Let me tell you his expected goals percentage from the series and compare that to a couple other defensemen who played in the same series

(All stats courtesy of moneypuck.com)

Game 1
Jones~71%
Werenski~68%
Savard~38%
Rielly~39%
Muzzin~32%
Dermott~58%

Game 2
Jones~21%
Werenski~36%
Savard~45%
Rielly~61%
Muzzin~57%
Dermott~64%

Game 3
Jones~35%
Werenski~41%
Savard~43%
Rielly~51%
Dermott~49%

Game 4
Jones~55%
Werenski~73%
Savard~55%
Rielly~69%
Dermott~57%

Game 5
Jones~25%
Werenski~26%
Savard~53%
Rielly~55%
Dermott~55%

Now of course expected goals % isnt the be all and end all, but its a good indicator of how well someone played offensively.

Yea, hes top 5 in playoff scoring but how many other top defensemen are still in the playoffs and focus 95% of their game on offense?

Josi, Spurgeon, Ellis, Rielly, Letang, Fox, Ekblad, Brodin and Ekholm are no longer in the playoffs,

Pietrangelo, Hedman, McAvoy, Slavin, Theodore and Petry arent exact insane point getters

That leaves Carlson and Makar as other the 2 true offensive defensemen left and Hughes has played the most games out of them so its fair that hes leading in points

I want you to go watch that first game between Tampa and Columbus then tell me Jones is not a top 5 defenseman in the league. You are completely delusional if you don't think he is even top 20

Your eyes can tell you whatever you want. Do you think that if Roman Josi or Dougie Hamilton were on the ice for an entire hour, they wouldntve scored? You think Jared Spurgeon or Shea Theodore wouldve played an hour and still not end the game? You think that if Joonas Korpisalo want a brick wall, the game wouldntve ended earlier?

Dont tell me Hedman played 55+ minutes and he didnt do anything, he was a gametime decuision, his ankle was not at 100%

Hedman played the best game of his year that game while injured, clearly you didn't watch the game because this comment is pure stupidity. It astonishes me how much you underrate Jones. He is without a doubt to me a top 5 defense in the league and ive cheered against the Jackets this entire time

You must never have used analytics if you think jones is top 5

I don't think it's fair to say that Hughes focuses 95% of his game on offense. It just looks that way because he skates/passes the puck out cleanly so often. I wouldn't call him a shut down defender by any means but he played against other team's top lines this season for a reason. Of course he'll pick up a bunch of points on the powerplay too.

I think Hughes is at least a top 3 defenseman in the league when he has the puck on his stick. When it's not on his stick his 1 on 1 defending is pretty average for a smaller player and his zone exits are really good. Any sort of decision that involves making a play with the puck, Hughes is one of the best at.

I didn't mean to say definitively that Hughes is better than a bunch of those players right now based on his scoring so far, I'm just saying he's worthy of consideration considering he's also leading the Canucks in scoring which none of those other guys would be.

And you must never have used the Eye Test.

Those are all fair, but I personally dont think hes better than any of those guys ahead of him

Ive used the eye test, i use it everyday.

I just trust analytics a lot more since they are capeable of understanding and showing a lot more information than the human eye.

Thats a proven fact, the eye is incapable of properly understanding what all 12 players on the ice are doing at the same time

I didnt say he has no offensive impact. I said its not elite like people say it is.

You realize there is a reason Jones was trusted to play 65 freaking minutes as well as play the entire series vs Toronto's #1 line right? You can argue stats all you want but results trumps all. Statistically speaking Columbus as no right going to even 1 overtime vs Tampa let alone 5. Hell, stats say they shouldn't have even beat Toronto. Idk about you but watching Jones play is like watching Prime Keith to me.

Stats also say they shouldntve beat Tampa last year, but that happened because of Jones too? Didnt it?

Yes hes an absolute workhorse, who is trusted by his coach. Im not saying he is a bad hockey player. Im just saying he is not a top 20 defenseman, when looking at his overall impact on the game.

Hes a very smart player who looks like hes really good, but in terms of actual impact, hes not elite

Obviously this is a waste of time since neither of us will never agree on this so, whatever floats your boat. Believe whatever you want to believe

I think leaving Seth Jones off there is a huge mistake

I would take Chabot, Werenski, Jones and even Nurse over a bunch of these guys.

If you're looking at this year only, Tony DeAngelo should be on the list too.

Tony DeAngelo has a case.

But Darnell Nurse??? No no no no no. He is not a top 50, let alone top 20 defenseman

Where would you have Weegar? From a glance at RAPM he had a better season than Ekblad iirc

I considered Weegar, but he isnt always healthy and spent a while on the 3rd pair and as a healthy scratch.

Hes been really good, but until he gets a bigger role on the Panthers, idk if I can put him on here

Yeah he passes the eye test for sure - he’s pretty flashy but I’d say he’s more of a very good 2nd pairing D man than a top pairing D

Ok bud.