Being an elite, all-time great defensemen in the NHL is about equal amounts of offensive and defensive dominance, while factoring in how the game has evolved over the decades. With that said, today we’re taking a look at the Greatest Defenseman Of All Time From All 32 NHL Teams.
Subscribe for more Top 6 Hockey videos: www.youtube.com/@top6hockey/?...
All of our videos are edited following the "Free Use" Guideline of KZhead as well as the Canadian and United States copyright acts.
I'm 68 years old , a huge Toronto Maple Leaf fan and yes I loved Tim Horton, but I'm afraid Borje Salming was the greatest defensemen in Leaf history. 1099 games for the Leafs 148 goals and 620 assists for 768 points. No other Leaf defenseman has come close to those numbers. This is why he should be the greatest defenseman in Leafs history.
I agree & don't. I have Turnbull & Salming tied. Salming still holds record for assist 1 season by Toronto defenseman at 66. He hold record for assist all time by a Toronto hockey player career 620. Goals & points all time by Toronto defenseman. Turnbull is only defenseman in NHL history to record 5 goals in a single game he also scored a 4 goal game as a l.a king. Still holds record for points one season by Toronto defenseman 79 set in 1977. He shares the club record for goals 1 season by Toronto defenseman 22 with Ifrati. Just because these defenseman didn't win a stanley cup & Horton did doesn't make him the better defenseman it takes a team to accomplish that. Horton didn't set the records these men did.
Hard choice and both were great but Horton was a huge piece of Toronto's 4 Stanley Cups. That gives him the edge
@@ericw3229Be honest, cup wins before 68 when you had only six teams are a little easier to win. Still 4 wins, but once more competition was added it became so much harder. Borje was always going to struggle to win even 1 cup.
@@user-sy8kj5nn8sIan Turnbull to me should be declared the Most Underachieving defenceman in Leafs history. He had the skills to surpass Salming if he realized his potential. Milt Schmidt once said that "if a player better than Bobby Orr comes around, I hope that the good Lord sees me fit to be on this Earth...well he did get to see Ovechkin but not McDavid. But this is about defencemen. None the less, I'm old enough to remember Bobby Orr. NOBODY that I saw in the 20th century, defenceman or forward came anywhere near Number 4 - NOBODY, not even Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
While people are mentioning Ian Turnbull with Salming, don't forget Horton's teammates Allan Stanley and Carl Brewer were finishing in the top 4 defensemen in the All Star voting at season end a few years in the 1960s. Year End All Star selections - Tim Horton (6), Borje Salming (6), Carl Brewer (4), Allan Stanley (3), Ian Turnbull (0)
Bobby Orr was the best....... Unlike the other players he changed the game.
He’s not the greatest Bruin defenseman … it’s the 6’9” phenom who takes this cake.
@@jeffrorichard2765 Orr has been retired for 46 years and is still considered the greatest. Chara was great but i highly doubt he will be remembered the same way.
@@jeffrorichard2765whatever you are smoking I’ll buy some off you.
For Arizona, methink Teppo Numminen tops OEL. He put up the same kind of offense for a lot longer for the Coyotes and Jets before that. And for St Louis, y'all are underrating Pronger. Pietrangelo might have a cup and more consistent offense, but Pronger won a Hart trophy as a D-Man and made St Louis into a powerhouse for a decade. He also has 1200 more PIM than Piet in about 100 more games, and he wasn't even a reckless player. He was just a mean SOB nobody wanted to play against who would also pop in a bunch of points every season from the blue line.
Edmonton would argue Mrs. Pronger was the better defensemen, put a stop to that real quick lol
I mean for Arizona Id rather have either Housley, Babych or Numminen as you said. OEL was a good player but he was never truly on a same level as these 3
@jasonb6860 yes on both. Most these young kids making these videos look at points and weren’t alive when Pronger dominated.
Teppo was the best winnipeg jets defenseman ever.
I would have picked Chelios as Chicago's best defenseman, over Duncan Keith.
As a lifelong Hawks fan, Keith is without a doubt, the greatest Defenseman the hawks ever had. I’d pick Seabrooks over Chelios, any day
Cups matter
I'd take Lindstrom over just about anybody else ...he has everything you'd want in D-man
Love Lindstrom But Orr is #1 Lindstrom # 2
@zappafrank9714 I would like to see them play against eachother ...both in their prime ...before ranking them 🍁🌲
@zappafrank9714 Actually, Orr is #4 and Lidstrom is #5. 😂 (Sorry! I couldn't resist!)
@@IanNason-qn9yw only #'s game played on ice 🧊
I was referencing their sweater numbers. I knew it was a lame joke to make but I just had to.
Paul "Coast to coast" Coffey... What a machine.
It's the unpopular opinion but I consider both Orr and Lidstrom the GOATS of defensemen. One is the greatest offensive, the other the greatest defensive. I feel there is a significant difference but still importance in that. Teams target responsible shutdown D-men as well as pinching up slapshot bombers. There should be two awards since only the top points leaders get full Norris consideration
I agree 100%. Award should be split up. Norris for best defensive defenseman and the Orr trophy for best offensive defenseman.
True fucking story
Orr was ridiculously good defensively.
Is it possible to alternate the start from Z to A? Being a Canucks fan, its always at the end of the videos. Gr8 video though! Looking forward for more content! 😊
As a Canucks fan in upset by how often the 94 Stanley Cup was mentioned
Ye I feel you m8-2011 hurt also...
Salming, not Horton
Love the vid. Would've liked a little bit more talk about the defensive side, it seemed like most info was "X points".
That's how they judge defensemen, now
It's hard to talk about something NOT happening. You can talk about +/-, but that is also a team stat.
@@brandons9138 true. But there are also a lot of things to talk about. Like Lindstrom's ability to stop zone entries and having great hand eye etc. There are things to mention at least :)
@@Kaspisify Agreed, but they are harder to make a video out of.
Horrible video because of this.
Pronger was better than Pietrangelo, he won a Norris and Hart.
yes
Came here to say this. I love Pietrangelo but not having Pronger for the blues is criminal.
I saw.Salmong and Horton both play. King Salming is the best Leaf Dman of all my lifetime followed by Horton.
Borje Salming over Tim Horton for the Leafs.
Bob Stewart was the best defenseman for the California Seals. He and Len Frig were a great combo.
Lidstrom played enough playoff Hockey to add three full season onto the twenty he played
It's wild! He missed 42 games over the course of his entire career, with 12 being in his final season. And he played 263 playoff games. It's effectively like he never missed a game, played full seasons in the '95 and '05 lockout, and STILL played enough games to at least play one round of playoffs all 20 years. I think his conditioning is one of his greatest strengths, and that, along with his vision/decisionmaking, are what made him so elite. He obviously was never a big physical presence, he wasn't a huge offensive threat, and he wasn't even known for extreme speed. But, as those game played stats showed, he was ALWAYS available, and as people who watched him know, he played at a consistently high level for virtually his entire career. He simply always had both the awareness and ability to be in the right place at the right time constantly, over 20 years. Which is hard to quantify, but definitely makes him one of the greatest to ever play the position.
@@Rodanguirus Red Wing of the century
Noticed that your background is capital one arena, nice
Lidstrom probably had the highest hockey IQ and Vision in NHL history.
Except for Bobby Orr.
Dude Gretzky had by far the highest IQ of any player in history. When you watch a game with a pen and paper drawing continuous lines cause you want to know where the puck goes most often and you are 10 years old when you do this. Your hockey IQ is off the charts.
@@TheronAnderson-hy3lp This is true. He was never the biggest, strongest or fastest but he was surly the smartest.
Lidstrom was a great player but he was no Bobby Orr, not even a close call. You are either a Wings fan or reasonably young.
You should do a vid of every up and coming player for all 32 teams
The thing about history is we can’t know what happened through the generations. I saw Doug Harvey. Did you?
Ian Turnbull or Borje Salmon were the greatest toronto defenseman all time. Ian Turnbull 5 goals 1 game is the Nhl record for most goals in a game by NHL defenseman & he also scored 4 goals 1 game. Most goals season by Toronto defenseman 22 & most points season by Toronto defenseman 79. Most assist all time by a toronto maple leaf hockey player 620 Borje Salming. Most assist 1 season toronto defenseman 66. Most goals,assist & points all time by toronto defenseman 148 goals. 620 assist,768.
Chris Pronger over Pietrangelo. He won the Hart trophy in St Louis and was easily a top 5 player in the league for almost his entire tenure in St. Louis. The irony that neither Pronger or Ray Bourque made this list (although Bourque’s exclusion is obvious) is beyond wild.
I agree on choosing Pronger though I would have considered MacInnis if he hadn't already been selected for Calgary.
And then Alex Pietrangelo over Shea Theodore in Vegas, no doubt. Complete defenseman, what Theodore isn't.
My Personally Number 1 by the Ducks is Ruslan Salei
R.I.P.
RIP
As someone who watched and cheered those late 90s/early 2000s Devils teams it feels wierd seeing Niedermeyer picked for Anaheim as, to me, hes always a Devil first.
Tough choices for some teams, no brainers for others, which leaves a lot of defensemen off the list who would be there if they played for someone else, or it was straight up top 32 defensemen overall. At least a few got mentioned as runners up. For the Rangers I would have gone with Brad Park, but can’t complain about Leetch.
Yeah in that case neither choice would be wrong
Orr was also a great defensive defenseman its just his offensive skills overshadowed those defensive skills. Its Orr number 1 and.it really isn't even close for number 2 and I'm a.diehard Leaf fan who hates the Bruins. For.my money Orr is the greatest hockey player period that I have ever seen play.
As a life-long Bruins fan, I've always felt bad for Ray Bourque. On nearly any other team, he would be the all time #1. You simply cannot complete with a God.
Маккиннис в Калгари конечно молодец и возможно лучший, но был и есть Марк Джиордано ещё. Хотя бы упомянуть, как в случае с игроками Брюинз, можно было бы
Not a Leaf fan but, I agree, Ian Turnbull and Borje Salming are top of the list but much respect to Tim Horton.
I called it for Dallas. I was racking my brain to think of the Dallas Stars. Derian Hatcher was the captain when we won it all and Miro Heiskenan has been a hell of a D man in recent times. Jon Klingberg was definitely great and I would even consider Trevor Daley. But then I realized: who’s the only Star-North Star defenseman who has his number retired? Sergei Zubov. Duh of course it’s him.
St. Nick!!!
As a Swede it makes me proud of the hockey skills that comes from this tiny country. But in my opinion this list made one big mistake. Börje Salming is in my opinion one of the greatest of all time. Unfortunaterly I didn't get to se him play live until he had retired and played a veterans game against Finland. But man what a sightseeing to se. Still showing what made him great. Sad to se his life end premature but his legacy still lives.
Hall of Famer, Mark Howe is the best d-man in franchise history for Hartford/Carolina by a mile. Also, Howe garners the award for Philadelphia.
Mark Had his greatest years in Philadelphia so it makes sense.
He had some terrific years in Philly. Mark had a monster year in 1979-80 with the Whalers, notching 24-56-80. He was severely injured the following season and he was almost paralyzed. A year and a half later, he went from Hartford to Philadelphia. Without that blunder of a trade and the later salary dump of Ron Francis, I am convinced the Whalers would still be in Hartford.@@ericw3229
There's only three men in NHL history with a higher career +/- than Wayne Gretzky and all three were defensemen. Wayne Gretzky's team scored 520 more goals than they allowed when Wayne was on the ice during his NHL career. Ray Bourque was +527, Bobby Orr was +582 and Larry Robinson was +792. Bobby Orr's single season +124 in 1970-1971 is the single most impressive hockey stat that I have ever seen.
*Housley's stats are somewhat inflated because he sometimes played wing.
Bobby Orr is the king of defensman undisputed all-time greatest period ! 2 Art Ross 8 Norris and 3 Hart trophies. No other will ever come close....
Before I even watch this, I hope you have Cale Makar as the Avalanche's best defenseman!
Chris Chelios and Sergey Gonchar could be named Blackhawks and Capitals g.o.a.t.
1. Bobby Orr 2. Ray Bourque 3. Nick Lidstrom
Bourque or Chara would be the number one for soooo many other teams.
Dahlin will eventually be the Sabres' best d-man. He won't get quite as many points as Housley, but he's a better all-around player. I think he will take his game to the next level next year playing a full season with Byram.
Bobby Orr. The best there ever was. The Awards he won in a single season, 1970, will never be duplicated. 1970 : NORRIS SMYTHE HART ROSS PLUS MINUS LEADER STANLEY CUP CHAMP All in one single season.
Best Chicago d man was Pierre Pilote. 3 straight Norris trophies before Orr came in the league.
It was said by one of Bobby Orr’s teammates that he was better on one leg than anyone else on two. What else can be said?
So sad for Raymond Bourque and Eddie Shore that they were on the same team as the greatest player ever because they were right up there with anyone else!
All three of these guys are behind the Big Man !!! Let’s be serious .. in 1970, with 120 mph slapshot, Z would have scored 50 like nothing.
@@jeffrorichard2765 Chara's record on the slapshot was 108 mph, Bobby Hull had a 119 mph shot during that era and his career high was 58 as a forward... I honestly hope you were just kidding with that comment.
@@jeffrorichard2765if Z was using a old Sherwood you still think he could shoot 108? I doubt it. Although Al Iafrate hit 105 with that stick so who knows.
Orr, Bourque, Coffey
In Ottawa I'd take Volchenkov over Karlsson any day of the week
One glaring mistake: Salming by far the best Leaf defenseman.
Brian Leetch is da mannnnnn!!!!!
Karlsonn might have been a great offensive defenseman for Ottawa, but id send Wade Redden, or Chris Phillips out on the ice for key situations instead of Erik every time.
The bruins all time best defensemen is the craziest list. Orr, Bourque and chara
Also the Vancouver Canucks traded Oliver ekmon larson to the Florida panthers
Phyllis for Buffalo? You must be joking! Cannot play defense, cannot work the corners, cannot clear the front of the net. So poor at defense the Sabres put in on the wing! First by far with no competition is Mike Ramsey. Watch the Miracle on the Ice final minutes. Who was on the ice? Mike Ramsey.
ORR
you missed the flyers
You definitely like offence. Definitely would have picked pronger way before petrieangelo.
Byfuglien is a legend
LEGEND !!!
Lidstrom
Chicago is the closest we will get to a dynasty?? Are you kidding me? Tampa was 2 games away from 3 in a row and Pittsburgh was 11
edler over salo ?
Quinn Hughes is already the Canucks best
You forgot mention the Quebec nordiques
The Canucks lost to the blues? And really you picked Edler out of all the d-men Canucks have had. Garbage pick.
Wait a minute…. Not so fast with Duncan Keith. How about Doug Wilson? Plus I would say Ray Bourque is Colorado’s best ever, and Quinn Hughes is definitely the best ever Canucks d-man.
Bourque didn’t play long enough for the Avs, but crazy how an arguably top 3 d-man all time doesn’t make this video. Orr was in his way.
Lidstrom is the greatest Defenseman of all time.
So? You think it only takes 1 player to make the playoffs or win a stanley cup? Get real.
Where is Ray Bourque?!
Langway was the last player to play without a helmet.
No he wasn't. Craig MacTavish.
To put Larry Robinson ahead of Doug Harvey( the no. 2 defensemen all-time according to the Hockey News behind only Bobby Orr) is truly pathetic. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I'm sure Larry Robinson would be embarrassed.
I loved Robinson, but Harvey is in the top 10 of all-time greatest players, and not just defensemen.
@@thewolfdoctor761 Larry Robinson was a fantastic defenseman but there's no shame in being second behind Doug Harvey. Until Bobby Orr, every defenseman was fighting to be second to Doug Harvey. Whoever produced this video has his head up his ass.
Serge was better
As great as Tim Horton was for the Leafs, being a key component in 4 Stanley Cups, Borje Salming was much better. He should have won the Norris at least once. Other comments....if you could ignore long time Avalanche greats to pick Makar (who is the next Bobby Orr IMO), then why not pass over Edler and choose Quinn Hughes? Also, Erik Karlsson? He is glorified winger. Ask San Jose and now Pittsburgh how good a defenseman he is. Maybe it's because there aren't other strong candidates for the Senators.....
Man, whats wrong with you? Numinnen over OEL in Arizona, Salming in Toronto, you want pick by defensive side too? Then Salei for Anaheim, Glen Wesley Carolina, Canuck legend Paul Reinhart, Montreal greatest is Harvey, no doubt. You look there just by points, Harvey dominate game on both sides. St. Louis - Pronger was same. And Franchise is not same as team, team is Arizona, franchise is Winnipeg/Phoenix/Arizona.
Yeah, some of these felt like recency bias. The Carolina one I vehemently disagreed with him.
lmfao, you must be a new fan of the nhl, Dustin Byfuglien wasnt the jets best defensive plaeyr of all time
Wow. There is one Defenseman you totally missed. It's sad that someone makes a list, and the list is really crappy you have to do some digging, not just put guys who you remember.
No one will EVER match Bobby Orr...❤
Bobby Orr, then REST. Do mean Period.
Nik Lidstrom so under appreciated outside of Detroit.🙄
As a Wings fan whose formative years of hockey fandom coincided exactly with Lidstrom's career, I feel like this was true in the '90s (see how he was used to counter Philly's Legion of Doom, instead of the Wings going with a more "brute force vs. brute force" route of throwing Konstantinov at them), but as he racked up Norris trophies and won the Conn Smythe among one of the most star-studded Cup-winning squads ever, I don't think you could say that by the mid-00s. Nowadays, virtually every time I see the topic come up, I very rarely see Lidstrom considered worse than third-greatest dman of all time.
No fair for Raymond Bourque played for Boston and so did Bobby Orr-lol...
Ngl you can’t tell me Quinn Hughes is worst than Alexander edler
Its maybe too soon to Tell he is the best, but i'm Pretty sure quinn will be the best D man of Vancouver history
Offensively Edler is the best defenseman up to now, that Hughes should become the best is pretty much a given provided he stays healthy and doesn't price himself out of Vancouver. One of the best defensemen in Vancouver history, I believe, is Harold Snepsts. He had little skill to start other than his size and willingness to use it, but he became a beloved fan favourite. His rushes up the ice were a sight to behold.
Give it a couple years but he should definitely get there
@@sharkycecil4991 Why? If Makar can be counted as Avs best already. He haven't been much longer in the league than Quinn. Hughes should be counted as Vancouvers best d-man ever.
@@pontusbackman1863 yeah, i agree
Lidstrom was the greatest player for all 32 teams. When he played against your team he forced them to be at their best so he was key for every team.
#5 is really #1.
BOBBY ORR wad the great defenseman of all .
Your opinion .
Nick never played in a 32 team nhl but apart from that in hus prime ... Which was lol his whole career basically he definitely was one of the very best .
Not better than Orr.
It's simple.....ORR
This is dumb it’s about stopping ponits not getting why they are defending
The title doesn’t make any sense.
Sorry but Erik Karlsson has nothing to do in this list. Probably one of the most overrated D-man in the NHL history. His career +/- stats : -97 says it all. Clearly this guy is anything but a good D-man !
The same can be said about Phil Housley who was a -53. He was basically a power play specialist. The best defensemen in Buffalo history is Bill Hajt who may be surpassed by Dahlin someday. BTW, Housley was -53, Hajt was +321.
Duncain Keith over Pierre Pilote and Chris Chelios? GTFO
Konstantinov was better than Lindstrom.
Tim Horton should have been disqualified from this list for making the worst coffee of all time. Also something about Bork Salmon.
What are you talking about,Hortons has the best Coffee. Where I live there is a Starbucks ( burnt coffee) & across the street ,Tim Hortons & in the morning rush Tim Hortons has a line up out the door & Starbucks at best has 3-4 people in it drinking their burnt coffee.
@@user-sy8kj5nn8s i would literally rather use the bottom of the barrel beans from walmart, before ever going to Tims, or Starbucks for that matter. all those people waiting in line to pay too much for terrible coffee and breakfast sandwiches are morons.
@DirtyDan77 Well millions of Canadians will disagree with you atleast with the Coffee part. The service you get isn't what I would call top level or their food but their coffee is 10 times better than any coffee shop I have ever visited.
Chara is the greatest Bruins defenseman of all time. It’s not even close …
pfft
Ok Bobby Orr leading the league in scoring as a defence man and 8 Norris trophies doesn’t make him top?
@@keithketlo2096 And 3 Hart trophies as well.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
I completely agree Bobby Orr would be a great pairing with the Bigman …. Two of the best penalty killers ever …
So basically....the Greatest OFFENSIVE defenseman of all time? Your channel has horrible takes.
Yeah, nothing very Defensive here