we'll get a sense this year of whether rielly has been held back by garbage partners his whole career or whether he just isn't a consistently elite defenceman

imo I think he dominates with brodie, but still, we shall see

Yeah. Although being up there with the Slavins, Theodores, Paraykos and McAvoys of this world is a great achievement, they're such good players!

Just my opinion but I’d have Josi 2, Jones a lot lower and Makar in there instead of Reilly.

Waiting for all the massive underrating of Jones

I'll wait until I put Makar, Hughes and Fox in here. They were rookies in 19-20 after all.

I think he can be a 60-70 PT guy annually but I don't think his defensive game puts him in the elite conversation. Not saying its brutal but I don't see him being the guy you want shutting down top players on other teams every night.

I think he can be a 60-70 PT guy annually but I don't think his defensive game puts him in the elite conversation. Not saying its brutal but I don't see him being the guy you want shutting down top players on other teams every night.

Rielly is the secret sauce to the leaf's offence imo, like he is a genuinely elite dman who can take over hockey games sometimes. He's sort of just entering his prime (was 24 during his 72p campaign), was 25 with lots of injuries this year, and he'll be 26 through most of next year.

I think 18-19 was his breakout year where he took off (again, at 24! I forget how young he is sometimes). This year, he played 46 games with the leafs struggling with some lower body injury through all 46, then he fractured his foot and finally returned for one game, fully healthy 8 weeks later, then the season got put on pause LOL

Next year hopefully he gets back to form

Indeed. If he does then the Leafs' D-core will have a big boost

I would switch Josi and Pietrangelo.Thanks for no Carlson.
The rest is really interchangeable and debatable so I will just agree to disagree with some rankings.

I think he can fit a role of a better offensive kaberle if that makes sense?

no letang?

cmon

weber and parayko also too high

this just proves letang really is one of the most underrated D in the NHL

I think you should put Heiskanen, Makar and Hughes in a separate category, because I expect them to be monsters and I think we've seen enough of them to predict that, but they're younger than the rest of the crew. Fox could be there too but I haven't seen him play enough. The jury is still out on Ryan Pulock and Mikhail Gorbachev, er, Sergachev.

Edit: Oh, and I forgot Thomas Chabot.

Mr. Gorbatchev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL


Oops wrong Mikhail sorry

The two that i would argue about, and i 100% concede that there is ample reason to have them on this list, are Weber and Hamilton. I know I’m in the minority here, but i just think dougie’ s compete level is so crazy low that in playoff games he’s one dimensional. I think he’s been exposed in the playoffs the last two years. There’s just something about the guy. If it was all there he wouldn’t be on his third team. As for Weber, I think as he has aged, he has lost some of the consistency from his awesome game.

Or Carlson .... 89 point pace for a Dman is elite. His defensive game isn’t great but it’s not nearly as terrible as this site makes it seem.

LMFAO wow didnt even notice him

you'll definitely like my list better
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2103214

you have a right to dispute my post of having Carlson in their with Petro/Josi, but he is undoubtably a top 10 D in this league. no debate

Disagree again. For me, defense is more important than offense. So I value defense more and Carlson is really bad at that so I don't have him in the top20.

There is debate for everything, look at the people not having Hedman as #1.

Maker finished in the top 10 for the Norris just saying

Aside from having Weber here (replace him with Makar is what I'd do), I have nothing to complain about this list. Great job.

Never mind, replace him with Carlson.



Why take out Rielly?



Letang is great, but who are you going to take out (Weber I guess)?

Weber's much better at defense than Letang lol. Letang's not even the best defensive d-man on his team. He's the 4th best IMO

Oh, I agree. I think you have Weber a tad high, but that's literally the only thing I can complain about it.

Im taking out Weber Parayko and Reilly forsure for letang.