That's his 3rd year in a row he's been fairly average. Aside from his sophomore season in which he was a Norris finalist, many defensemen have been much better than him. He's probably a top 5 D under 25 but in the grand scheme of things, I don't think he's been top 10 for quite a while now. It seems most of his hype is based of how he was playing in 2009-10, he hasn't matched that level of play since then.
I see him all the time being ranked alongside the Karlssons and Charas of the league. To me, he's dropped a tier and is on the same level as players like Subban, Ekman-Larsson, or Pietrangelo. Still pretty damn good, but I don't think he deserves to be mentioned alongside perennial Norris winners/contenders.
Kings are without Mitchell and Greene, 2 of their 3 big stay-at-home defensemen. So Doughty is being asked to play 25+ minutes a game while taking more responsibility defensively. It isn't pretty, and it doesn't show on the stat sheet. If the Norris was less weighted towards points, then maybe Doughty would be part of the conversation more. He's doing everything that's being asked of him; management is very happy with him. And ultimately, this will be great for Doughty's development.
If he goes into beast most again these playoffs then he's probably not giving 100% during the reg. season for whatever reason, the guy has 27 pts in 32 playoff games, that's pretty good.
Karlsson, Chara, Subban, Ekman-Larsson, Pietrangelo, and Doughty? You just named like...the six best defensemen in the league.
Karlsson, Weber and Chara are usually considered the upper tier of the league. These three are constantly ranked 1-3.
After that there is a conversation for the other bests. I think Doughty belongs at the bottom of the pack. Here are those I'd rank above Doughty:
Chara, Karlsson, Weber, Suter, Keith, Letang, Pietrangelo, OEL, Subban. The three bolded are almost unanimous. The rest to me have been better the past year or two years. I would have thrown McDonagh in there but considering he's having an average year, I'll refrain.
He may not win a Norris trophy this season but he's become such a well rounded, big minute playing defender for the Kings. He was regarded as an offensive dman entering the league but he's a lot more than that. He doesn't need to put up big numbers now, especially with two of their best defensive dmen being out with injuries the whole season.
He's overrated, reminds me of Phaneuf when he first came up with Calgary everyone thought he was the greatest, Doughty skates better but other than that pretty much the same.
No, because he's killing everyone's fantasy teams.
Seriously, that's the only reason why anyone would think otherwise. The guy is the absolute anchor of our D-corps with Mitchell and Greene out and is playing big, tough minutes in all situations, every game, with great results.
If the Norris didn't rely so much on offense (which, yeah, it would be NICE if he had more of), he'd still be in the conversation.
He's overrated, reminds me of Phaneuf when he first came up with Calgary everyone thought he was the greatest, Doughty skates better but other than that pretty much the same.
Spoken like somebody who doesn't watch hockey. Unlike Phaneuf, Doughty can play defense.
Lol the "Karlsson's".. the man has had one good season followed by an elite one. And he gets his own category?
Yeah, Drew Doughty is still elite. He's young, he's physical, he's mobile, has great vision, he's 5th in ice time leaguewide and he FINALLY scored his first goal tonight!
Offensive production is not the be-all and end-all to judging a defenseman. What Doughty brings to the LA Kings on a night to night basis is an outstanding all around game in which he practically plays half of.
Where do the Kings rank in shots allowed? Now look at Doughty's TOI. Now look at the difficulty of his competition. Draw your own conclusion.
