August Question: Best Defensive Prospect Pool #1

Anaheim - Lubomir Visnovsky (He still is, but not getting any younger)
Boston - Zdeno Chara
Montreal - Andrei Markov
Chicago - Duncan Keith + Brent Seabrook
Detroit - Niklas Lidstrom
Edmonton - Ryan Whitney (Not close)
Phoenix - Ed Jovanovski (To me he's more of a #2)
Buffalo - Tyler Myers
Toronto - Dion Phaneuf
Calgary - Bouwmeester (not that debatable, maybe another bad year though)
Vancouver - Christian Erhoff (Just a #2 at this point)
Ottawa - Sergei Gonchar (He still is, but could become a #2 very fast)
Washington - Mike Green
Florida - Bryan McCabe (Better than people think, but not hats good)
Tampa Bay - Victor Hedman (Definitely not there yet, but soon)
Carolina - Joni Pitkanen (Don't think he's there yet)
NY Islanders - Marc Streit (for sure)
NY Rangers - Marc Staal (probably a #2 at this point)
NJ Devils - Henrik Tallinder (maybe a #2 at best)
Pittsburgh - Paul Martin (not debatable)
Philadelphia - Chris Pronger + Kimmo Timonen
Columbus -
Nashville - Ryan Suter + Shea Weber
St.Louis - Eric Johnson
Los Angeles - Drew Doughty
Colorado - Kyle Quincey - With more consistency he'd be there
Minnesota - Brent Burns - Debatable, but I'm gonna say no
Dallas - Stephane Robidas
San Jose - Dan Boyle

Good list Stemp. I purposely left out Hedman, Quincy. They'll have a chance to be one one day, but IMO they're not there yet.

I only disagree about:

Visnovsky - I love this guy, but he's way more in the mold of an offensive D-man. I've found his D lacking in the past, so to me he's not a #1, rather a great #2

Whitney - boy, I think this guy sucks big time. 2nd pairing guy at best.

Robidas - you know I love his game, but is he a number one D-man? Tough question, I think he's more efficient as a #2 or 2nd pairing w/PK and PP time.

I shoulda specified that only the bolded guys are guys I consider real #1's and that the other guys are players who are #1's on their team, but can't be considered real #1's.

Visnovsky is just like Gonchar so I would feel like a homer if I included one and not the other, plus he got a bad rap in Edmonton.

Whitney is a bum, but sadly the best that Edmonton can offer. He's definitely not a top pairing player though, haha.

Robidas is like Phillips with more offence and is one of Hockey Canada's favourite guys for a reason (He was the first replacement defenceman at the Olympics). I really do think this guy has it all and is a legit #1 guy.

I'm on the fence with Robidas, but he's such a wicked player with some offense sprinkled in that I would call him the perfect #2 guys or an *acceptable* number one.

Bass Destruction wrote:

marakh wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

Tuk Tuk wrote:
Only one or two of ours could really become legitimate #1 defensemen. OEL and Gormley are both expected to be #1s, and Goncharov has the potential.

I'd say Ottawa's Behind Florida, Anaheim, and maybe Nashville.

I don't think Gormley will ever be a number one, maybe a top pairing # 2 guy, but that's a tough call as well. His hockey IQ is amazing, but he lacks in areas that would prevent him from being a number one. Wiercioch comes to mind as a comparable, but I'm on the fence as to who I prefer.

Maybe we have to settle on the definition of a N1 defenseman, because in my books there are maybe 10 N1 defensemen in the league right now that we can say have the total package.

That's a very good point. How does one define one. A defensively responsible high point getting guy. Does one have to be defensive at all? How about a solid puckmoving defensive defenseman who does not put up many points, does that count? I think the term needs to be defined before we can debate on who in the league is one.

In my books, it's simple:

- Leader in ice time among defensemen
- N1 PP unit
- N1 PK unit
- At least 2 40+ points in their career.

OK, define leader in ice time among defensemen. Sounds like there is only one. Did you mean leader on his team, or the top-ten league-wide? Also, very few are N1 PP *and N1 PK. Was Niedermayer on the N1 PK? Maybe it should be N1 either PP or PK and at least N2 on the other one.

Phoenix.

OEL is the best name on this list. Gormley has incredible IQ but is kind of soft; I think he can be a terrific number 2 but I think it's unlikely that he becomes a 1. Goncharov was really good at the 2009 WJCs, although we should keep in mind that he's 21 now.

Ottawa battles it out for second spot with Florida IMO.