#also as much as i love mongan the leafs lack true Superstar d

[sergeifyodorov]

hi! as a new hockey watcher which of the leafs dmen are good (other than rielly) and what about them make them good/reliable? im understanding forwards a lot better since i started watching but i think i need the good characteristics of a good dmen broken down for me. thanks for your help :)

hi !!! i do hate to say it but like. as much as the leafs are a good team their defenders across the board aren't... great...? like morgan is great at getting points and lilly is generally pretty good too but if you want to know what a Good Dman looks like the leafs are not going to be your best bet on this.

it's also generally a lot harder to tell when defencemen are good than when forwards are good because, like, what is defence anyway? whuh? -- also dmen tend to have a lot more dimension than forwards (as in, there are more possible ways they can be good) since defencemen who play offensively are meaningfully much different than forwards who defend.

here are Some things, although not a be-all end-all:

lateral movement in the offensive zone -- "walking the blueline," as it's called. when cycling in the ozone, forwards will often pass back to the defencemen to try and have someone else create the space for them, or to pass to the other side of the ice for the other wing. good defencemen are better at a) taking these passes (not blowing the zone and making everyone tag), b) holding the puck at the zone -- moving side to side to open up the ice, and c) passing it up or back to the forwards. this is easiest to see on a power-play, but the tactics hold nonetheless

pinching/retrievals -- when an opposing forward skates into the offensive zone with the puck, they will sometimes come near the walls in an attempt to get around the d. better dmen are more likely to sort of "guide" them into the walls, where they can be hit to take the puck off them. similarly, when a forward dumps the puck into the offensive zone, it's a dman's job to go and get it. better dmen are more likely to make these retrievals successfully, even under pressure

interrupting slot passes -- across or into the slot is a really dangerous (as in risky to face) direction to pass through because of how much the goalie has to move to meet the shooter. good defencemen are great at knowing where a cross-slot pass is going to be and getting in the way, forcing the passer to either shoot themselves (less dangerous, because the goalie is likely already square to them) or reconsider (also less dangerous, because everyone else will have a worse angle than the target of the cross-slot pass)

jumping up in the play -- this one is mostly a task that offensive-style dmen do and it's not necessarily an indicator of quality, but if you're looking for forwards/trying to learn to watch the game it's also something to look out for ! when a team is in the offensive zone, dmen tend to stay back, aka mostly on or around the blueline (see point 1), but sometimes a dman will come further into the zone and much closer to the net -- morgan rielly is a great example of this, he does it all the time. they kind of transfer from strict defending to playing like a forward. this has both pros and cons -- pros, it acts as another forward in the o-zone, and cons it requires the other defenceman to cover more ice, so it really depends on the offensive skill of the dman.