NHL Position Rankings for the 2022-2023 Season: Defensemen

Being a defenseman in the current NHL means being able to drive the offense as much as it means to stop the opposing team. Gone are the days where being a super-sized defender that’s as mobile as a cruise liner and can block out the sun. If a defenseman is built like that these days, chances are he’s not making it too far in the NHL or even making it there at all.

Nowadays a defenseman must be a smooth, quick skater with the ability to carry the puck up the ice and score goals and set up their teammates. Oh, and they have to play well in their own end, mind their gaps, and keep close tabs on the other team’s best players. No big deal, really. Just be amazing in all facets of the game.

The Norris Trophy race every year now is an instant debate over who deserves it more, and there are more than a few outstanding candidates. Sure, the MVP debates are great, but have you ever tried to get in the middle of a defenseman debate? Good luck.

Thankfully, we’re here to help settle a lot of those arguments for you by ranking the 10 best defensemen in the NHL right now. Of course, you’ll probably want to argue with us about those too, to which we say, bring it on.

It’s hard to play hockey in Toronto, what with the pressure to win the Stanley Cup and the lack of playoff luck, but Morgan Rielly has succeeded despite having a huge spotlight always shined on the Maple Leafs' defense.

Toronto thrives on offense, and Rielly has helped drive that for most of his nine years in the league. Twice he’s scored double-figures in goals, 10 last season and 20 in 2018-2019. His 68 points last season was four points shy of his career-high set that same season. Playing with Auston Matthews makes life a little easier, sure, but as a puck carrier, Rielly has excelled. In each season, Rielly has never scored fewer than 27 points and he’s averaged 41.4 points per season. He’s been their top power play defenseman for a few seasons now and he’s getting more work on the penalty kill once again after doing it often from 2015-2017.

To have as much regular season success as the Maple Leafs have had you need to have a defenseman capable of driving play, carrying the puck, and setting up the forwards, and Rielly has owned that high-profile situation.

Statistics courtesy: NHL.com, Natural Stat Trick, and Hockey Reference

This might sound foolish, but it’s tough being Cale Makar’s teammate. But in Devon Toews’ case, “difficult” means not getting a lot of attention while playing elite defense next to the best defenseman in the league.

Since landing in Colorado after a trade with the New York Islanders, Toews’ career has taken off. He set career-highs in goals (13), assists (44), and points (57) and he missed 16 games. And while plus-minus is a dubious statistic, his plus-52 was fourth-best in the NHL. He led Avalanche defensemen with a 57.1 percent CorsiFor and only trailed Makar in expected goals percentage.

Yes, Toews and Makar were defense partners for most of the season and the playoffs, but here’s the thing… the numbers didn’t change much when they played apart from each other. Their possession and expected goal numbers were fantastic together, but both numbers stayed well above 50 percent when away from each other at 5-on-5.

Whether it was at even strength or special teams, Toews played a role in all of them and was superb. At 28, he’s only been in the NHL for four seasons, and that the Islanders moved him to Colorado for a pair of second-round picks makes it seem like one of the more lopsided deals in recent history. If Toews keeps up play like this, it’ll be an all-time bad trade.

The Dallas Stars blueliner is one of the many young guns who are part of the next generation of great defensemen. Heiskanen, who recently turned 23, is the figurehead of the Dallas defense. He’s their best possession player and best in respect to expected goals percentage, too. He hasn’t been their biggest scorer on defense because that hasn’t been asked of him (John Klingberg took care of that anyhow), but instead he’s thrived being Mr. Everything.

Heiskanen led the Stars in ice time in each of the past three seasons. He’s steadily provided 30 or more points (or scored at that rate) in each season and plays in all situations. It was during the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the bubble that Heiskanen made his presence known during the Stars’ run to the final against Tampa Bay. He had six goals and 26 points in 27 games in that postseason while averaging almost 26 minutes per game all at the age of 21.

You could say that set a high bar to leap over, but Heiskanen’s ever-steady play does all the talking for him. He hasn't been a Norris finalist yet in his career, but that day is coming, and it may not be much longer.

If you’ve missed out on the Hurricanes' rise in the Eastern Conference the past few seasons, chances are you’ve missed out on the quiet greatness of Jaccob Slavin. For the past seven seasons, Slavin has been the picture of consistency. At 5-on-5, he’s yet to have CorsiFor or expected goal percentages under 50. He’s scored 30-or-more points in five of his six seasons, and he had a career-high 42 points last season. He also won the Lady Byng Trophy in 2021 mainly because he took one minor penalty all season.

Slavin is a workhorse of a player. He’s rarely missed time because of injury and for his career he’s averaged 22:54 time on ice. He’s been the Hurricanes’ top defenseman because of all these factors. Having a player you know what to expect from them and be able to expect it every game is a luxury for coach Rod Brind’Amour to have.

Although he doesn’t play a lot of time on the power play, he’s a major factor in the Hurricanes’ league-best penalty kill. While a lot of defensemen on this list make their name scoring in special teams, Slavin gets high marks for shutting opponents down. He’s a defenseman who defends well. What a concept.

So many Florida Panthers players had impressive years during their Presidents’ Trophy-winning run last season, but none were more impressive than Aaron Ekblad. Although the 26-year-old No. 1 pick from 2014 missed 21 games with injury, he led all Panthers defensemen in scoring with a career-high 57 points, good for fifth on the team. He was their best possession defenseman and best in expected goal percentage as well.

Injuries have interfered with Ekblad a little bit in his career. A broken leg cut his 2020-2021 season short, and a lower-body injury cost him the final 21 games last season although he returned for the playoffs. Injury interruptions aside, Ekblad has been consistently strong, but in the past three seasons, he’s brought his own game to another level, one which helps push the Panthers up the standings to boot.

While he’s on the power play, he’s also a key part of the penalty kill unit. To be elite you’ve got to be a factor in all parts of the game and Ekblad excels in each of them. It will be worth watching who his defense partner will be this season after the departure of MacKenzie Weegar, his defense partner the past three seasons, to Calgary as part of the Matthew Tkachuk trade.

It’s hard to believe that Roman Josi has been in the NHL for 11 seasons already. It’s wilder still that at 31 years old he put up the most prolific numbers in his career.

The Swiss blueliner scored 23 goals to go with 73 assists for an astounding 96 points. That would’ve all but assured him of winning the Norris Trophy in most other seasons, but those other seasons didn’t have Cale Makar as the main competitor either. What makes last season more special for Josi is that it’s the ultimate example of the kind of player he’s been his entire career.

Josi, the 2020 Norris winner, had double-figures in goals in eight of 11 seasons and scored 50 points or more six times, and 40 or more two other times. He’s steadily been a positive possession player and on the right side when it comes to expected goals as well. From his strong play at 5-on-5 to being an elite setup man on the power play you couldn’t ask to have a better offensive weapon from the blue line. Doing that after coming out of the shadows of Shea Weber and Ryan Suter while carving out his own niche in Nashville hockey history helps make him a franchise icon of sorts as well as one of the best in the NHL.

Is it wrong to rank a player so high when they’re going to be out until December? Not when it’s Charlie McAvoy. The 24-year-old out of Boston University has reached into the elite echelon among defensemen and last season proved how good he can be.

McAvoy had career-highs in goals (10), assists (46), and points (56) with 21 points on the power play. His offensive output coupled with his outstanding possession numbers (57.8 percent CorsiFor at 5-on-5) and an incredible 62.8 expected goals-for percentage at 5-on-5. It’s a wonder he was only fourth in voting for the Norris Trophy, but the current pool of blue liners in the NHL is so good that these things will happen. But McAvoy has been at this level of performance since 2020-2021 and it feels like he’s just gotten started.

What’s unfortunate is McAvoy will miss the first half of the season after he underwent shoulder surgery in early June, which puts him out of action likely until December. How will he be when he returns and will he be able to continue at that level are fair questions to ask. Elite players always seem to find a way.

A young defenseman making an immediate impact on his team has become normal, but winning the Norris Trophy in their second season in the league is a much different thing. Such is the way for Adam Fox with the Rangers. He was an instant 40-plus point player in his rookie season of 2019-2020 and although he wasn’t a finalist for the Calder that year (he was fourth in voting), his sophomore season showed there was no slump in his game.

Fox had 47 points in 55 games, five more points in 15 fewer games than his rookie season, on his way to winning the award for top defenseman. Last season, he set a career high in goals (11), assists (63, and points (74) in 78 games.

What makes him a curious player is that he’s not a possession monster like many other elite defensemen. His CorsiFor percentages are downright average, all told, but it’s his expected goals-for rates that set him apart. Maximizing opportunities with elite scoring locations will generate points a lot more often than otherwise. Fox has also been a dynamite power play quarterback. Of his 163 career points, 69 have come with the man advantage and almost exclusively in setting up teammates with three goals and 66 assists. Being a threat in all situations is something Fox has used to his advantage.

The kind of respect Victor Hedman gets from all reaches of the NHL world is incredible. That he hasn’t won the Norris more than once is a surprise unto itself. He’s finished third in voting for the Norris in five of the past seasons and the one time he didn’t, he won it (2018). To be thought of that highly on a consistent basis is incredible given how loaded the NHL is with defensive talent, particularly over the past 10 seasons. For the past nine seasons, Hedman had a 5-on-5 CorsiFor percentage above 52. When you can dominate possession, defense gets a lot easier to play.

Last season, Hedman scored 20 goals for the first time in a season, and he set a career-high with 85 points at 31 years old . Players are supposed to be wearing down at this point in their career, but Hedman is only getting better. Perhaps he took some notes from how Nicklas Lidström continued to grow and adapt during his career.

The fact is Hedman has shown no signs of slowing down, and the Lightning are better for it because Hedman makes everyone else on the ice better because he’s out there. The majority of Lightning players have better CorsiFor percentages with him than without him, and some by a wide margin.

What Cale Makar has done since he left UMass and joined the Colorado Avalanche is nothing short of incredible. In three seasons, he has 180 points in 178 games. He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2019-20 and won the Norris and Conn Smythe trophies last season as the NHL’s best defenseman and the playoff MVP. That’s a career’s worth of recognition for most great defensemen, never mind a player who just completed his third season and what’s wild is there’s likely more to come.

The Avs are the defending Stanley Cup champions and that could mean a hangover, but with how Makar has grown exponentially each season, it’s not wild to think he can be even better.

He’s gone from 0.88 points per game to 1.0 to 1.12 and the thought of him scoring 30 isn’t out of hand because he had 28 last season. The last NHL defenseman to score 30 or more in a season was Mike Green in 2008-2009 when he had 31. His shot output has increased each year and he averaged more than three shots a game last season. With similar shooting luck, the thought of him scoring 40 doesn’t seem so wild. What's even wilder still, this is just the beginning.