Which (Selke-calibre) same-line forward duo do you take?

[OvermanKingGainer]

Thought this would be a fun poll

 

[bobholly39]

Definitely Datsyuk and Zetterberg.

Datsyuk gets very overrated at times on HF - but for this poll specifically I think him and Zetterberg are the two best players listed.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

All are excellent.

Datsyuk and Zetterberg would shut them all down.

Zetterberg was probably robbed of 2 Selkes (2006 and 2008) and he should have had way more top 3 nominations in his career. Datsyuk had the flashy takeaways but Zetterberg was the guy that went head to head with guys like Thornton, Crosby, Getzlaf and other top centers more.

 

[tabness]

Datsyuk Zetterberg or Modano Lehtinen but all are real good in different ways (some more offense, some more defense)

 

[CokenoPepsi]

This should be good

 

[Crow]

feel like dats is yet again being over rated. His playoffs contributions weren’t really much to brag about. One amazing year seems to make people’s minds up.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

feel like dats is yet again being over rated. His playoffs contributions weren’t really much to brag about. One amazing year seems to make people’s minds up.

Dats being slightly overrated by non wings fans, but Zetterberg was massively underrated by non wings fans. It evens out.

 

[Booker T]

To this day, I still think Zetterberg had better defensive abilities than Datsyuk. He just wasn’t flashy offensively.

Toews and Hossa were damn good too.

 

[Hollowmoon]

Good poll

 

[SillyRabbit]

To this day, I still think Zetterberg had better defensive abilities than Datsyuk. He just wasn’t flashy offensively.

Toews and Hossa were damn good too.

You say that like it's a controversial opinion.

I think most would agree that Zetterberg was better defensively.

As for this poll, Datsyuk is better than any of the first options, and Zetterberg is better than any of the second options.

So this is easily the Wings duo.

 

[MBTendy]

Honestly, each duo could be argued as the best out of the bunch.

 

[nowhereman]

I think it's pretty clearly Datsyuk and Zetterberg here.

 

[Felidae]

Yeah agree with everyone that Datsyuk and Zetterberg are the clear best duo here.

The more interesting discussion is how you'd rank the rest of the duos.

I'm leaning towards Bergeron/Marchand as 2nd best.

 

[Midnight Judges]

It’s hard to say IMO.

Datsyuk and Zetterberg were backed by Lidstrom and several other very good defensive-minded players. So yeah they got the results but there are some big outside factors here.

Same goes for Bergeron and Marchand who largely had an excellent blue line and goal tending.

 

[ACC1224]

In before someone brings up Matthews and Marner

 

[Mrb1p]

Datsyuk Zetterberg not even an ounce of doubt

 

[Booker T]

You say that like it's a controversial opinion.

I think most would agree that Zetterberg was better defensively.

As for this poll, Datsyuk is better than any of the first options, and Zetterberg is better than any of the second options.

So this is easily the Wings duo.

Thread 'Datsyuk vs Zetterberg: better defensively'

Oct 28, 2023

Which Euro-twin was better defensively? Inspired by the Zetterberg vs Toews thread.

• FrankSidebottom
• Replies: 62
• Forum: Polls - (hockey-related only)

 

[ExtraLoveSauce]

All are excellent.

Datsyuk and Zetterberg would shut them all down.

Zetterberg was probably robbed of 2 Selkes (2006 and 2008) and he should have had way more top 3 nominations in his career. Datsyuk had the flashy takeaways but Zetterberg was the guy that went head to head with guys like Thornton, Crosby, Getzlaf and other top centers more.

Zetterberg would shutdown and shadow the top players while Datsyuk could cover the rest, take the puck and go end to end

 

[obZen]

These votes indicate nostalgia and recency bias.

 

[Volica]

To this day, I still think Zetterberg had better defensive abilities than Datsyuk. He just wasn’t flashy offensively.

Toews and Hossa were damn good too.

Zetterberg was that prototype Swedish C. Just absolutely solid on both ends of the ice, would go through the game making all the great little plays and would have the puck all night playing against the best players of other teams.

A guy like Backstrom did it for over a decade. Just quietly went about his business, even going ppg through the year; but the focus was Ovi and his scoring... not the fact that Backstrom would be doing essentially all the lifting below the blue line.

 

[Sheppy]

Datsyuk and Zetts for me.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Zetterberg would shutdown and shadow the top players while Datsyuk could cover the rest, take the puck and go end to end

Datsyuk was phenomena defensively but the Selke is largely a reputation award. Defensive analytics in the NHL are really not that great at measuring true impact, and were pretty shit in the early days of analytics in the aughts. I still argue that Zetterberg deserved more Selke nominations than he got, and the reason he didn't was the writers voting didn't want to give 2 nominations to the same team.

There's a lot of subjectivity in measuring defensive statistics ; IE, takeaways are at face value an easily measurable stat but treated subjectively by whoever the statistician is. How do you define a takeaway? How does the official statistician for the team define a takeaway? It's easy when Datsyuk gets a stick lift and takes the puck the other way to call that a takeaway.

But how about the player going into a 50/50 battle along the defensive boards with the offensive puck carrier and Zetterberg or Bergeron or Toews is the one taking it away from Patrick Kane or Dany Heatley (insert any top line forward here) and making a breakout pass to get the puck out of the zone? A lot of times a takeaway isn't credited there and I personally think it should be.

Or how about giveaways? Should be easy enough to define; I had the puck, but lost it to the other team because forecheck pressure forced me to make a bad pass. A lot of times only a giveaway is credited but no takeaway given to the other team intercepting the pass. Or how about when I get locked up on the boards and someone snatches the puck from between my feet? I get a giveaway. 50/50 on if the other guy gets the takeaway.

Zetterberg was a master of the latter. He was terrific at limiting opponents' chances and forcing them into positions where they're going to turn the puck over via bad pass or a puck battle against him. In my lifetime, the only players I can think of that were better at protecting the puck than him are all hall of famers. And if it wasn't for those damn wrist injuries that needed surgery in 09 or the back injury he suffered in 2014 people here would be talking about him as being on par with Datsyuk offensively. The guy still averaged 73 points a season in his career despite the mountain of injuries he played through.

/Tangent

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

That Kopitar never even had a good enough linemate to make this poll should really tell this forum a little more about him

 

[Xspyrit]

Thought this would be a fun poll

It is, congrats! And it's actually very hard to rank

Datsyuk & Zetterberg
Barkov & Reinhart
Toews & Hossa
Bergeron & Marchand
Modano & Lehtinen