McAvoy is defensive... right? lol

Two-way, a bit more defensive than offensive but really close. I would switch and say "top10 defensemen defensively" since most of these players are great two-way D, not only defensively.

If this is PURELY defensively, Slavin is the best in the league and it isn't close. He wins an award every year for it, although it isn't recognised as a major award

is he tho? brodin and pelech both have an argument for it. dougie hamilton’s defensive metrics were better away from slavin, while slavin’s got worse when he wasn’t playing with dougie. he’s great defensively, no doubt, but “best in the league and it isn’t close” is not accurate imo.

QoT. When Dougie was taken away from Slavin, he was usually playing with a puck mover like Bean. Those two got the puck up the ice and didn't really have to defend, but gave up goals when the puck came the other way. Slavin has always been asked to carry less-capable partners. It's why TDA is a lock for 1RD. Slavin is better than Brodin, that's comical. AND Brodin plays with Suter (or used to) Spurgeon etc. Pelech plays with Pulock... both are good, neither are fantatic defensive locks. Slavin is the best in the league and it isn't close

Major L on Tanev notaking the list lwt alone not being #1. Fox should be here too

Fox is so overrated defensively, he won the Norris on the back of an ESPN highlight reel shift blocking shots and because Makar missed 13 games.

We just ignoring Pesce?

Where's Brent Burns


lol

FRICK I FORGOT HIM, LOL

Makar didnt deserve the Norris either...
McAvoy was by far the best defenseman in the league last year. Only reason he finiahed 4th was his lack of powerplay points compared to the 3 above him.

This is a put defensive game though and Fox is quite good defensively and 100% should make this list, Makar's defensive game is average

pelech had far better isolated defensive metrics than slavin last season and it wasn’t close. brodin wasn’t as good this year but was the best in the league defensively last year. slavin’s really good defensively, but his metrics aren’t as good as either of those two, and brodin and pelech pass the eye test too. certainly he’s in the upper tier, but he’s got some good competition.

If Makar kept the level of play he had defensively last season over those 13 games, he shouldn't have won it anyways.

I won’t argue awards that have already been awarded. But I think you are both down playing how well Makar plays defense because he is so good with his stick, uses his skating to neutralize plays and does play the body when he has to. His 5v5 corsi and xGA were significantly better than Fox. I don’t want it to seem like I’m hating on Fox, more so hating on the east coast media machine that plays up massively anybody that plays in New York, and isn’t just limited to hockey.

He is fine defensively not elite though. Fox and McAvoy are definitely better defensively

I don’t disagree with that assessment, though I think it is closer than people are willing to admit.