Hockey News Rated a the NHL teams defence corps..

1. Nashville 2. Calgary. 3. Carolina. Calgary and Carolina are unlikely even top 4 teams in their conference. 4. Anaheim. 5. Columbus. 6. San Jose. 7. Tampa Bay
8. Florida, 9 Rangers. 10. St Louis. 11. Pittsburg. 12. Boston. 13. LA. 14. Winnipeg. 15. Edmonton 16. Ottawa. 17. Washington. 18. Phillly. 19. Arizona. 20. Minni
21. Leafs. 22 Hawks. 23. Montreal. 24. Dallas. 25. Isles, 26 Canucks. 27. Red wIngs. 28. Buffalo. 29. Devils. 30. Colarado. 31. Vegas

Boston should be way lower ... Vancouver's and Dallas's are way better than Boston's and Florida's.

I'm curious as to how you think Calgary and Carolina's defenses aren't in the top four of their conference. Both are extremely deep and talented.

I would say that Minnesota and St. Louis need to be higher on the list. On paper, Arizona's should be higher as well. OEL, Hjalmarsson, Chychrun and Demers is a really good top four. Schenn is a good third pairing guy, and that last spot rotates a lot.



How is Vancouver's better than Boston's? Remember, Vancouver doesn't have Dahlin yet...

krakowitz; What I'm saying is despite having the # 2, and # 3 rated defence group, they are still marginally playoffs teams. (not a top 4 team in their conference) Maybe, I'm a little tired of Capfriendly GMs saying the Leafs need a top defence to become Cup contenders. Really? Looks like it doesn't do Calgary and Carolina much good as Cup contenders even if they have the # 2 and 3 defence group.

Ahh, gotcha. I think the issue isn't the defense of Calgary and Carolina, it's the supporting cast. Neither team has gotten good goaltending in recent years, and the forward groups were never exceptional. Carolina's offense still needs a top centerman, and the Flames need more depth scoring before they become legit (except they've looked the part of one so far).

As far as the Leafs go, I believe they need a shutdown guy. I think Hjalmarsson would be a perfect fit for them to play next to Morgan Rielly and help out on the PK. I don't think they need to go trade for Drew Doughty or anything, but getting a shutdown defenseman to relieve some pressure from Andersen should be the missing piece to become a Cup contender.

Maybe it just shows, you have only so much cap and too much in one area, you might be short talent in another. Calgary might have get biggest cap for Dmen, and Carolina might be highest %.
Regarding the Leafs. Like all teams, the Leafs are hoping their cheaper, younger Dmen are NHL good soon Dermot, Liljendren, and improving rookie Borgman. In summer of 2019, Gardiner is a UFA, so he could be gone.
Looks like Washington is somewhat in the same boat next summer. Lots of big contracts for their forwards, plus Orlov and Orpik. How to spread the money around and get good Dmen, Are the young guys going to NHL good?

Montreal should not be at 23, if not last in the league they should be at the highest 29 or 30.

Pittsburgh at 11 is a joke. Their defense is dreadful.

It was just one game, but watching Philadelphia's defense against Vancouver the other night, Provorov was the only player who was able to hold his own defensively. They have potential, but right now I would put them lower on the list.

Vancouver should definitely be higher, they don't have the top end talent, but I'd say it's hard to find a better 5, 6 and 7 than Stecher/Gudbranson, Del Zotto/Hutton and Pouliot.

Minnesota should definitely be higher as well. Suter, Brodin, Spurgeon, Dumba is enviable

Orlov is a huge waste of money. He has good offensive upside, but he’s constantly turning the puck over and getting caught in the rush. We need to pay Carlson, because he’s been fantastic for us while the rest of our D has not been impressive. I’m not too worried though. Lucas Johansen is playing very well in Hershey, and I expect Christian Djoos and Madison Bowey to be top four guys for us as well. Connor Hobbs and Jonas Siegenthaler can be good as well pretty soon. Certainly a time of transition, I’ll tell you that

SJ is way too high. It goes Burns then Vlasic, then it drops off straight from there.

Minnesota should be higher and Pittsburgh lower

Agree with the top 10 other than FL

You can really say that about just about every team. It's all relative.
I think how you rank them really has to do with what you're looking at for this exercise (NHL roster v Organization),;because Martin, Braun, and Dillon are decent depth but their prospect cupboard is pretty barren.

Vancouver has Tanev, Stecher, Hutton, Edler, Gudbranson, Wiercoch, and Del-Zotto. That's a pretty good defence.

Tanev is good, Stecher and MDZ are decent. All you did was say the names of their guys lol.

Boston has a solid top 4 with Chara, Krug, McAvoy and Carlo. Kevin Miller is good on the third pairing, and the last slot rotates a lot from what I've seen (Bruins fans would know more about this than I would). Even if Boston only used those 5 they'd have a better D core than Vancouver.

Lmao so wrong. Their defence of:
Dumo - Letang
Maatta - Schultz
Cole- hunwick
Is one of the best in the league. Their problem is that they don’t have any “defensive” forwards and they don’t play team defense very well. But when talking about defenceman player wise, pens have arguably one of the better D cores in the league

Bruins should be much higher. Have you watched a Bruin game?

Bruins have Chara, Miller, McAvoy, Krug, Carlo and McQuaid. That's much better than Canucks. Heck, McAvoy, Krug and Carlo are better than all 7 combined you mentioned above!!