Summer Talent Tiers: Defence

Our multi-series Talent Tiers continues this week, with a focused shift towards the defensive depth charts for all 32 NHL teams.

If you missed last week’s kickoff analyzing the goaltending depth charts across the National Hockey League, you can check it out here. But now it’s time to break down our beloved defencemen, with thoughts for all 32 teams below:

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Anaheim Ducks (T5) — The Ducks may have one of the thinnest groups in the league, but there’s plenty to like about 24-year-old Jackson LaCombe. The two-way defender put a 43-point season together in 2024-25, but more encouragingly, the Ducks outscored opponents 56-to-51 (+5) with LaCombe on the ice last season. For a lottery-bound team otherwise outscored 123-to-111 (-12) last year, it’s encouraging outperformance.

Boston Bruins (T3) — Boston’s eyeing not one, but two notable injury-returns on the blue line. The big one is Hampus Lindholm, whose fractured patella removed him from the lineup long-term. That put significantly more workload on star defender Charlie McAvoy, who also went on to miss 32 games last year. Boston has a robust top-four and should see improvement at the position year-over-year with a return to full health.

Buffalo Sabres (T2) — Finding areas to criticize the Buffalo Sabres organization is an easy exercise, but the one area of real strength for this team is on the blueline. Rasmus Dahlin has solidified himself as one of the best defenders in the league, and 22-year old Owen Power has already shown himself capable of anchoring a second pairing. Couple that with Bowen Byram’s likely return after his arbitration deal, and the Sabres should be able to ice three quality pairings this season – a luxury few teams around the league possess.

MacKenzie Weegar Calgary Flames

Calgary Flames (T4) — Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov and Rasmus Andersson were once core fixtures of Calgary’s deep defensive corps. But as part of Calgary’s retooling efforts, three of the four have been moved out, and it’s fair to say Craig Conroy has not ruled out moving on from Andersson and his expiring deal this season. If Andersson exits, it’s fair to say an incredible workload burden will be placed on players like Kevin Bahl and MacKenzie Weegar to anchor Calgary’s top-four.

Carolina Hurricanes (T1) — A robust defensive team found another weapon in the form of K’Andre Miller - acquired this summer to anchor a pairing behind the venerable Jaccob Slavin. Miller spent most of last season with the Rangers in a similar situation, anchoring a quality second-pairing with Will Borgen (+3 in even strength goal differential on the season) behind the Adam Fox pairing. Assuming Carolina’s brain trust doesn’t want to play him on his off-hand, my best guess is Miller starts the year with Jalen Chatfield or Sean Walker on the second unit.

Chicago Blackhawks (T4) — A name worth watching in Chicago? Wyatt Kaiser. In last year’s utterly futile season, Kaiser was a swiss army knife, playing well despite an unrelenting change of pair mates and forwards in front of him. But amidst the challenges, the Blackhawks played to a -1 even strength goal differential in the entirety of Kaiser’s minutes, juxtaposed against a staggering -55 even strength goal differential with Kaiser off the ice. With his first full season behind him, I expect Chicago to put a heavy workload on Kaiser inside of their top-four as they continue through the rebuild.

Colorado Avalanche (T1) — Colorado may have the best defensive corps in the league, and it starts and ends with two-time Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar. It feels impossible to quantify Makar’s dominance in one singular data point, but I’ll give it a go: Colorado is +97 goals better than the opposition over the last four years at even strength with Makar’s pairing on the ice. Edmonton’s advantage with Connor McDavid on the ice in that same timespan? +96. Enough said.

Columbus Blue Jackets (T3) — Dean Evason may have something cooking on his second-pairing behind superstar Zach Werenski. Ivan Provorov and 21-year old second-year defenceman (and 2022 first round pick) Denton Mateychuk outscored teams 27-to-21 (+6) last season in a second pairing role, and if Mateychuk can improve on what we saw last season in his 45-game sample, the Blue Jackets may have one of the stronger top-four groups in the league.

Dallas Stars (T1) — Some grades are more self-explanatory than others, and the luxury the Stars have in anchoring their top-four with Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley is one difficult to find across the NHL.

Detroit Red Wings (T4) — Consider me eager to see what 22-year old Simon Edvinsson brings to the table in his second full season. Detroit’s been looking for defensive quality beyond Moritz Seider ever since Filip Hronek was traded to Vancouver, and Edvinsson impressed in his rookie campaign with 31 points in 78 games. Only four defenders of a similar age produced better than that rate, and it’s an encouraging group: Montreal’s Lane Hutson, New Jersey’s Luke Hughes, Buffalo’s Owen Power, and Los Angeles’ Brandt Clarke.

Edmonton Oilers (T1) —  The goaltending can terrify you on any given night but a key reason why the Oilers have emerged as perennial Stanley Cup contenders – OK, setting aside the two-headed monster of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl – is a deepening of skill and talent on the blueline. You need puck movers capable of igniting an attack with this collection of forwards, and Edmonton has that in spades – now featuring one of the best trade deadline acquisitions of the 2024-25 season in Jake Walman.

Florida Panthers (T2) — Now a part of arguably the deepest lineup in the NHL, I’m fascinated to see if the recently-acquired Seth Jones can become a difference maker in his first full season with the organization. His post-season production alone made Panthers fans hopeful, a far cry from the challenged shifts we witnessed in Chicago.

Los Angeles Kings (T4) — You may want to familiarize yourself with this depth chart before the season kicks off! Ken Holland wasted no time tinkering with his new lineup and he brought considerable changes to the blueline, cutting bait with Jordan Spence and Vladislav Gavrikov, and adding veterans in Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci. Count me as someone skeptical this group will be as effective as last year.

Minnesota Wild (T3) — Has Zeev Buium season arrived? Buium had a cup of coffee during Minnesota’s brief postseason run, playing four games on the side of veteran Zach Bogosian. It’s worth remembering he’s still just 19-years-old; only one defender of that young an age played regular minutes last season, that being Artyom Levshunov in Chicago.

Montreal Canadiens (T3) — A Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson pairing for the foreseeable future? Sign me up. Hutson’s already emerged as one of the best passers in the business, and Dobson’s put together four straight double digit goal scoring seasons. This pairing will ignite Montreal’s attack in a hurry.

Nashville Predators (T3) — Barry Trotz’s primary goal this off-season was improving the defensive play beyond Roman Josi. One name worth watching here is Nick Perbix, signed away from the Tampa Bay Lightning this summer. The hulking defender’s made his way as a capable off-puck depth defender and should help keep pucks out of the Nashville net.

New Jersey Devils (T4) — Defencemen take a bit longer to transition to the NHL than their forward counterparts, and I think the hope in New Jersey is Year Three could bring upside for Luke Hughes – upside this team was counting on when they took him fourth overall in the 2021 NHL Draft. Hughes has been a mainstay on the Devils blue-line for two seasons, and the scoring has been there in spades. But the Hughes pairing (primarily with Brett Pesce, and a sprinkling of John Marino) has been routinely outscored by the opposition in his first two seasons at even-strength on an otherwise good team; that’s typically a bearish indicator for a player’s long-term trajectory, but at just 21 years of age, there’s still plenty of time to get back on track.

New York Islanders (T3) — The big question on Long Island will be how to replace Noah Dobson’s minutes, their stud defenceman traded to the Montreal Canadiens back in June. Alex Romanov already saw a pick-up in workload prior to the trade, averaging 22:18 in ice time last season; ditto that for Tony DeAngelo, who saw a career high usage rate of 23:21 in 35-games last season. Can these numbers go even higher, or will the Islanders lean into third-pairing options (a la Adam Boqvist) a bit more to balance the workload?

New York Rangers (T3) — The Rangers offseason saw a big swap in top-four defenders – out went K’Andre Miller to Carolina, in came Vladislav Gavrikov from Los Angeles. Gavrikov is a much different defender and will be entrusted to play credible off-puck hockey on the hip of Adam Fox. Does Gavrikov’s defensive prowess allow Fox to play aggressively in transition on the attack? That’s certainly the hope.

Ottawa Senators (T1) — Readers thought I was harsh on the third-tier goaltending grade for Ottawa, but it’s because I think the defensive group in front of Linus Ullmark and Leevi Merilainen is that good. With Tyler Kleven entering his second full season and the addition of Jordan Spence, Ottawa has something few teams around the league do – three credible defensive pairings to start the year. That balance should be a boon for Ottawa at every level, and winning those depth minutes in 2025-26 should be a mission statement for Travis Green’s team.

Philadelphia Flyers (T4) — Talk about a critical year for Jamie Drysdale. The early stretch of his career has not been forgiving, playing with two rebuilding franchises in Anaheim and Philadelphia, and typically losing in those minutes. The skill is on full display when you watch Drysdale work the ice, but the scoring and on-ice numbers just aren’t there yet, and he's a restricted free agent at the end of the season. If Drysdale wants to be paid like a top-four defender next summer, Philadelphia’s going to need to see a real jump in play.

Pittsburgh Penguins (T4) — This is a thin group in Pittsburgh and it’s only going to lean out from here, especially amidst trade rumours around veteran defenceman Erik Karlsson. Considering Pittsburgh’s ongoing transition, it seems inevitable Karlsson will be moved out of Pittsburgh. The question remains: where?

San Jose Sharks (T5) — There was significant damage inflicted to San Jose’s lottery-bound team a season ago, and two returning defenders – Mario Ferraro and Timothy Liljegren – were at the epicentre of the destruction. Ferraro (-26) and Liljegren (-20) had two of the worst on-ice goal differentials last year, and again will be fixtures inside of the San Jose top-four.

Seattle Kraken (T4) — Similar to the Detroit Red Wings, Seattle’s placing a big bet their defensive improvement can come from a talented second-year pro, this time in the form of Ryker Evans. With new bench boss Lane Lambert in town, I’ll be curious to see who Evans starts the year with – he spent most of last season splitting minutes with Brandon Montour and Adam Larsson.

St. Louis Blues (T4) — To the aggressor goes the spoils. And one year past the infamous dual offer sheet of the Edmonton Oilers, the Blues must be over the moon with what Philip Broberg is bringing to the table. A talented-but-inconsistent player in Edmonton had the league’s third-best goals conceded rate (1.4 goals per 60) last season, with his pairing – predominantly Justin Faulk – outscoring teams 31-to-24 (+7) in the process.

Tampa Bay Lightning (T3) — Maybe 29-year-old Darren Raddysh was a late-bloomer. Maybe he has the perfect playing environment, with manageable minutes in a depth role with a perennial playoff club. Whatever the case, he’s been a crucial find for the Bolts. Raddysh was 11 goals better than a replacement level defender just last season, a number inside of the top 30 defenders league-wide and comparable to Florida’s Niko Mikkola and Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey. Great company!

Chris Tanev Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs (T2) — Can Chris Tanev keep staving off Father Time? Toronto’s been an improving defensive team for several years now and the addition of the veteran last summer only furthered those gains. Tanev’s one of the most reliable two-way players in the league - and his pairing with Jake McCabe in 2024-25 was sensational, managing a whopping 61 per cent goal share in 660 minutes together.

Utah Mammoth (T3) — Just nine defenders had an expected goal rate below 2.0 per 60 last season, a statistical measure that can nullify the impacts of goaltending in both directions. One of those skaters was veteran Nate Schmidt in the Florida system, who signed a three-year deal to anchor one of Utah’s depth pairings.

Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver Canucks (T2) — The duo of Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek is so electric I gave Vancouver real thought for tier one consideration, but I need to see more from the rest of the (less experienced) defensive group. One wrinkle I’m excited for? A Pettersson goal, assisted by Pettersson and Pettersson.

Vegas Golden Knights (T2) — With Alex Pietrangelo on long-term injured reserve and unlikely to play this season, the workload will be increasing for the rest of the Golden Knights and I’m curious to see if depth defenceman Kaedan Korczak is a player Bruce Cassidy leans on more. In a limited role, Korczak’s produced some impressive splits – in fact, no defender in the league over the last two years has conceded fewer goals per 60 than Korczak (1.4 per 60).

Washington Capitals (T2) — Win-win trades can be hard to come by, but Washington and Ottawa engineered one a season ago. For the cost of Nick Jensen and a third-round pick, the Capitals added Jakob Chychrun. Amidst a career-high in scoring (47 points), the Capitals rewarded the Boca Raton native with a max-term extension.

Winnipeg Jets Neal Pionk Eric Comrie Dylan Samberg

Winnipeg Jets (T2) — A very capable blueline in front of Connor Hellebuyck to start the year, but I’m fascinated at the contractual setup for Winnipeg’s defence: Luke Schenn, Colin Miller, and Logan Stanley are all unrestricted free agents at the end of this season.

That will do it for the defencemen! Next week, we turn our attention to the forward group.

Data via Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, Evolving Hockey, Hockey Reference, Puck Pedia