McAvoy has the best advanced stats in the league last year. Mix with a super cheap contract boosts him to 1. It’s close.
Spurgeon is the best defensive defenseman since Vlasic fell off a cliff.
Serious argument can be made for Heiskanen because of his skating but he has tunnel vision offensively. Cale Makar if not the end of this season then the next.
“If it weren't for a lack of gaudy point totals, McAvoy would be recognized for the superstar that he is. He's a two-way defenceman in the purest sense: almost no other blueliner at his level defensively comes even close to his offensive ability. Despite the lack of box-score production, McAvoy drives goals, expected goals, and shot attempts at a high level. He led all defencemen in shooting-adjusted xGAA this season. On top of all that, McAvoy drew penalties at by far the highest rate among defenceman in the league. He does all this as the Bruins' #1 defenceman playing the 14th toughest minutes in the league, and the 5th most against top competition. He's not just an up-and-coming star, he's already there - and he deserves the 2020 Norris Trophy.“
“If it weren't for a lack of gaudy point totals, McAvoy would be recognized for the superstar that he is. He's a two-way defenceman in the purest sense: almost no other blueliner at his level defensively comes even close to his offensive ability. Despite the lack of box-score production, McAvoy drives goals, expected goals, and shot attempts at a high level. He led all defencemen in shooting-adjusted xGAA this season. On top of all that, McAvoy drew penalties at by far the highest rate among defenceman in the league. He does all this as the Bruins' #1 defenceman playing the 14th toughest minutes in the league, and the 5th most against top competition. He's not just an up-and-coming star, he's already there - and he deserves the 2020 Norris Trophy.“
Yeah. Basically exactly what I said. McAvoy is a really good D-man, but he's not the best. And I wouldn't be surprised if he won the Norris this coming year. But Hedman had 55 points in 66 games last year. McAvoy had 32 in 67 and let's not forget that who won the Conn Smythe trophy either. Drawing more penalties doesn't make up the huge difference in points and neither does setting up goals without getting assists. And Hedman played more minutes a game than McAvoy. I'm not seeing much in McAvoy's favor
“If it weren't for a lack of gaudy point totals, McAvoy would be recognized for the superstar that he is. He's a two-way defenceman in the purest sense: almost no other blueliner at his level defensively comes even close to his offensive ability. Despite the lack of box-score production, McAvoy drives goals, expected goals, and shot attempts at a high level. He led all defencemen in shooting-adjusted xGAA this season. On top of all that, McAvoy drew penalties at by far the highest rate among defenceman in the league. He does all this as the Bruins' #1 defenceman playing the 14th toughest minutes in the league, and the 5th most against top competition. He's not just an up-and-coming star, he's already there - and he deserves the 2020 Norris Trophy.“
How much of his "defensive ability" was due to the fact that he played with one of the league's premier shutdown D last year?
The same. Big Z played the toughest minutes of ANY defenseman in the league last year (46.4% vs Elites, just 33.86% OZ starts) and yet produced good numbers (36.5 DFA/60, 16-9 goals).