Check out the best NHL defensemen for the 2022-2023 season and other legendary defensemen in NHL history and find out how to watch the NHL with fuboTV.
On the surface, hockey seems like a relatively easy sport to understand. Two teams of six players hit the ice, and the team that gets the puck in the opposing team’s net the most wins. Soccer on ice, in a sense. But sports are never as simple as they seem, and hockey is no exception. Those six players are broken down by position: one goalie, two defensemen and three forwards. The roles for those positions are fairly clear: goalies protect the goal while forwards move the puck forward in an attempt to score, with forwards broken down farther to a center and two wingers.
What is a Defenseman’s role?
As for defensemen, that role is also pretty self-explanatory: they’re the players who hang back and work to prevent the other team from scoring. The best defensemen possess strong skating abilities and are especially skilled when it comes to skating backward, as they need to keep the puck in their sight. They also need speed, as they’re asked to make quick moves to protect their ice. There have been many great defensemen in the history of the NHL, including Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque and Nicklas Lidstrom.
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The Best NHL Defensemen Right Now
Who is the best defenseman in the NHL right now? To answer that question let’s take a look at the top-performing NHL defensemen this season and their stats.
Erik Karlsson, Sharks
The Swedish star, who was drafted by the Senator back in 2008, is a two-time winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy and is likely heading for his third award, as he became the first defenseman since 1992 to have a 100-point season.
Zach Wrenski, Blue Jackets
Wrenski, the No. 8 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, has spent his entire career with the Columbus Blue Jackets. A two-time All-Star, Wrenski is currently playing on a six-year contract that he signed in the 2021 offseason. Prior to his NHL career, he was the 2015 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. He made his NHL debut during the 2016-17 season.
Drew Doughty, Kings
The No. 2 overall pick in 2008, Doughty has made five All-Star appearances during his time with the Kings and has won the Stanley Cup twice. He also won the James Norris Memorial Trophy in 2016, an award given out each year to the league’s best defenseman.
Jaccob Slavin, Hurricanes
Slavin was the 120th overall selection in the 2012 draft and made his NHL debut during the 2015-16 season. He made the 2020 All-Star team, and earned the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 2021, an award given for sportsmanship.
Miro Heiskanen, Stars
The Finnish star was drafted third overall by the Stars in 2017, making his NHL debut during the 2018-19 season. Over the course of his brief NHL career, Heiskanen has made a key impact for Dallas, and was on the 2019 All-Rookie Team and made the All-Star Game that season as well.
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John Carlson, Capitals
The 27th pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, John Carlson has spent his entire NHL career with the Washington Capitals. Over that time, he’s made a pair of All-Star Games and won a Stanley Cup title in 2018, scoring more points than any other defenseman during those playoffs. As of the end of the 2021-22 season, Carlson had scored 132 goals. He was on the 2014 Olympic team.
Charlie McAvoy, Bruins
The 14th pick in 2016, Charlie McAvoy debuted with the Bruins in 2017. In 2018, he won the Seventh Player Award, given by Bruins fans to the player who “performed beyond expectations. He was also on the All-Rookie team in 2018.
Josh Morrissey, Jets
The 13th pick in the 2013 draft, Morrissey made his first All-Star team this season. The Canadian has part of gold medal-winning squads in 2013 in the U18 World Championship and 2015 in the U20 World Championship. In 2019, he signed an eight-year extension to stay in Winnipeg.
Cale Makar, Avalanche
Makar, the No. 4 pick in 2017, was the 2022 winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy and the Conn Smythe. The 24-year-old is one of the most exciting young players in the NHL.
Roman Josi, Predators
The veteran defenseman holds the Predators franchise record for most 40-assist seasons and is one of two defensemen to lead an NHL franchise in career points. He was the 2020 James Norris Memorial Trophy winner.
Victor Hedman, Lightning
The No. 2 overall pick in 2009, Hedman has been a finalist for the James Norris Memorial Trophy five times, winning it in 2018. He helped lead the Lightning to a pair of Stanley Cup titles and won the Conn Smythe in 2020.
Adam Fox, Rangers
The 2021 James Norris winner, Fox has been named to two All-Star Games and is in just his fourth season in the NHL. He’s one of the rising stars of the sport, and joined Bobby Orr as the only player to win the James Norris before his third NHL season.
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Kris Letang, Penguins
Letang has been the Penguins’ Defensive Player of the Year twice, and has won three Stanley Cup titles and made six appearances in the All-Star Game. He’s done this despite being the 62nd pick in the 2005 NHL Draft.
Aaron Ekblad, Panthers
Ekblad was the No. 1 overall pick in 2014 for the Panthers and made his NHL debut that season. As a rookie, he won the Calder Memorial Trophy, given to the league’s top rookie.
Devon Toews, Avalanche
Toews helped lead the Avalanche to the 2022 Stanley Cup title. A decorated player in junior hockey, the 29-year-old has become a reliable player for the Avalanche over the past three seasons after starting his NHL career with the Islanders.
Legendary Defenders That Made History
In addition to the current group of elite defensemen in the NHL, there are some notable former players who have etched their names in the history books. Let’s look at some of the best.
Ray Bourque
Bourque holds the record for most career goals, records and assists by a defenseman. He won the James Norris five times, plus was second in the voting six more times, and made 19 All-Star teams.
Paul Coffey
Coffey ranks second in career goals, assists and points for a defenseman, behind only Ray Bourque. He’s a three-time winner of the James Norris and is one of just two defensemen to score 100-plus points in a season multuple times.
Larry Robinson
A two-time James Norris winner and the 1978 Conn Smythe winner, Larry Robinson played for two decades and led the Canadiens to six Stanley Cups. He also coached in the league after his retirement.
Doug Harvey
Harvey won six Stanley Cup titles with the Canadiens and was a six-time winner of the James Norris. He was named to the NHL All-Star team 11 times during his career.
Eddie Shore
A veteran of the early days of the NHL, Shore played from 1924 to 1943, winning the Stanley Cup twice. He was the league MVP four times and likely would have won plenty of James Norris Memorial Trophys if the award had existed during his playing career.
Bobby Orr
Widely regarded as one of the all-time greats, Orr played just 12 seasons, but he made the most of that time. He won the James Norris Trophy in eight of those seasons and is the only player to win the Norris Trophy, Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy, and Conn Smythe Trophy in one season. Orr is the only defenseman to lead the NHL in scoring, doing it twice.
Enjoy Watching the NHL with Fubo
Many NHL games can be watched with a subscription to Fubo. In addition to having the most regional sports networks of any streamer with Bally Sports, the NBC Sports RSNs, Marquee Sports and the AT&T SportsNet stations, Fubo has the ESPN family of networks, which are also the home of regular season and playoff NHL games. Hockey fans should make sure they have a subscription to Fubo so they can get the top hockey action.
Fubo is the leading sports-first live TV streaming platform, offering 100+ live TV channels and regional sports networks. The service includes a DVR as well as on-demand content and focuses on sports programming. Fubo is the only live TV streaming platform with every Nielsen-rated sports channel. Leveraging Fubo’s proprietary data and technology platform optimized for live TV and sports viewership, subscribers can engage with the content they are watching through interactive product features like FanView, an in-video experience showcasing live game, team and player stats and scores in real-time. Fubo was also the first virtual MVPD to enable simultaneous viewing on up to four screens (Multiview on Apple TV) and the first to stream in 4K HDR. The service was ranked #1 in Customer Satisfaction among Live TV Streaming Providers by J.D. Power (2022).
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