Every year the NHL network releases a list that looks at their top 20 in every position. They recently unveiled their top defenders around the NHL, and it was astonished by the majority of fans.
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Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes started the list when the top two, what a surprise was for nobody, but then it went off the rails.
Our top 20 defenders at the moment has a total of:
• 19 Total All-Star Game performances
• 9 All-smokie Team Honors
• 6 James Norris Memorial Trophies
• 2 Calder trophies
• 2 Conn Smythe trophies
• 9 Stanley CupsWhat do you think of our list?@NHL | #Nhltopplayers pic.twitter.com/0magys04de
– NHL Network (@nhlnetwork) August 13, 2025
Having Zach Werenski and Miro Heiskanen can be argued at three and four. It is not a common opinion, and many fans did not agree, but it is not the craziest recording in the world. Placing Victor Hedman immediately afterwards to complete the top five, however, was a shock. Moreover, Rasmus Dahlin is too low, Jaccob Slavin is too low, Thomas Harley is too low and Adam Fox was really not respected with a placement on 16th.
Lane Hutson was completely on the list was a hot take, and although fans of Montreal Canadiens were fond of it, it seems a lot to have him so high in his career so early. All in all, this list was not great.
Hedman & Fox must be reversed
Hedman was once one Strong defender on both ends of the ice, and his ability to offer offensive production while closing the top players of the NHL made him one of the most feared blue-liners in the competition, but as he gets older, he started to refuse in a large way.
It seems that they considered Stanley Cups as an individual stat in considering where he had to place Hedman, which I think was a terrible idea.
Although it was somewhat improved last season, his total figures show that he has not been so strong in the defensive zone in recent seasons.
Victor Hedman, signed with an extension of 4x $ 8 million by TB, is an experienced defender at a big minute. Still one of the most dominant offensive blueliners in the game, an elite accidental maker and puck -mover, but his defensive impact has been considerably out of the past two seasons. pic.twitter.com/gxpwii3vzr
– JFresh (@jfresh hockey) July 2, 2024
Attacking, he is pretty good and can still produce, given that he had 66 points last season due to 79 games. His decline, however, should drop him on their list. Moreover, there are no way in which players such as Slavvin, Dahlin, Harley or Evan Bouchard should be under him.
He could have exchanged stains with Fox on that list, and that is a real take. New York Rangers fans seem to be split in the middle after a rough 2024-25 campaign where their team missed the play-offs and was an overall waste container, but even with terrible defensive partners who dragged him down, Fox’s figures remained Elite.
I’m going to lose my mind. The only way in which Fox’s season “was not on the standard” is that he scored a few fewer goals and the team around him more sucked https://t.co/wknmsjk60j pic.twitter.com/vwn4tfqgvt
– JFresh (@jfresh hockey) June 16, 2025
Only because the team around him was not good does not mean that he was not good. Every metric would say that he is a top 5 defender in the NHL, and unfortunately a bad team season had a shadow that was a strong season for Fox.
Hutson vs Bouchard
Before Habs fans come after me in my opinion about Hutson, let me explain.
Hutson has a lot of skill and is perhaps one of the most dominant attacking defenders in the NHL, while it is one of the nicest players to watch. His lack of defensive consciousness and inability to keep top talent in his career so early, however, should have kept him out of the top 20. I would predict that Hutson will be a top 5 defender in the coming seasons, but he still has something to learn.
Many fans will compare him with Bouchard, but the most important difference is that Bouchard has not only increased his attacking game, but has also been able to stabilize his defensive game, while in successive seasons in the late season they find a way to dominate in the late season. His striking turnover is usually all fans look at when they hear about Bouchard, but when you see how strong his numbers are, it is a no-brainer that he must be considered one of the elite defenders of the competition.
Evan Bouchard, signed 4x $ 10.5 million by EDM, is a high-end offensive defender who moves the puck very well, has a deadly shot and tilts the ice, regardless of whom he plays despite his tendency for the strange bone error. #Letsgooailers pic.twitter.com/wmoxq3ieny
– JFresh (@jfresh hockey) June 30, 2025
No, his even defensive figures don’t look great, but don’t concentrate on that alone. His ability to keep the puck in the attacking zone ensures that he often does not have to play in the defensive zone, so his general war percentage is as high as it is.
The Rookie of the year also did well, but his figures are not nearly as good as those of Bouchard, and I would claim that his defense game was too weak to consider him a top 20 defender at the moment.
Lane Hutson is the Rookie of the year 2024-25! #Gohabsgo pic.twitter.com/wq8ikwcpea
– JFresh (@jfresh hockey) June 10, 2025
That does not mean that he is a bad defender because he is not, but he has some room to grow, and his shortcomings should have kept him out of their top-20 list.
At the end of the day it is impossible to make a list like this that makes everyone happy, but in the end some things on this list were too insane to ignore. We will see what their list looks like by the end of the 2025-26 season, but from now on it doesn’t look great.
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