Worst defence-core of any post-1967 NHL team?

[The Panther]

Which specific team in NHL history (let's say, post 1967) do you think had the worst defence-core, when healthy (that is when all the regulars were in the line-up), of all time?

Obviously 1st and 2nd-year expansion clubs must be considered. However, I would like to mention the 1984 Pittsburgh Penguins after Randy Carlyle was traded on March 5th 1984. After Carlyle left, the Pens' spring '84 defence core was:

Greg Fox (48 games played, -39. After this season, had 26 career games left.)
Greg Hotham (39 points, -19. After this season, had 11 career games left.)
Bryan Maxwell (veteran of NHL expansion clubs... had 44 career games left.)
Kevin McCarthy (somewhat talented Canucks' veteran... went -32 in 31 games. 70 career games left.)
Marty McSorley (19-20 year old rookie goes -37.)
Tom O'Regan (14 points and -19... had 10 career games left.)
Norm Schmidt (rookie played 34 games... but had only 91 career games left.)
Tom Thornbury (14 career games... all this season... went -19.)

That is some kind of "defence" core... Good lord.

Are there worse ones?

 

[Johnny Engine]

That's a rough one. Even if you assumed every player was absolutely at their peak, it would still be pretty bad.
In 1982, some writer with an all star team vote thought Bryan Maxwell was the second best defenseman in the league. This voter apparently did not have a vote for the Norris.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

74-75 Capitals, which still hold the league record 446 goals against in a season.

Doug Mohns, 40 years old, last season in the NHL - was a solid D his whole career but couldn't anchor this sh*tshow
Yvon Labre, spent 5 seasons in the minors before becoming 1st pairing guy this season
Greg Joly, 1st overall draft pick, in way over his head, -69 in 44 games, career floundered
Jack Lynch, picked up in trade with Wings before deadline, an incredible -54 in 20 games
Gord Smith, -60, 299 career games
Bill Mikkelson, -82 in 59 games, worst single season +/- in NHL history, 147 career games
Murray Anderson, 40 games played, only season seeing NHL action

Labre, Lynch & Smith would continue limping along as part of their core through the next few seasons; Joly was dealt in the off-season before 76-77.

Starter Ron Low clocks in with a 5.45 GAA and .855 PCT, Michel Belhumeur 5.37 and .861

While subsequent 1st round draft choice D-Men Rick Green and Robert Picard improved their core by the end of the decade, the Caps continued to be one of the most shelled, bottom-feeding teams in the league until their seismic shift to a defensive-oriented team in 82-83 with the trade for Rod Langway, which completely turned the team around.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

Senators 92-94

92-93
Brad Shaw - solid career second-pairing guy having to munch all the minutes and take all the heavy D duties
Norm MacIver - offensive-minded puck moving D quarterbacking the PP, led team in scoring, terrible in his own end, AHL-level #1 D or NHL PP specialist, always struggled with regular D duties
Brad Marsh (59 GP) - at his peak, one of the better defensive D-men in the league, but slow as molasses, plagued by nagging injuries and his last season at age 34
Darren Rumble (69 GP) & Chris Luongo (76 GP) - only full seasons in NHL with expansion Senators, spent the majority of their careers in lower leagues
Ken Hammond (62 GP) & Gord Dineen (32 GP) - pushing 30 post-peak career #7 journeymen D guys

93-94 arguably worse:
Shaw, MacIver, Rumble, Dineen return as core, with MacIver dropping off in offense and Rumble and Dineen playing bigger roles.
Kerry Huffman - biggest claim to fame being former Philly first rounder part of the Lindros trade, picked up on waivers from Nords after busting there, natural third-pairing guy asked to punch above his weight
Brian Glynn - big hopes for pylon going into season, lost to waivers when they try to send him to the farm
Dimitri Filmonov & Francois Leroux - like Glynn, bigger doesn't mean better
Dennis Vial - goon

 

[Johnny Engine]

It's a crying shame that Darren Rumble wasn't a good NHL player, that name is absolutely fantastic.

 

[shadow1]

I think we had one of the worst very recently in the 2023-2024 San Jose Sharks:

Mario Ferraro (78gp, 21p, -38) Age 25, career 404gp
Kyle Burroghs (73gp, 8p, -42) Age 29, career 197gp
Jan Rutta (69gp, 19p, -21) Age 33, career 414gp
Calen Addison (60gp, 12p, -35) Age 23, career 152gp
Marc-Eduard Vlasic (57gp, 12p, -27) Age 36, career 1315gp
Henry Thrun (51gp, 11p, -22) Age 22, career 111gp

One season later, Addison is out of the NHL, Burroughs (29gp) and Vlasic (19gp) are #7's. Thrun (52gp) is a #6 who's been healthy scratched 18 times. Rutta (51gp) hasn't been healthy scratched this season, but that's only because SJ's defense is nearly as bad as it was in 2024-2025.

 

[hypereconomist]

The 2001-02 Thrashers should be in consideration They were two seasons removed from their inaugural season, but their blueline had somehow gotten worse than before. The following players saw regular ice time:

Daniel Tjarnqvist. I don't remember anything about him, but he was a mainstay on the swedish WC team and good enough to make the 2005-06 Swedish Olympic team, which immediately qualifies him as the best dman on the team.

Jiri Slegr. Only played half the season due to injuries and was traded to the Wings at the trade deadline, but was a 4/5 dman at best on any other team in the league

Brian Pothier. He was a serviceable 4/5/6 dman when his career wasn't being derailed by injuries.

Frank Kaberle. The lesser Kaberle and poor man's version of his brother. He would have been a bottom pairing dman on any other team in the league.

Andy Sutton. A classic deadpuck fridge of a 6/7 dman

Chris Tamer. A classic deadpuck fridge of a 6/7 dman

Todd Reirden. A classic deadpuck fridge of a 6/7 dman

Yannick Tremblay. Only had an NHL career because of the expansion draft

 

[carjackmalone]

Winnipeg 80-81

 

[The Panther]

Francois Leroux - like Glynn, bigger doesn't mean better

Leroux is the player I associate most with the 1990s... as in, can't skate really well or play very well, but is BIG as hell.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

19-20 Detroit Red Wings were pitiful

Cholowski
Hronek
Lindstrom
Bowey
Daley
DeKeyser
Biega
Nemeth
Green

The lineup usually looked like this:

DeKeyser-Hronek
Nemeth-Green
Bowey-Daley

Then insert the other scrubs during injuries. It was some of the worst hockey I’ve ever witnessed.

 

[Johnny Engine]

19-20 Detroit Red Wings were pitiful

Cholowski
Hronek
Lindstrom
Bowey
Daley
DeKeyser
Biega
Nemeth
Green

The lineup usually looked like this:

DeKeyser-Hronek
Nemeth-Green
Bowey-Daley

Then insert the other scrubs during injuries. It was some of the worst hockey I’ve ever witnessed.

A decent group if you can age Green backwards into a 24 year old 70 point scorer, get Hronek to play like he plays with Hughes, age Daley at least 3 years backwards, hope DeKeyser avoids injury, and convince Lindstrom he's spelling his name wrong.