After ranking the NHL's top five best defense corps, Adam Proteau turns to the five teams with the weakest at this point in time.
The NHL’s 2023-24 regular season is just about upon us, and just in time, THN.com was able to get in one pre-season story, one that ranks the depth of NHL team rosters.
On Wednesday, we analyzed the NHL’s top five teams in terms of their top-six forward groups. Thursday, we labelled the five teams with the weakest top-six forward groups.
Friday, we rated the five best defense corps in the NHL, and today, we’re wrapping up this theme with the five weakest at this point in time.
In reverse order, here are this writer’s choices for the five teams with the worst groups of blueliners.
5. Montreal Canadiens
Top six defensemen: Michael Matheson, David Savard, Kaiden Guhle, Johnathan Kovacevic, Jordan Harris, Arber Xhekaj
We were considering other teams at this No. 5 position – the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks also are relatively thin on defense. Ultimately, we chose the Canadiens because there’s no real star there, at least not yet. Veterans Matheson and Savard are capable hands, but they’re hardly elite. And while youngsters Guhle, Harris and Xhekaj have promise, we haven’t seen enough from them yet to earn them a reputation as one of the league’s better defense corps.
Perhaps youngster David Reinbacher emerges as the Habs’ best blueliner. But that day has yet to arrive, and until further notice, we should be tempering expectations for Montreal’s defense corps. The road ahead for them is bumpy, but management looks prepared to build over the long haul, so it’s not all bad news, not at all.
4. Chicago Blackhawks
Top six defensemen: Seth Jones, Connor Murphy, Kevin Korchinski, Wyatt Kaiser, Nikita Zaitsev, Alex Vlasic
While their No. 1 defenseman, 29-year-old Jones, is their most essential component on ‘D,’ the Blackhawks have next to no defensive excellence. Murphy is a footsoldier, Korchinski and Kaiser still have to prove themselves as above-average defenders, and Zaitsev is a non-factor playing out the last year of his contract. There are not nearly enough high-impact D-men in Chicago, and they’re going to be in the same situation for quite some time.
Perhaps the Blackhawks polish a top defenseman from current internal stockpiles, and they get a big-time blueliner in the mix for the next decade-and-a-half. Because you don’t get elite defensemen unless you stink in the league and gain the best odds of drafting first overall, or unless you get a star looking for a change of employer, you’re rarely going to get one via trades and free agency. This is why building through the draft is so critical.
The Hawks know more pain is ahead, but it likely will be most acute when it comes to their defense corps.
3. Arizona Coyotes
Top six defensemen: J.J. Moser, Matt Dumba, Sean Durzi, Juuso Valimaki, Troy Stecher, Josh Brown
Are the Coyotes a better defensive group this season than they were in 2022-23? Yes, that’s safe to say – honestly, it’s not a badge of honor and more of a comment on their ongoing roster rebuild and where they were last season.
Youngsters Moser and Valimaki and new acquisitions Dumba and Durzi do add some depth, but the bottom two D-men are not difference-makers in the slightest. And some of them could be traded by the trade deadline. This very much remains a work in progress.
Arizona is beginning to see legitimately top-flight talent emerge at forward, but on the back end, they’ve got a long way to go before they’re regarded as a true threat to win more games than they lose.
2. Philadelphia Flyers
Top six defensemen: Travis Sanheim, Marc Staal, Rasmus Ristolainen, Cam York, Nick Seeler, Sean Walker
The Flyers dealt away two veterans this summer – D-men Ivan Provorov and Tony DeAngelo. Though they brought in Staal and Walker to help soften the blow, the reality is the top six are far from elite. The top-six combined for just 105 points last season, and they’re not a group not known for its shutdown abilities.
Seeler and Walker both averaged less than 15 minutes per game in 2022-23, and despite the capabilities of Sanheim and York, the Flyers just don’t have the horses to be considered even an average defense corps. GM Daniel Briere also should get credit for going the full-rebuild route, but the ugly underbelly of that strategy means tough times must be endured. Those tough times should last, at the very least, through this season.
1. San Jose Sharks
Top six defensemen: Mario Ferraro, Matt Benning, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Kyle Burroughs, Jan Rutta, Jacob MacDonald
The Ducks would’ve made this list even if they’d retained the services of Erik Karlsson, but without him? Eeek and yeesh and goodness me.
San Jose’s goaltending tandem of Kaapo Kahkonen has its work cut out, and although Sharks fans are likely in for a miserable season, they can take some comfort knowing GM Mike Grier is taking the safest route to long-term success. It’s just not going to be here for quite some time.
To wit: only one Sharks D-man – the 25-year-old Ferraro – averaged more than 19:47 of ice time last season, and three of their blueliners averaged 17:28 or less last year. The cupboard is bare on their back end, and there’s not going to be a savior on ‘D’ to carry them into the post-season, or really, anywhere close to it. They’re well-advised to focus on the long term, because the short term is going to be the pits.