Best Defencemen in Atlantic

im talking Defencemen, only defencemen




ok let me try and clear this up for anybody who is confused, when i say defencemen i only mean the defencemen not the system or goalies or anything just the defencemen.......all 6 or 7 defencemen

its close prolly between pitts and the devs

and why cant i vote on polls in the devils forum? lol

Well, we were the best last year and losing Rafalski hurts us more with offense than defense. So, until proven otherwise, I pick the system. :naughty:

And not to nit-pick, the thread should be titled "Best Defense" it's a bit confusing when you first read the title.

Well, we were the best last year and losing Rafalski hurts us more with offense than defense. So, until proven otherwise, I pick the system. :naughty:

And not to nit-pick, the thread should be titled "Best Defense" it's a bit confusing when you first read the title.

yea i was trying to word it so that it would be the best defencemen in the atlantic only the defencemen, not factoring in our system or goalies or anything like that

sorry if it confuses anybody

As much as it hurts me to say this but on paper the Pens have a better "D" corps than the Devils. I'd love to have Sydor, Whitney and Gonchar on my blueline.

In terms of pure D... I might give it to the Flyers. Playing D isn't just about how your blueline corps operated in their zone, but in the other teams' as well.

The "offense" factor is very important when gauging a D-force's capability.

That being said, the Devils-D is more or less on par with that of the New York Rangers.

As much as it hurts me to say this but on paper the Pens have a better "D" corps than the Devils. I'd love to have Sydor, Whitney and Gonchar on my blueline.


If it turns out to be true that they have the top defense, our division is more or less over instead of being up for grabs. Let's hope you're wrong.

i said pens but none of them are that good at all not gonna lie

In terms of pure D... I might give it to the Flyers. Playing D isn't just about how your blueline corps operated in their zone, but in the other teams' as well.

The "offense" factor is very important when gauging a D-force's capability.

That being said, the Devils-D is more or less on par with that of the New York Rangers.

Yeah, Flyers have my vote for strictly defense as well.

Flyers
Devils
Rangers/Pens
Penguins/Rags
Islanders.

If we are talking best all around defense on paper minus the goalie its gotta be the Flyers.

With Goalie it is easily NJ....otherwise c'mon guys NJ #1?!?!? arguably we have no real offensive threat or top pairing guy.

If we are talking best all around defense on paper minus the goalie its gotta be the Flyers.

With Goalie it is easily NJ....otherwise c'mon guys NJ #1?!?!? arguably we have no real offensive threat or top pairing guy.

Seriously. Our D isn't that good... yet.

If we are talking best all around defense on paper minus the goalie its gotta be the Flyers.

With Goalie it is easily NJ....otherwise c'mon guys NJ #1?!?!? arguably we have no real offensive threat or top pairing guy.

thats what i was thinking, not factoring in marty or the system

i said pens but none of them are that good at all not gonna lie

Agreed. The Atlantic looks like it will be won by offence. But the Atlantic also has some pretty good goaltending.

Picked Flyers

there's no chance the pens are the best, I'm sorry....ask any pens fan. u think ottawa owned our D last year? its nothing compared to what they did to pittsburgh.

no team has a great defense corps. I see the flyers, rangers, and us are all very close

there's no chance the pens are the best, I'm sorry....ask any pens fan. u think ottawa owned our D last year? its nothing compared to what they did to pittsburgh.

no team has a great defense corps. I see the flyers, rangers, and us are all very close


Agreed. We are all pretty close to even right now. There really isn't one team that stands out in the Atlantic division that dominates the other in terms of defense. The only thing we have going for us is Marty.

If it turns out to be true that they have the top defense, our division is more or less over instead of being up for grabs. Let's hope you're wrong.

There are two ways to look at the Pens defensemen. On the one hand, they don't have shut down guys, and, in terms of in defensive zone work, replacing Melichar and Nasserdine with Sydor and presumably Letang is at best a minor upgrade.

That said, I'd think that the Pens defense will be better because of what Sydor and Letang add in other areas. Last season, only Gonchar and Whitney were good at making a first pass, contributing in transition, and a threat in the offensive zone. Mark Eaton may have ranked #3 in those areas by default.

By adding Sydor and Letang, the Pens become a more complete, more dangerous offensive threat and better equipped to win puck possession time battles.

If you look at Nashville and to a lesser extent Detroit, have they had low shot totals against because their defensive corps have a collection of great in zone defensemen or because they simply are so good at keeping the puck out of their zone?

If you believe the former, then the Pens defense ranks with the Isles. If you believe the latter, then the Pens defense arguably might be the best in the division.

EDIT: DevilsElias26, what the Sens did to Pens was to expose two defensive weaknesses. With Whitney's wrist injury limiting his play, the Pens really only had one effective offensive defenseman. So, the Sens forechecked relentlessly, knowing that the Pens defense was ill-equipped to move the puck out of its own zone. And, when the Pens attacked, the Sens simply fell back and overcommitted defensively against the Pens forwards, knowing that, with the exception of Gonchar and an unhealthy Whitney, the Pens defensemen could be left wide open on the points and were no threats whatsoever. So, as I noted, how you judge the Pens defense this year versus last year depends upon whether you are asking how well a guy plays in his own zone or how well he plays in all zones and what, for example, his ability to contribute offensively does to keep down chances against.

Not really sure this is a question that CAN be answered without taking into consideration the system they play and goalie they play in front of.

Most defenceman are only as good as the system they play in and while the names on the Rangers defenceman are not great individually, they play very well as a group.

Last year the Rangers were a top 10 team defensively with only the Devils from the Eastern Conference ahead of us. Considering that they lost Rafalski I'd have to then back into the fact that the Rangers right now, have the best group but that is only when taking into consideration system and goalie simply because I don't think that you can really judge a defence without taking that into consideration.

Not really sure this is a question that CAN be answered without taking into consideration the system they play and goalie they play in front of.

Most defenceman are only as good as the system they play in and while the names on the Rangers defenceman are not great individually, they play very well as a group.

Last year the Rangers were a top 10 team defensively with only the Devils from the Eastern Conference ahead of us. Considering that they lost Rafalski I'd have to then back into the fact that the Rangers right now, have the best group but that is only when taking into consideration system and goalie simply because I don't think that you can really judge a defence without taking that into consideration.

You make a good point. And when evaluating defenses, I include Marty in the Devils picture, because it's a combination of both that truly makes a good defense, plus playing a good system helps as well.

You make a good point. And when evaluating defenses, I include Marty in the Devils picture, because it's a combination of both that truly makes a good defense, plus playing a good system helps as well.

well the reason why i didnt want to include that is that eeryone would probably pick the devils because we usually are in the top 10 in defensive catagories

there's no chance the pens are the best, I'm sorry....ask any pens fan. u think ottawa owned our D last year? its nothing compared to what they did to pittsburgh.

no team has a great defense corps. I see the flyers, rangers, and us are all very close
i agree. offensively i'd say the pens dmen are the best, but when it actually comes to keeping the puck out of the net the devils and rangers do a significantly better job. philly i'm not going to put up there until they actually show it on the ice. the pens gave up 60 less goals than them last year, so until they show otherwise i'll rank the pens ahead of them.

1.rangers
2.devils

3.pens
4.flyers
5.islanders

no big names on the rangers but they do a really good job of playing d by committee.

This is actually kind of sad, I can't see any of these defensive corp even being top 15 in the league (as far as talent goes).

This is actually kind of sad, I can't see any of these defensive corp even being top 15 in the league (as far as talent goes).
The Atlantic has crappy defense (just looking at the names, not the goalies/systems). However, it's got some of the best goaltending (Biron is the only mediocre one of the group), so that makes up for it.

This is actually kind of sad, I can't see any of these defensive corp even being top 15 in the league (as far as talent goes).

Yeah, I stumbled upon such a startling realization a month ago.

Top 15 is a little rough, though. Behind Ana, Dal, Van, Cgy, Det, Nsh, Buf, Ott - absolutely, Finding seven other teams that are better than *every* Atlantic team is a little dicier.

I don't care if the Rangers had the second best GGA in the conference. That was only because of Lundqvist(the Rangers were terrible at the beggining of the season defensively but once Lundy started playing phenomenol everything changed) and that's the same with the Devils. Brodeur made our defense last year and the year before. In 06 the Rangers had the best GAA in the conference, but before the series I kept telling my Ranger friends their D would be exposed and guess what they were. I know Lundqvist had some of the wall excuse as to why he was playing bad, but if you have the so called best defense in the conference I would think they would be able to make up for some of his blunders.

But anyway in this division every team's defense deserves a D to a C+ grade at most. But every team's great goaltending/system will make up for all of that...except the Flyers.:)

So overall I vote no one..because were equally bad. haha

On paper, I have to go with the Flyers, not to be a homer. 2nd is Devils, 3rd is Penguins.

The Atlantic has crappy defense (just looking at the names, not the goalies/systems). However, it's got some of the best goaltending (Biron is the only mediocre one of the group), so that makes up for it.

It isn;t as bad as the Southeast. They all have pretty terrible defenses.

i agree. offensively i'd say the pens dmen are the best, but when it actually comes to keeping the puck out of the net the devils and rangers do a significantly better job. philly i'm not going to put up there until they actually show it on the ice. the pens gave up 60 less goals than them last year, so until they show otherwise i'll rank the pens ahead of them.

1.rangers
2.devils

3.pens
4.flyers
5.islanders

no big names on the rangers but they do a really good job of playing d by committee. Try to consider depth which is also very important. Call me a homer but Flyers are #1 in terms of d-sive depth, while Rangers have Staal.

Try to consider depth which is also very important. Call me a homer but Flyers are #1 in terms of d-sive depth, while Rangers have Staal.

new jersey is pretty deep as far as d-man, we may not have a number 1 d-mab but we dont really have a weak line of D

Try to consider depth which is also very important. Call me a homer but Flyers are #1 in terms of d-sive depth, while Rangers have Staal.
flyers very well could end up having the best d-corps. right now, however, i think there are too many assumptions needed to rank them first. i don't think we know enough about kukkonen and coburn at this point to know how well they'll do. i'm just skeptical as to how big of a turnaround they'll post until i see it.

Flyers
Devils
Rangers/Pens
Penguins/Rags
Islanders.

The Rangers defense was #1 in the East or #2 or something and #9 or something overall last year.

Our defense is also a HELL of a lot better than the Penguins and also better than the Devils from top to bottom, IMO.

The Penguins and Islanders are a distant 4th and 5th.

I don't care if the Rangers had the second best GGA in the conference. That was only because of Lundqvist(the Rangers were terrible at the beggining of the season defensively but once Lundy started playing phenomenol everything changed) and that's the same with the Devils. Brodeur made our defense last year and the year before. In 06 the Rangers had the best GAA in the conference, but before the series I kept telling my Ranger friends their D would be exposed and guess what they were. I know Lundqvist had some of the wall excuse as to why he was playing bad, but if you have the so called best defense in the conference I would think they would be able to make up for some of his blunders.

But anyway in this division every team's defense deserves a D to a C+ grade at most. But every team's great goaltending/system will make up for all of that...except the Flyers.:)

So overall I vote no one..because were equally bad. haha

The thing is, every time that's said someone says "oh, it was the system that made Lundqvist what he was".

Whenever we say that our D played well and the system worked well it is "oh, it was Lundqvist that made the defense what it was".

The Rangers defense was fantastic after November or so. They all played together and were unbeatable at times.

No standouts but a very, very solid defense with Rozsvial, Malik, Mara, Girardi, and Tyutin all being top 4 guys and Rozsival showing himself to maybe be a #2/3 type of player as well.

The Rangers defense is getting a lot of undeserved disrespect in this thread from a posters who don't really have much of a clue.

The Rangers defense was #1 in the East or #2 or something and #9 or something overall last year.

Our defense is also a HELL of a lot better than the Penguins and also better than the Devils from top to bottom, IMO.

The Penguins and Islanders are a distant 4th and 5th.

Ranger Defense = #2 in the East....By a lot ;) (15 goals)

and also better than the Devils from top to bottom, IMO.

Want to make a friendly wager on which team has the better Goals Against next season???

Ranger Defense = #2 in the East....By a lot ;) (15 goals)



Want to make a friendly wager on which team has the better Goals Against next season???

well i think jonathan is talkng about just the defencmen as the poll asks

well i think jonathan is talkng about just the defencmen as the poll asks

I think the best way to judge the Group of Defensemen as whole is look to the GA of the team.

Sure the Goaltender plays a big part of that and so do the forwards, but is there anyway more objective way to judge a teams defensive corp?

jonathan uses the stat to show how good the Ranger Defense is in second to last post, so he must obviously agree.

I think the best way to judge the Group of Defensemen as whole is look to the GA of the team.

Sure the Goaltender plays a big part of that and so do the forwards, but is there anyway more objective way to judge a teams defensive corp?

probably looking at the number of shots they give up... however, forwards play a pretty big role there, too. it's hard to statistically isolate a defensive unit, whereas you can look at svpct with a goalie... GAA is a 'team' stat, but the goalie plays a pretty huge role in that... you stick Brodeur on the Flyers last year and they give up a LOT less goals as a team.

at the end of the day, you have to watch the team play... and we haven't seen that yet.

I think the best way to judge the Group of Defensemen as whole is look to the GA of the team.

Sure the Goaltender plays a big part of that and so do the forwards, but is there anyway more objective way to judge a teams defensive corp?

jonathan uses the stat to show how good the Ranger Defense is in second to last post, so he must obviously agree.

the only reason why i made the poll just about defencmen and not gaa is because most of the people would choose us for lowest gaa and i thought this would be a little more spread out and get people to talk about it

Well, we were the best last year and losing Rafalski hurts us more with offense than defense. So, until proven otherwise, I pick the system. :naughty:

And not to nit-pick, the thread should be titled "Best Defense" it's a bit confusing when you first read the title.

well if people have any intelligence, they should know that "defenseman" is singular and "defensemen" is plural.

I'd say the Flyers.

The thing is, every time that's said someone says "oh, it was the system that made Lundqvist what he was".

Whenever we say that our D played well and the system worked well it is "oh, it was Lundqvist that made the defense what it was".

The Rangers defense was fantastic after November or so. They all played together and were unbeatable at times.

No standouts but a very, very solid defense with Rozsvial, Malik, Mara, Girardi, and Tyutin all being top 4 guys and Rozsival showing himself to maybe be a #2/3 type of player as well.

The Rangers defense is getting a lot of undeserved disrespect in this thread from a posters who don't really have much of a clue.

Im not disrespecting them at all. Both the Devils and Rangers defense our mostly comprised of 3/4 defensemen, IMHO. The system I believe only helps so far when you have a no name name defense like our teams. I'm not saying the Rangers D top to bottom is terrible at all, I think they're average to slightly above average(same with the Devils). Lundqvist and Brodeur are far and away the two best golatenders in the conference and that is the main reason we were both one and two in goals against, in my opinion once again lol. But you might be right I could be giving the goalies to much credit, but well just have to sit back and watch. :) Just my 2 cents.

Im not disrespecting them at all. Both the Devils and Rangers defense our mostly comprised of 3/4 defensemen, IMHO. The system I believe only helps so far when you have a no name name defense like our teams. I'm not saying the Rangers D top to bottom is terrible at all, I think they're average to slightly above average(same with the Devils). Lundqvist and Brodeur are far and away the two best golatenders in the conference and that is the main reason we were both one and two in goals against, in my opinion once again lol. But you might be right I could be giving the goalies to much credit, but well just have to sit back and watch. :) Just my 2 cents.

IMO it's a little bit goalie, a little bit system. 60/40 or so split.

Team| goals allowed after allstar break
Minnesota | 63
NY Rangers |69
Vancouver | 76
Anaheim | 78
Detroit |81
Dallas |81
Ottawa |84
Nashville |87
San Jose |89
New Jersey |90
Atlanta |95
Florida |96
Pittsburgh |98
Carolina | 98
Buffalo |99
Los Angeles | 99
Columbus | 100
Toronto |101
Tampa Bay |103
NY Islanders |104
Calgary |105
St. Louis | 107
Chicago |108
Edmonton |110
Colorado | 115
Montreal | 116
Washington |118
Boston |119
Phoenix |120
Philadelphia | 121

Teams Last Seasons Total GA
NJD 193
NYR 211
NYI 235
PIT 240
PHI 297

Teams Last Seasons Total GA
NJD 193
NYR 211
NYI 235
PIT 240
PHI 297

yep, thats cause the rangers played like crap to start the year.

i dont think either team has good defenseman. they both rely on systems, and nowadays, unless you have pronger and neidermeyer playing 30 minutes a night, you need that.

its a loaded question because it really means very little. the best defense in the world will still look bad if the goalie stinks. the best goalie in the world can make a stinky defense look great. its all relative and hard to judge. if i were to guess, id say the flyers have the best d on paper, but i think losing pitkanen will bite them in the ass, and i dont think they have the system in place to augment those names with raw stats. i think the flyers are going to outscore their opponents rather than outdefend.