The NHL's top defensive defencemen: The early returns

by James Mirtle on Nov 14, 2008 10:50 AM CST in Statistics Comment 10 comments

Every year, I try and keep a handle on some of the league's top defensive players by looking at things like ice time and goals against at even strength and on the penalty kill, and by using Behind The Net for metrics like strength of competition.

We're closing in on 20 per cent of the way through 2008-09, so here are some early returns for the Rod Langway Award:

					EV	SH
	NAME	TEAM	GP	QCOMP	GAON/60	GAON/60
1	KIM JOHNSSON	MIN	14	0.14	1.46	2.20
2	A. VOLCHENKOV	OTT	16	0.13	1.33	2.43
3	NICK SCHULTZ	MIN	14	0.10	1.28	2.23
4	WADE REDDEN	NYR	18	0.05	1.57	1.84
5	CHRIS PHILLIPS	OTT	16	0.15	2.29	1.14
6	WILLIE MITCHELL	VAN	16	0.08	1.40	5.45
7	DENNIS WIDEMAN	BOS	16	0.15	1.65	6.22
8	MARC STAAL	NYR	18	0.04	1.74	1.23
9	ANDREW FERENCE	BOS	16	0.04	0.90	4.31
10	CAM BARKER	CHI	6	0.26	2.23	4.62
11	BRENT SEABROOK	CHI	14	0.09	2.45	1.11
12	ROBYN REGEHR	CGY	16	0.06	1.63	5.15
13	JASON STRUDWICK	EDM	12	0.05	1.68	4.14
14	PAUL MARA	NYR	18	0.03	1.92	1.43
15	AARON JOHNSON	CHI	12	-0.02	0.88	2.58
16	MARTIN SKOULA	MIN	14	0.14	2.78	1.50
17	M-EDOUARD VLASIC	S.J	18	0.10	2.36	3.41
18	NICLAS WALLIN	CAR	16	0.32	2.72	3.56
19	DUNCAN KEITH	CHI	14	0.07	2.43	1.93
20	MAREK MALIK	T.B	10	0.10	1.24	8.12
21	DAN GIRARDI	NYR	18	0.03	1.76	3.30
22	ROB SCUDERI	PIT	16	0.08	2.03	5.52
23	SEAN O'DONNELL	L.A	15	-0.05	1.22	2.14
24	MAREK ZIDLICKY	MIN	10	0.17	2.91	2.73
25	FRANCIS BOUILLON	MTL	9	0.16	1.60	8.60
26	KEVIN BIEKSA	VAN	13	0.07	2.39	3.07
27	RON HAINSEY	ATL	15	0.04	1.57	6.19
28	NICKLAS LIDSTROM	DET	15	0.18	3.04	2.85
29	JOHN ERSKINE	WSH	13	-0.04	1.62	2.40
30	TIM GLEASON	CAR	16	0.15	2.02	8.11

Sure, it's early, but there are some names on this list that showed up all the time last season — namely the Wild's top defence pairing of Johnsson and Schultz. Volchenkov and Phillips is another pairing that is really keeping the goals against down.

Wideman is another player who ranked high last season and who really has indisputably strong numbers defensively. He hasn't yet gotten his due as a top defenceman in the league but has really blossomed under Claude Julien. Ference's numbers so far have been lights out, too.

Staal, Barker, Vlasic, Keith, Girardi and Bieksa are the young guns on the list. Interesting to see Malik there, too, after 10 games in Tampa Bay as their top shutdown blueliner.

The way I rank the players at the moment is simply by equally weighting goals against at even strength, goals against on the penalty kill and strength of competition at even strength. There may be some tweaking in the forumla that would produce better numbers, but this gives you a general idea of who's been keeping goals out when they're on the ice this season.

I'll bring up the top defensive forwards here shortly.

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Comments

Hawks, Rangers and Wild have 4 defensemen on that list. Impressive.

Don't be afraid to take a few steps back, but you better keep moving forward.

by wlittle on Nov 14, 2008 11:20 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

It is based fairly heavily on goals against and penalty killing, so if teams are strong in those areas, they’ll do well. It’s much more unlikely there’ll be that sort of grouping at the end of the season.

by James Mirtle on Nov 14, 2008 11:27 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I expect to see Johnson, Seabs and Keith on the list at year-end. Barker on the other hand…

Don't be afraid to take a few steps back, but you better keep moving forward.

by wlittle on Nov 14, 2008 11:53 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

His sample size is probably way too small with only six games played, so we’ll see.

by James Mirtle on Nov 14, 2008 12:05 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Whoa!

Yay for #1 ranked Kim Johnsson and #3 ranked Nick Schultz, however, He Who Must Not Be Named needs to be removed from spot #16. We do not want to risk anything

by nathaneide on Nov 14, 2008 11:57 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Wideman

Glad to see him getting some well-deserved attention. He deserves a TON of credit for the Bruins’ turnaround since the beginning of last season. He doesn’t deliver the highlight-reel hits you expect from a top blueliner, but his stick-handling in the defensive zone is as good as it gets.

by pstar on Nov 14, 2008 12:17 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

James, would it make sense to use those Behind the Net numbers to measure a defensemen’s impact on GA/60 by looking at On-Ice vs. Off-Ice numbers? For instance, with Wideman, the Bruins give up more goals at even strength (1.65/60 min) when he’s playing as opposed to when he’s on the bench (1.34). Most of the guys in this table are still top-notch in this regard, but there are a few bad apples that jump out.

It’s always good to dig into the defensive side of the game, though, it’s pretty much neglected otherwise.

by Dirk Hoag on Nov 14, 2008 12:44 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I don’t think so, not when Wideman’s playing against the most difficult opposition. It stands to reason that his GA/60 would be slightly higher, doesn’t it, and that doesn’t necessarily make his play worse?

The best part about fitting in something like what you’re talking about would be that it accounts for the strength of a goaltender. But I really like that this keeps the numbers incredibly simple.

Would be interested in seeing you produce some metrics on this.

by James Mirtle on Nov 14, 2008 1:06 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs