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Toronto Maple Leafs: Ranking the NHL’s Top 5 Defensemen

By James Tanner

Cale Makar #8 of the Colorado Avalanche shoots against the Seattle Kraken during the third period in Game Six of the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Climate Pledge Arena on April 28, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Cale Makar #8 of the Colorado Avalanche shoots against the Seattle Kraken during the third period in Game Six of the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Climate Pledge Arena on April 28, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 18: Erik Karlsson #65 of the San Jose Sharks  (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

#2 Erik Karlsson

Erik Karlsson gets a bad rap because his defensive game is weak.  While that is indisputable, the fact is that hockey is a game in which you cannot really separate the two parts of the game – at the end of the day, the results are the results, and it doesn’t matter how you achieved them.

So yeah, you might have to pick your spots on when to use Karlsson more than Fox or Heiskanen, but you end up with better results.

Karlsson is so good that last year the Sharks won his minutes by xGoals and were tied by real goals.  Considering that they finished 29th overall, and were the worst team in the NHL when they weren’t deploying Karlsson, it’s incredibly impressive that he was able to do that.

Karlsson didn’t just score 101 points and lead all defenseman in scoring, he also led the NHL In 5v5 scoring, something arguably more important than winning the overall scoring title.

Karlsson was rumoured to be on the Toronto Maple Leafs radar, and had Brendan Shanahan not errored in the extreme and fired Kyle Dubas, Karlsson likely would be on the Leafs today.

As it is, he’s on Pittsburgh and they will look to win a 4th Stanley Cup in the Sidney Crosby Era.  If the Leafs don’t get it done, then hopefully the Penguins do.

Karlsson is 33 so who knows how he’ll follow up his amazing 2022-23 campaign, but as of right now, he’s the NHL’s second best defenseman.

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