a position that has that exact word in the name.
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LaCombe also starts on the defensive zone 3x as often as Hutson.

Lane seems like an incredibly talented offensive player who I'm sure will get better defensively as he adjusts to the league but LaCombe has been unreal at getting the puck out of his own zone this season.
 
Well, you know, that's just like, uh, your opinion man.

Philips isn't a part of the Hawks organization any longer so won't comment any on him. Without him, the oldest player on this list is Vlasic at 23. There are no 24yo in that group.

Speaking of Vlasic, sorta underselling him by a "solid top 6" which basically means he's a decent everyday defenseman. But he's more than been solid. For this season, his sophomore year, he's in the top 60 for points from defensemen, despite being way more of a shutdown defender (The Athletic even had an article this time last year calling him the 2nd best shutdown D in the league after Gudas) , and he is logging 1D minutes this year. He's not a solid top 6 guy, he's a solid #2 defenseman.

It doesn't sound like you are a fan of Levshunov, and that's quite alright. But between what he's done last year in the NCAA, what he's done this year in the AHL (top 3 in SOG before the call up despite being the youngest defender in the league), and now already playing in the NHL in his D+1 season (with 5pts in 15 games), he's on a good pace to be a top pair D. Never mind the fact he's a big RHD that can skate, those types don't grow on trees.

Sam Rinzel, meanwhile, is a stud. Another big RHD that can skate (how we managed to get two of those, I'll never know). He's already averaging over 22 minutes a game (with 6 total NHL games) and looks to follow in the footsteps of Faber and LaCombe as the next great defenseman from the University of Minnesota. He is only 20.

The others on your list are closer to being accurate. Korchinski has potential but his career could go in a number of ways at this point. I like Del Mastro more than just a #6/7, but I'm not so high on him that I'm going to take the time to defend him. Out of Allan and Kaiser, Kaiser is more likely to stick in the NHL long term, but I'm not high on either of them and I have my doubts either are more than bottom pairing D in the future.

All in all, I think you are undervaluing a lot of players here. I can understand doing so for the prospects with little to no NHL experience. Every fanbase hypes up their prospects and it certainly doesn't always work out. However, it is weird how you greatly undervalued Vlasic, who has already made a name for himself in the NHL at the age of 23.
All these guys together form one of the worst defenses in the league, and even in the AHL, their performances aren't stellar.

I don't think they're undervalued.

My assessment takes into account the role these players should play at their full potential on a title-contending team. If Vlasic and Levshunov are Chicago's first and second defensemen, fine. But with that, it'll still be a team that's playing the lottery to get the first overall draft pick. Alex Vlasic, in Montreal, he's in the top 6 behind Hutson and Guhle. And Montreal is only an average team in the league.

If this group is to move up a level, it will not be with these guys but with the addition of talent.
 

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