As I was about to respond to a comment to my last article by Other Rick about the state of our defense, I decided to delve into the blue-line makeup of recent Stanley Cup winners as a way of demonstrating what an effective, balanced defense should look like. After all, if anyone should know a thing or two about constructing a defense, it’s teams that have hoisted Lord Stanley’s chalice.
As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Or in this case, a series of tables. I’ve listed the top six defensemen for each of the past four Cup champions, along with their height and weight and a brief description of each player’s basic attributes.
To absolutely no surprise (or at least not mine), none of these defensive corps bear even a passing resemblance to our current mix of rearguards.
Without further ado, here goes:
2023-24 PANTHERS
| Player | Ht./Wt. | Attributes |
| Forsling | 6’0″ 186 | Puck-mover, all-arounder |
| Montour | 6’0″ 194 | Puck-mover, all-arounder, physical |
| Ekblad | 6’4″ 215 | Puck-mover, all-arounder, physical |
| Ekman-Larsson | 6’2″ 200 | Puck-mover, all-arounder |
| Mikkola | 6’4″ 209 | Stay-at-home, physical |
| Kulikov | 6’1″ 201 | Stay-at-home, physical |
2022-23 GOLDEN KNIGHTS
| Player | Ht./Wt. | Attributes |
| Theodore | 6’2″ 197 | Puck-mover |
| Pietrangelo | 6’3″ 215 | Puck-mover, all-arounder |
| Whitecloud | 6’2″ 207 | All-arounder |
| Martinez | 6’1″ 210 | Stay-at-home |
| Hague | 6’6″ 230 | Stay-at-home, physical |
| McNabb | 6’4″ 215 | Stay-at-home, physical |
2021-22 AVALANCHE
| Player | Ht./Wt. | Attributes |
| Makar | 5’11” 187 | Norris Trophy puck-mover |
| Toews | 6’1″ 191 | Puck-mover, all-arounder |
| Byram | 6’1″ 190 | Puck-mover, all-arounder |
| Manson | 6’3″ 218 | Stay-at-home, physical |
| Johnson, Erik | 6’4″ 225 | Stay-at-home, physical |
| Johnson, Jack | 6’1″ 227 | Stay-at-home |
2020-21 LIGHTNING
| Player | Ht./Wt. | Attributes |
| Hedman | 6’7″ 244 | Norris Trophy puck-mover, all-arounder |
| Sergachev | 6’1″ 217 | Puck-mover, all-arounder |
| Cernák | 6’4″ 224 | Puck-mover, all-arounder, physical |
| McDonagh | 6’1″ 215 | All-arounder |
| Savard | 6’1″ 235 | Stay-at-home, physical |
| Rutta | 6’3″ 204 | Stay-at-home, physical |
The trend continued back through the ’19-20 Lightning, the ’18-19 Blues and the ’17-18 Caps. The Blues in particular boasted a HUGE, physical defense that featured the likes of Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko (6’6” 228), Jay Bouwmeester (6’4” 206), Joel Edmundson (6’5” 221) and ex-Pen Robert Bortuzzo (6’4” 216).
Okay, now compare these groups with what figures to be our top-six this season.
2024-25 PENGUINS (PROJECTED)
| Player | Ht./Wt. | Attributes |
| Karlsson | 6’0″ 190 | Norris Trophy puck-mover |
| Letang | 6’0″ 201 | Puck-mover, physical |
| Pettersson | 6’3″ 177 | All-arounder, physical |
| Graves | 6’5″ 220 | All-arounder |
| Grzelcyk | 5’10” 176 | Puck-mover, all-arounder |
| Aho | 5’10” 186 | Puck-mover |
You’ll notice immediately that as a collective we’re almost totally bereft of a stay-at-home presence, not to mention size and physicality. (Frankly, it was a stretch to list Letang and Pettersson as physical players.)
Although the imbalances in our defensive makeup would improve slightly if 6-foot-3, 200-pound Jack St. Ivany (stay-at-home, physical) displaces Aho, given coach Mike Sullivan’s preference for puck-movers there’s no guarantee of that happening.
In closing, I hope this provides an objective look into the shortcomings of our defense, and why I’m so critical of the way Kyle Dubas has constructed it.
