Little project I've been working on for fun - who has the best defensive group of defenders (in terms of defense, not overall play). I compiled data for each team's top 6 defensemen (subject to change in the next few weeks), so each team has a total of 6 player's defensive-goals-above-average (GAA) that takes into account both 5v5 and shorthanded defense. I’ve updated it in the past few days by ponderating ice time so that third pairing defensemen are worth 14.6% of the total, second pairing 16.5%, and first pairing 19%, respectively. In that way, it shows the bigger (worse) impact of having Nick Leddy playing 20+minutes vs Dylan Coghlan playing 14 minutes.

Defenders who are projected to make the opening night lineup but have played less 20 NHL games (Sanderson, Harris, Barron, A. Vlasic, Power) are replacement level for the sake of the exercise.


1. (McAvoy, Lindholm, Carlo, Forbort, Grzelcyk, Reilly)

2. (Hanifin, Andersson, Weegar, Tanev, Kylington, Zadorov)

3. (Spurgeon, Brodin, Middleton, Kulikov, Merrill, Dumba)

4. (Heiskanen, Lindell, Miller, Suter, Hakanpaa, Harley)

5. (Giordano, Rielly, Brodie, Sandin, Liljegren, Muzzin)

6. (Girard, Makar, Johnson, Toews, Byram, Manson)

7. (Pulock, Dobson, Romanov, Pelech, Mayfield, Aho)

8. (Hamilton, Severson, Marino, Siegenthaler, Graves, Smith)

9. :kraken (Dunn, Larsson, Oleksiak, Soucy, Borgen, Schultz)

10. (Hedman, Foote, Cernak, Sergachev, Cole, Myers)

11. (Doughty, Walker, Edler, Roy, Anderson, Durzi)

12. (Slavin, Skjei, Pesce, Burns, Coghlan, Bear)

13. (Josi, McDonagh, Ekholm, Carrier, Lauzon, Fabbro)

14. (Lindgren, Trouba, Fox, Schneider, Hajek, Miller)

15. (S. Jones, Murphy, McCabe, C. Jones, Stillman, Vlasic)

16. (Zub, Chabot, Holden, Sanderson, Brannstrom, Hamonic)

17. (Karlsson, Vlasic, Ferraro, Nutivaara, Benning, Simek)

18. (Fehervary, Jensen, Orlov, Carlson, van Riemsdyk, Gustafsson)

19. (Petry, Letang, Pettersson, Dumoulin, Rutta, Smith)

20. (Ekblad, Montour, Staal, Carlsson, Gudas, Forsling)

21. (Matheson, Savard, Barron, Harris, Edmundson, Wideman)

22. (Sanheim, Ristolainen, Braun, DeAngelo, Provorov, York)

23. (Chychrun, Brown, Stecher, Nemeth, Mayo, Gostisbehere)

24. (Hughes, Myers, Burroughs, Ekman-Larsson, Schenn, Dermott)

25. (Chiarot, Hronek, Maatta, Seider, Walman, Lindstrom)

26. (Nurse, Barrie, Ceci, Kulak, Broberg, Bouchard)

27. (Werenski, Peeke, Gudbranson, Gavrikov, Bean, Boqvist)

28. (Lyubushkin, Jokiharju, Samuelsson, Power, Bryson, Dahlin)

29. (Faulk, Krug, Scandella, Mikkola, Leddy, Parayko)

30. (Theodore, Pietrangelo, Martinez, Whitecloud, McNabb, Hague)

31. (DeMelo, Morrissey, Pionk, Stanley, Schmidt, Dillon)

32. (Klingberg, Drysdale, Fowler, Shattenkirk, Vaakanainen, Benoit)

Hmm, this seems interesting! How does 14.6 + 16 + 19 work? Is your total %49.6? Just curious.

Dallas and Toronto seem surprisingly high while Vegas and the Blues seem very low.

Sevenleg

I’m shocked that Toronto is above Colorado.

Little project I've been working on for fun - who has the best defensive group of defenders (in terms of defense, not overall play). I compiled data for each team's top 6 defensemen (subject to change in the next few weeks), so each team has a total of 6 player's defensive-goals-above-average (GAA) that takes into account both 5v5 and shorthanded defense. I’ve updated it in the past few days by ponderating ice time so that third pairing defensemen are worth 14.6% of the total, second pairing 16.5%, and first pairing 19%, respectively. In that way, it shows the bigger (worse) impact of having Nick Leddy playing 20+minutes vs Dylan Coghlan playing 14 minutes.

Defenders who are projected to make the opening night lineup but have played less 20 NHL games (Sanderson, Harris, Barron, A. Vlasic, Power) are replacement level for the sake of the exercise.


1. (McAvoy, Lindholm, Carlo, Forbort, Grzelcyk, Reilly)

2. (Hanifin, Andersson, Weegar, Tanev, Kylington, Zadorov)

3. (Spurgeon, Brodin, Middleton, Kulikov, Merrill, Dumba)

4. (Heiskanen, Lindell, Miller, Suter, Hakanpaa, Harley)

5. (Giordano, Rielly, Brodie, Sandin, Liljegren, Muzzin)

6. (Girard, Makar, Johnson, Toews, Byram, Manson)

7. (Pulock, Dobson, Romanov, Pelech, Mayfield, Aho)

8. (Hamilton, Severson, Marino, Siegenthaler, Graves, Smith)

9. :kraken (Dunn, Larsson, Oleksiak, Soucy, Borgen, Schultz)

10. (Hedman, Foote, Cernak, Sergachev, Cole, Myers)

11. (Doughty, Walker, Edler, Roy, Anderson, Durzi)

12. (Slavin, Skjei, Pesce, Burns, Coghlan, Bear)

13. (Josi, McDonagh, Ekholm, Carrier, Lauzon, Fabbro)

14. (Lindgren, Trouba, Fox, Schneider, Hajek, Miller)

15. (S. Jones, Murphy, McCabe, C. Jones, Stillman, Vlasic)

16. (Zub, Chabot, Holden, Sanderson, Brannstrom, Hamonic)

17. (Karlsson, Vlasic, Ferraro, Nutivaara, Benning, Simek)

18. (Fehervary, Jensen, Orlov, Carlson, van Riemsdyk, Gustafsson)

19. (Petry, Letang, Pettersson, Dumoulin, Rutta, Smith)

20. (Ekblad, Montour, Staal, Carlsson, Gudas, Forsling)

21. (Matheson, Savard, Barron, Harris, Edmundson, Wideman)

22. (Sanheim, Ristolainen, Braun, DeAngelo, Provorov, York)

23. (Chychrun, Brown, Stecher, Nemeth, Mayo, Gostisbehere)

24. (Hughes, Myers, Burroughs, Ekman-Larsson, Schenn, Dermott)

25. (Chiarot, Hronek, Maatta, Seider, Walman, Lindstrom)

26. (Nurse, Barrie, Ceci, Kulak, Broberg, Bouchard)

27. (Werenski, Peeke, Gudbranson, Gavrikov, Bean, Boqvist)

28. (Lyubushkin, Jokiharju, Samuelsson, Power, Bryson, Dahlin)

29. (Faulk, Krug, Scandella, Mikkola, Leddy, Parayko)

30. (Theodore, Pietrangelo, Martinez, Whitecloud, McNabb, Hague)

31. (DeMelo, Morrissey, Pionk, Stanley, Schmidt, Dillon)

32. (Klingberg, Drysdale, Fowler, Shattenkirk, Vaakanainen, Benoit)

This is great stuff!

One question is the listing a "ranking" of top pairs (first 2 guys listed, etc)?

I only ask because of the TOI weight you are using.

It's under the assumption that two defensemen are playing each set of minutes: (2x0.19 + 2x0.165 + 2x0.146) ≈ 100%

Those two teams sink primarily because of Pietrangelo/Theodore & Leddy/Krug.

No they're listed randomly

The power of Liligren

It's actually Brodie's 20-21 season and Giordano's 21-22 season that help them most

Someone please explain to me who in the world is actually going to pay 88 American dollars for a Matthew Tkachuk or Johnny Gaudreau FLAMES jersey at this point. Does Fanatics/NHL Shop actually get people to pay that much for a jersey of a player WHO'S NOT EVEN ON THE TEAM ANYMORE?!?!

EDIT: Wait-you can buy a Brent Burns Sharks jersey for only 65 bucks!!

DOUBLE-EDIT: And BTW, I do understand why they have to charge that much-they have to make their money back somehow. I just find it outrageous that jerseys cost $170 to buy in the first place (or $120 on sale).

Someone please explain to me who in the world is actually going to pay 88 American dollars for a Matthew Tkachuk or Johnny Gaudreau FLAMES jersey at this point. Does Fanatics/NHL Shop actually get people to pay that much for a jersey of a player WHO'S NOT EVEN ON THE TEAM ANYMORE?!?!

EDIT: Wait-you can buy a Brent Burns Sharks jersey for only 65 bucks!!

DOUBLE-EDIT: And BTW, I do understand why they have to charge that much-they have to make their money back somehow. I just find it outrageous that jerseys cost $170 to buy in the first place (or $120 on sale).

Subban jerseys are still like $35-$40 at the Habs training facility lol

Rumored cover for NHL 23

Not a fan tbh

Are you kidding me?! Truly terrible for so many reasons-first of all, the tropical setting makes it look like a game for 5 year olds. What a terrible setting. Second of all, since when is hockey played AT THE FREAKING BEACH? Do these idiots have any clue what hockey is? Third, the title is NHL 23. Why are you putting people not remotely associated with the NHL on the cover? I'm all for promoting women's hockey, but this, the endless virtue signaling of our time, is pathetic. Fourth-Hockey Canada on the cover? NOW? Enough said.

Little project I've been working on for fun - who has the best defensive group of defenders (in terms of defense, not overall play). I compiled data for each team's top 6 defensemen (subject to change in the next few weeks), so each team has a total of 6 player's defensive-goals-above-average (GAA) that takes into account both 5v5 and shorthanded defense. I’ve updated it in the past few days by ponderating ice time so that third pairing defensemen are worth 14.6% of the total, second pairing 16.5%, and first pairing 19%, respectively. In that way, it shows the bigger (worse) impact of having Nick Leddy playing 20+minutes vs Dylan Coghlan playing 14 minutes.

Defenders who are projected to make the opening night lineup but have played less 20 NHL games (Sanderson, Harris, Barron, A. Vlasic, Power) are replacement level for the sake of the exercise.


1. (McAvoy, Lindholm, Carlo, Forbort, Grzelcyk, Reilly)

2. (Hanifin, Andersson, Weegar, Tanev, Kylington, Zadorov)

3. (Spurgeon, Brodin, Middleton, Kulikov, Merrill, Dumba)

4. (Heiskanen, Lindell, Miller, Suter, Hakanpaa, Harley)

5. (Giordano, Rielly, Brodie, Sandin, Liljegren, Muzzin)

6. (Girard, Makar, Johnson, Toews, Byram, Manson)

7. (Pulock, Dobson, Romanov, Pelech, Mayfield, Aho)

8. (Hamilton, Severson, Marino, Siegenthaler, Graves, Smith)

9. :kraken (Dunn, Larsson, Oleksiak, Soucy, Borgen, Schultz)

10. (Hedman, Foote, Cernak, Sergachev, Cole, Myers)

11. (Doughty, Walker, Edler, Roy, Anderson, Durzi)

12. (Slavin, Skjei, Pesce, Burns, Coghlan, Bear)

13. (Josi, McDonagh, Ekholm, Carrier, Lauzon, Fabbro)

14. (Lindgren, Trouba, Fox, Schneider, Hajek, Miller)

15. (S. Jones, Murphy, McCabe, C. Jones, Stillman, Vlasic)

16. (Zub, Chabot, Holden, Sanderson, Brannstrom, Hamonic)

17. (Karlsson, Vlasic, Ferraro, Nutivaara, Benning, Simek)

18. (Fehervary, Jensen, Orlov, Carlson, van Riemsdyk, Gustafsson)

19. (Petry, Letang, Pettersson, Dumoulin, Rutta, Smith)

20. (Ekblad, Montour, Staal, Carlsson, Gudas, Forsling)

21. (Matheson, Savard, Barron, Harris, Edmundson, Wideman)

22. (Sanheim, Ristolainen, Braun, DeAngelo, Provorov, York)

23. (Chychrun, Brown, Stecher, Nemeth, Mayo, Gostisbehere)

24. (Hughes, Myers, Burroughs, Ekman-Larsson, Schenn, Dermott)

25. (Chiarot, Hronek, Maatta, Seider, Walman, Lindstrom)

26. (Nurse, Barrie, Ceci, Kulak, Broberg, Bouchard)

27. (Werenski, Peeke, Gudbranson, Gavrikov, Bean, Boqvist)

28. (Lyubushkin, Jokiharju, Samuelsson, Power, Bryson, Dahlin)

29. (Faulk, Krug, Scandella, Mikkola, Leddy, Parayko)

30. (Theodore, Pietrangelo, Martinez, Whitecloud, McNabb, Hague)

31. (DeMelo, Morrissey, Pionk, Stanley, Schmidt, Dillon)

32. (Klingberg, Drysdale, Fowler, Shattenkirk, Vaakanainen, Benoit)

St. Louis gets a LOT of defensive help from their forwards

Subban jerseys are still like $35-$40 at the Habs training facility lol

They’re going to have to keep it with Leddy in the fold for the next 4 seasons

That was a baffling signing from an otherwise good GM in Doug Armstrong. Almost as bad as Erik Gudbranson.

(Ok, that's a bit much, it's not even close to as bad as Erik Gudbranson)

Really dam as normally Lily was the reason either way nice

They’re going to have to keep it with Leddy in the fold for the next 4 seasons

Rumored cover for NHL 23

Not a fan tbh