The best/worst defenses in the NHL

[yave1964]

The Hockey news just ranked the leagues best and worst defenses right around the time that I was taking a look at doing the same, so I thought I would post what is IMHO the top five and bottom five defenses in the NHL today.

 

TOP FIVE

1)  SAN JOSE SHARKS. A seriously underrated defense led by Vlasic and Burns and a bunch of hard working blue collar types, they have given up the least amount of goals on the least amount of shots along with the leagues second best penalty kill. Hardly ever get mentioned but while the offense is down this year in San Jose the defense is carrying the day.

 

2) NASHVILLE PREDATORS. Arguably the most well balanced group in the league,  Subban gets the ink while Josi has 16 points in 21 games and Ekholm has quietly established himself as a force at both ends of the ice and Emelin gives the team the shut down defender who allows others to roam knowing he has their back. They have the leagues 3rd best P/K and third best power play because of these guys.

 

3) LOS ANGELES KINGS The trio of Doughty, Martinez and Muzzin are as good as any in the game and talented kids such as Forbort and Fantenberg make this a nightmare of puck rushing skilled defensemen for other teams to play. They feed off of each other and have given up the leagues second fewest goals.

 

4) TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: 4th lowest goals against and number one power play in the game the defense is led by elite Hedman but the additions of a healthy Girardi and the young and insanely talented Sergachev along with the return to health of Stralman makes this one of the most balanced bunches in the game today.

 

5) COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: 3rd lowest goals against, a lot of that has to do with Bob in net of course but Jones and Werenski are brilliant and the rest are a working class underrated bunch. Overall the team is pathetic on the power play, horrible in faceoffs, average at best in scoring and yet they are 4th in the league in total points thanks to Bob and the blue line.

 

MOST OVERRATED DEFENSES:

 

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS  have given up the second most goals in the game this year and seem to prefer to club other teams into submission and forget about their own end.

 

NEW YORK RANGERS Added Shattenkirk and DeAngelo and overpaid to retain Brendan Smith has backfired as they are in bottom third in goals allowed.

 

CALGARY FLAMES one of my favorite defensive units has yet to find their cohesion and as a group are seriously underperforming.

 

WORST FIVE (COUNTING DOWN)

 

5) ARIZONA COYOTES Pathetic stat lines, nothing to hang your hat on but a lot of that may be inept goaltending.

 

4) EDMONTON OILERS Getting nothing out of the blue line at either end of the ice. Seem to have forgotten how to play responsible in both ends. Worst P/K in the game.

 

3) FLORIDA PANTHERS 3rd most shots allowed and 2nd most goals allowed and among the leagues lowest in blocked shots and hits. No excuse as they have some talent.

 

2) PENGUINS 2nd worst penalty kill a 3.42 goals against average the team is in the hunt in spite of a minus 15 goals differential. Really missing Hainsey and Daley.

 

1) BUFFALO SABRES. 25 games in, they have ZERO power play goals from their defense and only 5 assists, 4th worst goals against at 3.36. So the back end is contributing nothing at either end of the ice.

 

that is my list, feel free to jump on in.

 

[yave1964]

A few other notes.......

 

Carolina has an immensely skilled unit but has not performed superbly, they have probably as much potential as anyone but right now are middle of the pack.

 

 Same can be said for the Flyers, lots of kids but kids suffer growing pains more acutely on defense than any other position and with a meh goalie they are trying to do too much, middle of the pack but immense upside.

 

My Red Wings barely missed on being in the bottom five mostly because Mike Green is having a superb season in his UFA to be year.

 

The Wild are probably the leagues most underperforming veteran units and seem to be missing Scandella more than they thought they would.

 

The Dallas Stars have quietly became very efficient on defense top five in P/K, top 8 in goals against and 4th least shots allowed and the back end does a great job of carrying the puck.

[OccamsRazor]

On 11/30/2017 at 8:30 AM, yave1964 said:

The Hockey news just ranked the leagues best and worst defenses right around the time that I was taking a look at doing the same, so I thought I would post what is IMHO the top five and bottom five defenses in the NHL today.

 

TOP FIVE

1)  SAN JOSE SHARKS. A seriously underrated defense led by Vlasic and Burns and a bunch of hard working blue collar types, they have given up the least amount of goals on the least amount of shots along with the leagues second best penalty kill. Hardly ever get mentioned but while the offense is down this year in San Jose the defense is carrying the day.

 

2) NASHVILLE PREDATORS. Arguably the most well balanced group in the league,  Subban gets the ink while Josi has 16 points in 21 games and Ekholm has quietly established himself as a force at both ends of the ice and Emelin gives the team the shut down defender who allows others to roam knowing he has their back. They have the leagues 3rd best P/K and third best power play because of these guys.

 

3) LOS ANGELES KINGS The trio of Doughty, Martinez and Muzzin are as good as any in the game and talented kids such as Forbort and Fantenberg make this a nightmare of puck rushing skilled defensemen for other teams to play. They feed off of each other and have given up the leagues second fewest goals.

 

4) TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: 4th lowest goals against and number one power play in the game the defense is led by elite Hedman but the additions of a healthy Girardi and the young and insanely talented Sergachev along with the return to health of Stralman makes this one of the most balanced bunches in the game today.

 

5) COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: 3rd lowest goals against, a lot of that has to do with Bob in net of course but Jones and Werenski are brilliant and the rest are a working class underrated bunch. Overall the team is pathetic on the power play, horrible in faceoffs, average at best in scoring and yet they are 4th in the league in total points thanks to Bob and the blue line.

 

MOST OVERRATED DEFENSES:

 

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS  have given up the second most goals in the game this year and seem to prefer to club other teams into submission and forget about their own end.

 

NEW YORK RANGERS Added Shattenkirk and DeAngelo and overpaid to retain Brendan Smith has backfired as they are in bottom third in goals allowed.

 

CALGARY FLAMES one of my favorite defensive units has yet to find their cohesion and as a group are seriously underperforming.

 

WORST FIVE (COUNTING DOWN)

 

5) ARIZONA COYOTES Pathetic stat lines, nothing to hang your hat on but a lot of that may be inept goaltending.

 

4) EDMONTON OILERS Getting nothing out of the blue line at either end of the ice. Seem to have forgotten how to play responsible in both ends. Worst P/K in the game.

 

3) FLORIDA PANTHERS 3rd most shots allowed and 2nd most goals allowed and among the leagues lowest in blocked shots and hits. No excuse as they have some talent.

 

2) PENGUINS 2nd worst penalty kill a 3.42 goals against average the team is in the hunt in spite of a minus 15 goals differential. Really missing Hainsey and Daley.

 

1) BUFFALO SABRES. 25 games in, they have ZERO power play goals from their defense and only 5 assists, 4th worst goals against at 3.36. So the back end is contributing nothing at either end of the ice.

 

that is my list, feel free to jump on in.

 

 

 

Good read thanks for taking the time.

 

Glad to see my young Flyers blueline not on there anywhere.

 

They are young and have a lot to prove.

 

However good to see they are the worst.

 

Things are still developing and the whole team has aways to go.

 

Myself i have the Preds as tops in the NHL, just stacked.

 

And yes the Flames on paper before the season i thought would be one of rhe best.

 

But the game isn't played on paper they have a lot to try and figure out.

 

And to make mattes worse they were the ones who helped snap my Flyers 10 game losing streak.

 

Not an honor for them at all!