In the eyes of The NHL Network the Tampa Bay Lightning have a pretty solid foundation for their team. Nikita Kucherov was named as their Top Wing Right Now while Jake Guentzel ranked sixteenth. Andrei Vasilevskiy came in third on their goalies list while Brayden Point finished seventh among centers. You can add Victor Hedman to the list as he was ranked third in their recent Top Defensemen Right Now.
Sure, we’ll take it. After all it’s always nice when mainstream media recognizes Lightning players in these league-wide rankings, but third seems a bit optimistic in a league with a lot of solid young blue liners. At this stage of his career it feels like a ranking somewhere in the 5-10 range would have been more appropriate. For Hedman, it was a return to the Top Three as he was ranked fourth in last summer’s list.
It seems The NHL Network folks like their defensemen to play a little offense. The top overall pick, Cal Makar, put up 90 points while their second pick, Quinn Hughes, had 92. Hedman finished the season with 76 points which put him fifth among scorers from the back end. Among their top ten only two finished with fewer than 50 points – Gustav Forsling (6th) and Charlie McAvoy (7th). Much like voting for the Norris Trophy, defensive defensemen have a long road to travel for recognition.
Even in their video breaking down why they picked Hedman third (which is in the link above) the commentators focus more on his ability to move the puck before talking about how his positioning and toughness in the crease helps prevent offense from the opposition. Which is an interesting point to make considering the number of shots that came from right in front of the net while he was on the ice as we mentioned in the article we posted when he re-signed with the Bolts.
As we acknowledged in that post, the season got better defensively for Hedman as it went along. He is still a legitimate top pair defenseman, but the third best in the league? Hmmm.
Congratulations to The Big Swede for the accolade, and to The NHL Network for creating discussion during the dog days of the off-season.
