The NHL is in a golden period for defensemen.
There are legacy stars who’ve Norris Trophy wins and proceed to be the backbones of their contending groups. There are ascendent younger gamers able to outshine these elders. After which there’s Cale Makar, who’s incomes comparisons to Bobby Orr from legends like Wayne Gretzky. He is principally his personal class at this level.
Even with that deep pool of expertise, the easiest D-men are clearly outlined, in accordance with one NHL govt.
“There isn’t any doubt in my thoughts in regards to the high 5. The order will change from one 12 months to the following, however that is the highest 5,” the exec stated.
Welcome to the primary outcomes from the 2024 NHL Positional Rankings, a singular strategy to decide the very best of the very best. Some surveys ask gamers for his or her rankings. Others ballot executives. The NHL Positional Rankings mix each opinions into one definitive set that blends on-ice savvy with boardroom considering.
This is the way it labored: Surveys have been performed over the previous month. Respondents have been requested to rank their present high 10 gamers at middle, winger, defenseman and goaltender based mostly on a predetermined listing of the highest 30-40 gamers at every place. Gamers ranked on every poll got a numerical rating — No. 1 earned 10 factors, No. 2 acquired 9 factors and so forth.
Ten NHL gamers have been surveyed — 4 from the Japanese Convention, six from the Western Convention. They vary from NHL award nominees to veteran position gamers. To steadiness that perspective, we surveyed 10 individuals from the hockey operations departments of NHL groups — six from the East, 4 from the West — together with two coaches and three normal managers.
Mixed, their insights led to rankings that go behind fan conjecture and media narratives to disclose the very best of the very best in accordance with these contained in the NHL.
Stats are collected from websites equivalent to Pure Stat Trick, Hockey Reference and Evolving Hockey.
