The Globe and Mail

Following up on my piece earlier this week on top defensive forwards, what follows is a statistical breakdown of which defencemen do the best job of keeping goals against down when they’re on the ice.

The three stats I generally rely on come via Behind The Net and are quality of competition, goals against at even strength and goals against while shorthanded. Players also have to have played a minimum of 50 games and play regularly on the penalty kill (about two minutes per game).

Here’s my list, using stats from after Tuesday’s games:

……….	Rk	NAME	TM	GP	QCMP	EVGA	SHGA
	1	MARC STAAL	NYR	78	0.146	1.85	5.85
	2	ROMAN POLAK	STL	77	0.102	2.44	3.64
	3	ZDENO CHARA	BOS	78	0.121	1.99	5.28
	4	BARRET JACKMAN	STL	66	0.108	2.51	4.77
	5	NICK LIDSTROM	DET	78	0.060	2.29	3.67
	6	CHRIS PHILLIPS	OTT	79	0.126	2.62	4.76
	7	ANTON VOLCHENKOV	OTT	63	0.140	2.79	3.98
	8	BRENT SEABROOK	CHI	75	0.099	2.44	5.60
	9	CHRIS PRONGER	PHI	80	0.098	1.93	6.43
	10	DEREK MORRIS	PHX	72	0.038	2.35	3.60
	11	ROBYN REGEHR	CGY	78	0.085	2.31	5.92
	12	TIM GLEASON	CAR	61	0.138	2.61	5.45
	13	M-E VLASIC	S.J	62	0.021	1.72	4.39
	14	DENNIS WIDEMAN	BOS	73	0.056	2.47	4.84
	15	MATTIAS OHLUND	T.B	63	0.117	2.60	5.79
	16	JOSH GORGES	MTL	80	0.022	1.85	5.08
	17	COLIN WHITE	N.J	79	0.037	2.33	4.81
	18	BROOKS ORPIK	PIT	71	0.081	2.69	4.61
	19	TYLER MYERS	BUF	78	0.068	2.56	5.43
	20	DUNCAN KEITH	CHI	79	0.085	2.83	4.73
	21	HENRIK TALLINDER	BUF	78	0.067	2.47	5.88
	22	JORDAN LEOPOLD	PIT	78	0.107	2.54	6.53
	23	BRYCE SALVADOR	N.J	76	0.032	1.73	6.12
	24	ED JOVANOVSKI	PHX	63	0.097	3.25	3.65
	25	ROB BLAKE	S.J	68	0.040	1.86	6.99
	26	ZBYNEK MICHALEK	PHX	68	0.095	2.70	5.78
	27	MIKE MOTTAU	N.J	76	0.038	2.51	5.43
	28	DAN GIRARDI	NYR	78	0.099	2.91	5.52
	29	KIMMO TIMONEN	PHI	80	0.047	2.39	6.47
	30	TOM POTI	WSH	68	0.051	1.86	7.86

Quite a few of the usual suspects in there and a lot of players that have mostly been atop this list since about the midpoint of the season. Lidstrom, for one, is always on this list every season, and while his offensive production has slipped some this year, he remains a huge part of the Red Wings’ success.

Some good unheralded names in the mix, too, like Polak, Vlasic, Gorges, Salvador and Michalek. Ask any fan of these teams and they'll likely tell you these guys are the unsung heroes.

One of the weaknesses in the system I use is that players who play almost every minute of every game together are virtually inseparable (i.e. Phillips-Volchenkov) statistically and both are given a high rating. It also rewards players who play well within a team system that is strong defensively, such as the Devils listed above.

Let me know your thoughts on who’s missing and how accurately the stats reflect the game’s top shutdown defenders.