Top 20 Defensive Defensemen #8
 

1) Zdeno Chara(73.89%)
2) Ryan Suter(32.00%)
3) Shea Weber(47.52%)
4) Alex Pietrangelo(20.71%)
5) Dan Hamhuis(34.31%)
6) Ryan McDonagh(21.95%)
7) Brent Seabrook(30.25%)

Rank them purely on their defensive play. Vote to add another below.

Here's something I threw together yesterday, thought it would help the discussion.

http://i.imgur.com/B3Yku.jpg

I think the conversation at this point has to come down to Alzner, Girardi, and Gorges, because no one else shoulders that big of a load. Having a QoC near 1, a Corsi Rel QoC near 1.5, and less than 45% O-Zone starts demonstrates just how tough these guys have it, and how much their teams rely on them defensively. There aren't a lot of players in this league who can take those minutes and come out ahead.

Choosing between those three, I'd put Alzner and Gorges a little ahead of Girardi, because neither of them were playing these minutes alongside another elite defender. Instead, they were playing with young puck movers who are each turnover machines (Carlson and Subban were 1st and 3rd amongst defensemen in turnovers, respectively).

At this point it's a toss up. Statistically, Alzner and Gorges are ridiculously close, and they both deserve to be in the top 10 here.

Seidenberg

Mitchell has been one of the best pure shutdown defensemen in the league for over a decade.

Staal.

This really isn't fair for Staal. He was playing with a concussion, and every rangers fan knows he was only at 75%. By the time the playoffs came, that's when he had recovered and was the best defender on the team

I'd also like to see more included in this (I know you just threw it together real quick, but it's pretty subjective when you can pick and choose who you put on there).

Captain Kelowna!

Seidenberg's an absolute rock, and always steps it up in the playoffs.

Marc Staal without his injury, its scary how good the Rangers defence is.

And he had to babysit for Corvo most of last season.

Josh Gorges

Gorges definitely should be soon...

Is the poll question "best defensive defenseman" or "best defenseman defensively"?

I guess best defeseman defensively. Sorry if the title is confusing.

I'm actually going with Seidenberg too.

Girardi should've been up there already, and this is coming from a Devils fan..

Josh Gorges again.

Really? McDonaugh and Girardi each impressed me more during the Caps' series, although Staal definitely seemed like he was close to his old self. I get that this isn't fair to him, but there's really no way to make it fair. Playoff stats are too small a sample size, and going back a few years doesn't make much sense either.

I tried to pick the guys who were getting the most votes/discussion around them, but there are some guys I wish I'd added. I'll definitely remake it, but I'm not sure if I'll have time today.

Seidenberg, again.

Crazy how many of these players are born in BC. So far we have Weber, Hamhuis and Seabrook in the top 7, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Alzner, Gorges and Mitchell go in the next 5.

Six of the top twelve would be quite something.

Mitchell, add Gleason

Mitchell

Marc Staal

Willie Mitchell.