Hockey

NHL’s best defensive brigades: the Habs rank 5th, according to Thomas Hickey
Félix Forget
NHL’s best defensive brigades: the Habs rank 5th, according to Thomas Hickey
Credit: Getty Images

When the Canadiens made it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, they did so thanks in part to the brilliance of their defensive quartet. Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Ben Chiarot and Joel Edmundson all played spectacular hockey… and helped the club make it a long way to the playoffs. But then, all those guys left for various reasons. So, for the past four years, the Habs have had to rebuild their blue line… and they've done it brilliantly.

Drafting Lane Hutson, trading for Mike Matheson, Alexandre Carrier and Noah Dobson, acquiring Arber Xhekaj and finalizing the development of Kaiden Guhle and Jayden Struble: all these guys make up the Montreal squad today… and David Reinbacher could join them one day.And what we see is that the club really does have a quality squad. Five of these guys are at least top-4 calibre, and Dobson's arrival solves the problem on the right. And across the NHL, there seems to be a growing recognition of what's happening in Montreal. Thomas Hickey, a former NHL defenseman who works for NHL Network, has put together his top-5 list of the NHL's best defensive brigades… and he ranks the Canadiens' 5th.

In fact, according to Hickey, only the Avalanche, Panthers, Stars and Capitals have a better defensive group than the Habs. And when we look at these four teams, we see that they are all among the NHL's elite.The Habs' brigade, unlike the others in the rankings, is very young. Matheson (31) and Carrier (28) are a little older, but Noah Dobson is the third-oldest regular defenseman in town… and he's only 25.So most of them still have time to develop.Of course, there's no doubt that the Habs have a better squad than last year. David Savard was a great asset to the Habs, but there's a reason he announced his retirement: his body just couldn't take it anymore.Replacing Savard with Dobson, one of the best right-handed defensemen in the NHL, is a titanic improvement.To say that the Habs rank 5th in the Bettman circuit in terms of their defensive brigade is perhaps a little audacious. But at the same time, it's rare to see so many quality defensemen on the same team…

'Overtime'

– The guys are having fun.

– Impressive.

– Toronto newcomer didn't want to leave his native Minnesota,

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