Montreal Canadiens: Ranking The Canadian Division Team’s Defensemen

Montreal Canadiens defence is big and mean but are they the best?

Montreal Canadiens defence has been called into question in the past. A lot of nights during his entire career goaltender Carey Price has been excellent, but allows goals on golden scoring chances.

Simply put, the Canadiens defence has given up far too many chances of the Grade A quality in the past.

This was again a huge problem last season as the cross-ice slot passes seemed to be wide open for the Canadiens opponents on a nightly basis last season. Allowing teams to fire passes across the front of the net is bad enough when they have a power play, but it was a common occurrence for the Habs when playing at even strength as well.

This wasn’t as big of a problem when Shea Weber was on the ice. A healthy Weber eats up a lot of ice time and clears the crease of opponents so that Price has a better chance of making a save. Adding a few more defensively responsible blue liners to the team was necessary and general manager Marc Bergevin has certainly done that recently.

Before last season, he signed Ben Chiarot to a three year contract. This offseason saw him sign Joel Edmundson and get Russian defenceman Alexander Romanov under contract as well.

Chiarot played far above expectations last season and made the Habs much better defensively. It remains to be seen how Edmundson and Romanov will blend into the lineup, but there is no question they are both upgrades on Xavier Ouellet, who played all ten postseason games last summer.

It gives the Canadiens their best looking blue line in years, but how does it stack up against the six teams they will face this season?

Ottawa Senators

Thomas Chabot – Erik Gudbranson

Mike Reilly – Nikita Zaitsev

Erik Brannstrom – Joshua Brown

Chabot is absolutely legit and it a top pairing defenceman in the NHL on many teams. He just signed a huge long term contract with the Ottawa Senators which says a lot on its own because their notoriously cheap owner doesn’t like to pay anybody. The problem is, he doesn’t really have anyone to play with him.

Gudbranson was a third overall pick but never lived up to that hype. He is big and physical, but gets beat far too often by speedy forwards and doesn’t shut things down in his own zone as well as most with his stature. He was traded from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Anaheim Ducks for Andreas Martinsen and a 7th round pick and was then acquired by Ottawa from the Ducks for a 5th round pick. Now he is on their top pairing which shows just how thin they are on defence.

Reilly was cast aside by the Habs when he couldn’t beat Chiarot, Victor Mete, Brett Kulak or Cale Fleury for ice time. The fact he landed on the Sens top four is an indictment on its own. He looks to be paired with Zaitsev who showed some promise as a rookie with the Toronto Maple Leafs before  dropping from 36 points to 13 and then 14.

Brannstrom has a lot of potential, but showed he wasn’t ready for full-time NHL duty last season. He should get his feet wet this year on a third pair, but he isn’t going to dominate – at least not yet. Brown, or Braydon Coburn, will partner and mentor Brannstrom and play reliable defensive minutes without offering much of anything offensively.

Overall, Chabot is really the only above average defenceman on the team. His partner would be a healthy scratch on several teams and he will have to play more than 20 minutes on this team. That’s just not a recipe for success.

Winnipeg Jets

Josh Morrissey – Tucker Poolman

Derek Forbort – Neal Pionk

Nathan Beaulieu – Dylan DeMelo

Morrissey is a solid two-way defenceman who can play against tough competition and shut things down while also adding a decent amount of offence. He starts out a huge eight-year contract extension this season with a $6.25 million cap hit. His partner looks to be Tucker Poolman who finally became a regular NHL player last season at the age of 26. He is not the ideal guy for the top pairing but will not be completely over his head defensively.

Derek Forbort has been in and out of lineups for most of his career with the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames, but he looks to have a big role for the Jets. He will have the chance to be a regular in their top four, but again, that’s more out of necessity than performance. Neal Pion arrived in the Jacob Trouba trade and was far better than anticipated. He scored 45 points in 71 games last season and is a great option on a second pairing.

Nathan Beaulieu is familiar to Habs fans as that former first round pick who never lived up to his potential. He had all the tools to be a top four blue liner it appeared, but he never quite put it all together and made too many costly mistakes in the defensive zone. He still does that often enough which is why he’s on the third pair. He will play with defensive, shutdown specialist Dylan DeMelo. The Jets picked him up in a trade last season and he was great in a short stint. He should provide safe, reliable minutes on the third pairing.

Overall, the group has Morrissey, Pionk, DeMelo and even Beaulieu slotted in their correct spots. However, they are just expecting far too much from Poolman and Forbort to be considered a good group of blue liners.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Morgan Rielly – T.J. Brodie

Jake Muzzin – Justin Holl

Mikko Lehtonen – Zach Bogosian

Rielly and Brodie will be asked to play a ton of minute for this team. Rielly was in the running for a Norris Trophy in 2019 but dropped to 27 points in 47 games last season. Brodie looked fantastic at times in Calgary with the Flames and not so great, especially in his own end, at others. He usually played great when on the right side next to Mark Giordano, but often struggled when asked to play his natural side, even when he was partnered with Dougie Hamilton.

Muzzin is a great defensive defenceman and gives this team the option to use their second pairing as a shutdown pair and free up that top pair for some easier matchups. He was second on the team in ice time with 21:35 last season and can hold his own defensively against anyone. Justin Holl is going to need to take a big step to be a legit top four defenceman after averaging 18:30 last year.

Lehtonen is the big question mark as he put up great numbers playing in the KHL, but how will he look in the NHL? We know Bogosian is just a big, slow defenceman who is willing to block shots, but also has to quite often because the puck tends to make itself comfortable in Bogosian’s defensive zone.

Overall, this blue line just doesn’t have the depth to be among the best in the division. If Rielly plays like he did in the past and Brodie meshes quickly with him that’s a great top pairing. If not, it could get ugly defensively for them. Holl, Lehtonen and Bogosian is a pretty weak bottom half of the depth chart, and one of them has to play top four minutes every night.

Montreal Canadiens

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak – Alexander Romanov

Ben Chiarot and Shea Weber proved to be a great two-way pairing last season that could shoulder an enormous load. They each played more than 23 minutes per night and made opponents pay the price every time they went into the Habs zone.

Petry is a two-way force on the Habs blue line, scoring 40 points (again) and playing 23:38 per game last season. He signed a nice contract extension that will keep him around town for the next five seasons and he will once again play big minutes at even strength, on the power play and while shorthanded. Edmundson is an interesting addition for that second pairing as he really fits the same frame as Chiarot. He is more of a stay-at-home type than Petry which should allow Petry to join the rush without anxiety this season.

Brett Kulak was great for the Canadiens in the playoffs last season and looked fantastic next to Petry in the regular season as well. If Edmundson doesn’t fit well there, a swap could happen quickly. If not, having Kulak on the third pair gives the Habs nice depth. Alexander Romanov has the skills to step in and be a physical force but he is also getting some power play time in training camp, showing he is more than just a hit machine.

Calgary Flames

Mark Giordano – Rasmus Andersson

Noah Hanifin – Chris Tanev

Juuso Valimaki – Oliver Kylington

Mark Giordano won a Norris Trophy just two seasons ago. Though he is now 37 years old, he still can handle a huge role on a team’s blue line. He scored 31 points in 60 games last season while playing in all situations and averaging nearly 24 minutes per game. Andersson has quickly moved up the depth chart and will look to take on an even more prominent role now that Brodie it in Toronto. He is a skilled two-way defenceman who played just under 20 minutes per game last season and will need to shoulder a bigger load this season, but looks more than ready to do that.

Hanifin is a terrific skater who seems to have been around forever but is still just 23 years old. He had 22 points in 70 games last season while playing 21:10 per night. At 23, he still has time to take another step forward. Playing with Chris Tanev could allow him more freedom to explore the offensive zone. Tanev is a smart, defensive blue liner who should gel quickly with a skilled sprinter like Hanifin.

Juuso Valimaki missed all of last season with injury but has been ready to get going for months now. The Flames have sky-high hopes for the young defenceman that was drafted in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft. He had 19 points in 19 Liiga games as he waited for the NHL to begin this season, so he is ready to explode out of the gate, giving the Flames tremendous depth. Oliver Kylington is a terrific skater and he has played five pro seasons, mostly in the AHL. He struggled at the NHL level last season, but has the tools to be an offensive defenceman.

Overall, this defence is ready for a deep playoff run. They have the two-way veteran who can still play in Giordano, youngsters that can handle a big role in Andersson, Hanifin and Valimaki and a steady, reliable, defensive veteran in Tanev. If Kylington takes a step forward they are just that much better. If not, he will be pushed aside by Connor Mackey or Nikita Nesterov.

Vancouver Canucks

Alex Edler – Nate Schmidt

Quinn Hughes – Travis Hamonic

Olli Juolevi – Tyler Myers

Alex Edler is getting older at 34 but can still handle a big role. He scored 33 points in 59 games last season while playing 22:37 per game. Adding Nate Schmidt from the Vegas Golden Knights is going to prove to be the steal of the offseason. He can step right onto the top pair on the right side and match Edler offensively and defensively while playing against opponent’s top lines every night.

Quinn Hughes is probably the best defenceman in the division. He is just 21 years old but he is already one of the best skaters in the league and scored 53 points in 68 games last season. He should be even better this year and will be in the Norris Trophy conversation soon enough. Pairing him with a defensive specialist like Travis Hamonic allows Hughes the freedom to roam with the puck as much as he wants.

A pairing of Olli Juolevi and Tyler Myers might not be what many thought it would by now, but as a third pairing they are more than adequate. Juolevi was a much hyped defensive prospect as a 5th overall pick, but he hasn’t made his mark in the NHL yet. He was solid at the AHL level last season and should provide solid minutes in a depth role. Tyler Myers looked to be the next Zdeno Chara when he entered the league but he hasn’t quite reached those heights. He is overpaid at $6 million but should be able to play reliable defensive minutes from the third pairing and shut down the depth forwards from the opposition.

Overall, this isn’t among the best groups of defencemen in the entire league, but they have the most potential of any Canadian team. Edler and Schmidt should be able to handle the toughest minutes no problem and Hughes could score a point per game. Myers and Hamonic provide some muscle and defensive zone play and Juolevi could breakout after keeping everyone waiting a year or two longer than they anticipated.