Joined: May 2017
Posts: 938
Likes: 253
Yes. This.
Average fans are so bad at appreciating good defensive play, and it's really, really annoying. So many players get undervalued because of that, because when a defenseman is effective, precisely "nothing" happens. People are biased toward offense and the sensational.
Only the goal-scoring Ds get noticed, or those that hit other players really hard over the boards on the other team's bench. Gee, even so-called advanced stats websites like daily faceoff are terrible at acknowledging great defensive players.
The good thing is, smart GMs can take advantage of that and make the most of players like Hjalmarsson to win games. And then, some teams like the Blues, Coyotes or Islanders start to win and people wonder why.