The NCAA isn't a major source of hockey talent compared to the CHL, so it stands to reason that it's not going to pump out a whole bunch of guys. But in addition to some great players like those mentioned above, it has produced plenty of good NHL careers (guys like Orpik, Johnson, Bieksa, Niskanen, off the top of my head, have all had respectable several-hundred-game careers, mostly in the top 4).
It's just the nature of the NCAA that it's basically going to only be USA talent, and until recently that's not been a huge chunk of the league. Even then, not all USA talent goes through that system. So it's a smaller pool to draw from overall. On the whole I don't think the NCAA has been any better or worse at producing good d-men than forwards.
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