NHL Power Rankings: Top 10 Eastern Conference Defensemen

Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

NHL Power Rankings: Honorable Mentions

Starting off the list of honorable mentions is Jake Gardiner of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Gardiner is a prime example of what being on an awful team does to you – people tend to not realize how good of an NHL player you actually are. Gardiner’s 49.8% even strength CorsiFor% is unimpressive at best on paper, but his CF% relative is 5.2%. Gardiner drives possession better than any other Maple Leafs defenseman except perhaps Morgan Reilly. He is often overlooked, but he’s quietly an extremely efficient defenseman. 

Next up is Johnny Boychuk of the New York Islanders. As usual, Boychuk wasn’t that productive at even strength in 2014-15 (18 points). However, as usual, he shined on the power play (15 points). His combined 35 points set a career high. He’s also one of the better possession drivers in the league (3.5% CF% relative). He tends to struggle in his own zone, but he usually makes up for it with his offense.

Aaron Ekblad of the Florida Panthers is, for lack of a better term, a man-child. It boggles my mind that he’s so young, yet he looked like he belonged in the NHL from day one. Ekblad had the third most productive rookie season ever from an 18-year-old NHL defenseman. The two above him? Phil Housley and Bobby Orr. That’s pretty darn good company. He had a 3.8% CF% relative at even strength as an 18-year-old. That’s even more impressive once you realize that he played a ton of minutes. It’s scary to think that he’s this good this early. He should skyrocket up this list over the next few years.

Keith Yandle of the New York Rangers is the definition of a “high-risk high-reward” defenseman. He tends to generate offense at a rate that few NHL blueliners can match (high reward), but he also tends to give up more scoring chances than most (high-risk). In 84 regular season games (split between the Rangers and the Arizona Coyotes), he had 53 points overall, including 22 at even strength.

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