Last week, I reviewed five forwards whose 2020-21 seasons didn’t get recognized the way they should. While there were only five who made the list, there are plenty more who are also deserving, as many players seemed to have flown under the radar in this COVID shortened season.
On top of the forwards who had great years, there were also a lot of outstanding defencemen. While some got their recognition such as Victor Hedman, Adam Fox, and Cale Makar, there were several others who were fantastic in their own right and failed to get much mention. Here are the top 5 who deserve more credit for great seasons.
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5. Joel Edmundson
There wasn’t a lot of discussion around the pickup of Joel Edmundson when Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin traded for him this past September. In fact, shortly after, when he was awarded a four-year deal with a cap hit of $3.5 million, many believed this deal to be an overpay. That has turned out not to be the case, as he has been a great addition for the Montreal blueline this season.
The 27-year-old averaged over 20 minutes of ice time in his 55 games this season, marking just the second time he has done that over his six year career. His three goals and 13 points certainly don’t jump off the page, however what does is his plus/minus rating of plus28, which was just one shy of the league lead from defencemen. Due to the fact he isn’t a top pairing guy and doesn’t provide a ton of offence, he doesn’t get much recognition, but certainly deserves some after the fantastic season he put together this year.
4. Alec Martinez
Heading into the 2020-21 season, the main talk surrounding the Vegas Golden Knights blueline was about Alex Pietrangelo, who they signed to a seven-year deal this past offseason, and Shea Theodore, who is one of the brightest young defencemen in the game. While Theodore was great, there is a serious argument to be made that Alec Martinez was the teams second best defencemen this year.
Since being acquired from the L.A. Kings ahead of the 2020 trade deadline, Martinez has displayed an offensive side to his game we hadn’t seen before at the NHL level. In 597 career games before the trade, he had 198 points, which aren’t bad numbers but certainly not great from an offensive standpoint. In 60 games since with the Knights, however, he has 40 points, including 32 in 53 games this season. At 33-years-old this is some of the best hockey Martinez has ever played, and he deserves more recognition for it. A big playoff performance on a team many think has a shot at winning the Stanley Cup could be what it takes for him to be discussed as a key member of this Golden Knights team.
3. Darnell Nurse
The defenceman who is getting talked about most in Edmonton these days is Tyson Barrie, and rightfully so. Not only did he lead all blueliners in points this year, but he is also set to become an unrestricted free agent at seasons end, which has resulted in much speculation of what the future looks like for him. Due to all the talk about Barrie, another Oilers blueliner in Darnell Nurse has not been talked about as much as he should considering he scored 16 goals in just 56 games this year.
It seems that for years now Oilers fans have been waiting for the full arrival of Nurse, and that time appears to have finally come. The 26-year-old was dominant at both ends of the ice this year and truly looks like a number one defenceman, something this Edmonton team has been in desperate need of for years. While it’s tough to get media attention playing for a team that has both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Nurse is deserving of more recognition than he has got this season.
2. MacKenzie Weegar
While there are a number of reasons the Florida Panthers were one of the best teams in the league this year, the emergence of MacKenzie Weegar was certainly one of them, even if it fails to get discussed. The 27-year-old, who just wrapped up his fourth NHL season, really arrived this year with six goals and 36 points in 54 games. This was quite unexpected from him given that his career high heading into the year was just 18 points.
On top of his impressive offensive numbers, Weegar also tied Devon Toews for the league lead in plus/minus for a defenceman, going plus29. While most of the credit for the Panthers success this season is given to players like Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau, Weegar has been huge for this time. His 22:07 in ice time this season ranked second on the team behind only Aaron Ekblad who averaged over 25 minutes a game.
1. Jakob Chychrun
Perhaps the biggest coming out party for any defenceman in the NHL this season was Jacob Chychrun of the Arizona Coyotes. The 23-year-old, who was drafted 16th overall in the 2016 draft, has struggled with injuries since coming into the league in 2016-17. Thankfully, he was able to come into the 2020-21 season completely healthy and was able to play in all 56 Coyotes games. In those 56 games, he scored both a career high and league leading 18 goals while also putting up 23 assists.
His 18 goals trailed only Phil Kessel for all Coyotes skaters this season, and is even more impressive given the fact that his team ranked just 22nd in scoring with 150 goals. With Arizona having missed the playoffs, he won’t receive any Norris Trophy recognition which is a shame, but if he is able to prove this season wasn’t a fluke he will gain more attention in the very near future.
Plenty to Pick From
As mentioned on the top 5 forwards article last week, there are many others who could be argued to be on this list too. However, these five had terrific seasons and certainly deserve to be talked about. With four of the five of them being in this years postseason, perhaps a few of them are able to help their team capture a Stanley Cup and receive more recognition.
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