Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
I think it's really really really difficult to parse the 2nd tier of all-time great defensemen.
Orr and Lidstrom (+Harvey and Shore) are generational (Tier 1).
Then Ray Bourque has to be at/near the very top of the next tier, but I think it's pretty tough to rank (in roughly chronological order):
Robinson
Potvin
Coffey
MacInnis
Chelios
Stevens
Blake
Pronger
Niedermayer
Chara
Keith
Weber
Doughty
Hedman
Makar
Then there are a bunch of guys who might be worthy of that tier, but probably nowhere near the top of it:
Park
Murphy
Salming
Langway
Housley
Leetch
Gonchar
Zubov
Burns
Letang
Gio
Karlsson
Pietrangelo
Josi
That's 30 guys including Bourque, though I'm sure I'm missing a few (Horton? Lapointe? Serge Savard? Suter(s)?). I think you could probably parse those 30+ into Tiers 2-4, but Chopper is almost certainly in Tier 2, and IMO it's not crazy to have him near the top of it.
Robinson/Potvin/Coffey are tough to place because they were [important] parts of dynasties. Swap MacInnis (or most of the other guys above for that matter) into their place and I'm not sure how much anything changes. MacInnis was probably a baby-step behind Potvin/Coffey offensively, but he was probably a full-step ahead of them defensively.
Another strong argument for MacInnis is how strong he remained on both sides of the ice into the twilight of his career (though this is muddied by playing with Pronger). IMO he's easily Top 10 since expansion, and I don't think it's crazy at all to have him top-5, though I think pretty much any combination for #4-10 could be valid)
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^^ where is Hall of Famer Kevin Lowe?
there is a tier of 80s guys missing there I guess- including Mark Howe, Doug Wilson, SARGE
pre-expansion sure I don't know how to rank Horton, Howell, Pilote . Laperriere circa expansion