Outlook for Next Season: Top 5 Defensive teams
Out of all the NHL, which teams do you think will have the best defensive team?
Here are my thoughts:
1) Vancouver: with a solid defensive unit throughout the canucks defence may just prove to be the best in the league. Players like Mattias Ohlund, Sami Salo, Kevin Bieksa, Willie Mitchell top the list, while younger player Lukas Kraijcek will pair up with vetran Arron Miller. And with Roberto Luongo in net they should have no problem stoping pucks.
2) Minnesota: With two solid netminders the Wild may just compete with the Canucks for the Jennings trophy. With solid shutdown men comes solid shutdown Defence and the Wild have just that. With Defensive Defensemen Such as Keith Carney, Kim Johnsson, Martin Skoula, Nick Schultz, and the big man Sean Hill coming in after his suspension the Wild get second place.
3) Calgary: The Flames get third on the list, with additions Cory Sarich and Adrian Aucoin they Flames bolster their already deep blue line. Players like Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regher will continue to have solid seasons and with Mikka Kiprusoff staring in net the Flames seem destined for a solid defensive year.
4) Detroit: With a top defensemen pairing of Lidstrom and Rafalski the Wings may just keep up their deadly shutdown team. Other Defensemen such as Chris Chelios, Brett Lebda, and Niklas Kronwall back up the solid duo. The only question is if the Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek can keep up his great play from last year, age and his groin problems are something to consider. For these reasons Detroit gets fourth.
5) San Jose: Nabokov is a solid goaltender, but without a backup like Toskala can Nabokov step up to the plate and deliver? Defensemen like Scott Hannan have departed but the franchise’s young talent like Matt Carle, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Christian Ehrhoff continue to get better. Older player Kyle McLaren and mid-age player Craig Rivet Bolster the Sharks D to give it that extra bite.
Please post any ideas for your top 5.
Player Roster taken from: http://www.sportsline.com/nhl/teams/