Greatest Defensive Defenseman Of All Time

[JagerMeister]

Who is the greatest defenseman, taking only defensive play into account? I had the impression that this would make for a fairly interesting topic, I'm especially curious to find out if the majority of you would still consider Orr as the best in this regard.

[flyerfan2]

Orr, is right up there and hard to dispute, but going strictly on defensive ability and the willingness to be a great stay at home defenseman I'll through a couple names in there. It really is hard to pick just one with all the different eras of the game. 

 

Doug Harvey

Rod Langway

Larry Robinson.

Any one of these three I believe could easily be considered for best stay at home defensive defensemen, although Harvey did also have an offensive prowess.

 

Honorable mention to Scott Stevens a great defensive defenseman just not quite into the above mentioned players league.

[JR Ewing]

Utterly impossible to answer properly. The best purely defensive defenseman may have played decades before the oldest of anybody around here was born.

 

When it comes to offense, we have a better idea: tracking goals and assists is a crude tool, but at least it captures elements of what creates offense. Defense? It's mostly done by eye, bringing with it all of the biases humans have. I have a defensive rating system that tracked everybody back to 1968, and it came up with extremely respected players as also terrific statistically: guys like Rod Seiling, Don Awrey, Terry Harper, etc... But even then, it's only back to 1968, and I'd call stats on my hard drive only really obscure. So, we're left with our own eyes and the words of reporters and fans who saw players with their eyes. People can't help but fixate on the big mistake, making it seem like the old reliable "off the glass and out" defenseman is better in his own end, even though that play constitutes simply handing over the puck: it's hockey's equivalent of the bunt.

 

All that we can really do is ask questions in an attempt to fill in the blanks. They can include, but are in no way limited to questions like

-Was he considered to be a strong defensive player?

-Was he considered to be the best defensive player of his era?

-Was he an intimidating prescence?

-Did he play a lot despite not having strong offensive skills?

-Did he ever win a Norris Trophy despite not scoring a lot of points?

 

There's a ton of questions you could come up with, and they would go a long way towards getting there.

[ScottM]

I agree with @JR Ewing. We could all give an answer, but it would be pure opinion at best.

 

I assume since Orr was mentioned in the original post that we're not talking about purely stay at home defensmen, so that being the case, I'd definitely say Orr is in the conversation. Harvey, Lidstrom, Robinson, Shore, and Langway would have to be in there too. Giving a single guy as my definitive answer would take a lot more work, and again, it would still be nothing but subjective opinion that can't really be proven or disproven.

[teenagemutantninjahertl]

I am just going to put it Nicklas Lidstrom's name out there. He retired 6th all time in points, but he was the greatest two-way defenseman of all time. Not only did he have a beautiful shot, he was Zhedo Chara before Zhedo Chara was cool (minus the hold giant thing). He was the one guy that you could always rely on back in the defensive zone. Also, remember he was the first European captain to win a Stanley Cup. He played the third most games of any defenseman in the top 11 defensemen in scoring (I'm taking the top 11 because Bobby Orr is #11). He didn't take penalties. 

 

I know that people associate scoring with being great, but with defenseman, they need to play defense. Lidstrom was the best defender I have seen. It's great that he was gifted offensively, but he was the greatest two-way defender of all time. With all respect to Ray Bourque and Bobby Orr and others.

[teenagemutantninjahertl]

I also find it interesting that no one mentioned Ray Bourque, because he should be discussed, too.

[King Knut]

I agree with @JR Ewing. We could all give an answer, but it would be pure opinion at best.

Isn't that the point of the question!

[ScottM]

Isn't that the point of the question!

 

To some extent, yes, but what I'm saying (and what I think JR is saying as well), is that it's extremely hard to give any concrete reasons as to why any of us might choose any specific player. There are no stats to fall back on. If I chose someone and anyone else wanted to challenge it, how would I explain why I chose that particular guy?

 

For instance, if I say that I believe Bobby Orr is the greatest defenseman or hockey player, it's pretty easy to build a credible argument that can't be dismissed outright, even if the reader doesn't agree with me. If I say he's the greatest on the defensive side, it's a lot harder to explain why. The defensive side is so much more subjective.

[jammer2]

  He's not the best defensive d-man of all time, but we would be remiss if we did not at least mention Ken Daneyko. Both Mark Howe and McCrimmon scored with regularity, but they were so awesome in their own end they also deserve mention. Rod Langway was great in that regard. Adam Foote was one of the best of his era. Lee Fogolin was excellent. Former Red Wing Vladimir Konstantinov was an absolute beast in his own end.

[Claude Monet]

Bundy when he played against Jagr.