Last season around this time I ranked team defenses in the West based on my player game ratings. I created a google sheet, where I entered all of the player game ratings into a depth chart for each NHL team.

I updated the sheet about once a month during the season, to account for trades, injuries, etc. This spreadsheet allows me to rank the teams, strictly by the ratings whether it be overall, for forwards, goalies or by defense.

I thought it would be interesting to see which teams have improved from the end of last season or which teams have some question marks as they possibly go into the playoffs this year or look to improve their rosters for next season.

According to my ratings, the league-best defense is 6.562 and the league-worst is 6.322 with the average rating at 6.438.

Anaheim Ducks – 32nd overall – (6.322 rating) down from 30th last season

Cam Fowler is the current leader of the Ducks’ weak defensive corps. The 31-year-old has three more years remaining at $6.5 million AAV. Fowler (6.45) and Kevin Shattenkirk (6.44) were the only two defensemen on the current roster who were above average.

The likely returning players are Fowler, Simon Benoit (6.34), Urho Vaakanainen (6.22) and Jamie Drysdale (6.31). Prospects Pavel Mintyukov, Drew Helleson and Olen Zellweger could get some extended looks next season. 

Arizona Coyotes – 31st overall – (6.333) down from 27th

By trading Jakob Chychrun (6.72), the Coyotes are fully in a rebuild on defense. I'd expect to see J.J. Moser (6.4), Juuso Valimaki (6.4) and Victor Soderstrom (6.32) continue to improve and become regulars in the top-four next season. Other returnees should be Patrik Nemeth (6.28) and Josh Brown (6.32).

I'd expect to see prospects, Vladislav Kolyachonok and Michael Kesselring get some more games next year with the Coyotes.

Chicago Blackhawks – 30th overall – (6.352) down from 17th

The Blackhawk's defense has been gutted from last season where they were about average. This season, Seth Jones (6.57) has been somewhat of an island on defense after Jake McCabe (6.47) was dealt to Toronto at the deadline. Outside of Connor Murphy (6.37) and Caleb Jones (6.34), I'm not sure any current defender is a safe bet to be on this roster next season.

Ian Mitchell (6.24) along with prospects Alex Vlasic, Filip Roos, Wyatt Kaiser, Kevin Korchinski should get looks next season.

San Jose Sharks – 28th overall – (6.392) same

Even with the season Erik Karlsson (6.8) is having, the Sharks are still near the bottom at 28th overall with this defense. The gap after Karlsson goes to Matt Benning (6.36), Mario Ferraro (6.32), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (6.3), Radim Simek (6.27) and Jacob Macdonald (6.22).

Henry Thrun, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Nikolai Knyzhov and Nick Cicek could be in the mix for next season with Thrun and Knyzhov being front-runners.

Minnesota Wild – 25th overall – (6.415) down from 12th

I was a little surprised to see the Wild this low as they are 8th overall in the NHL standings which is all that matters. They are led by their captain Jared Spurgeon (6.59) but there is a significant drop-off after that on paper. Their overall team defense is collectively fine, but individually it could use some improvement next year.

Jonas Brodin (6.43) is next on the depth chart, with Jacob Middleton (6.39), Calen Addison (6.33), Alex Goligoski (6.31) and Jon Merrill (6.24) all signed for next season.

St. Louis Blues – 22nd overall – (6.42) down from 18th

The Blues are led by Justin Faulk (6.6), Torey Krug (6.48) and Colton Parayko (6.47). The next tier is Calle Rosen (6.39), Nick Leddy (6.32), Robert Bortuzzo (6.26) and Marco Scandella (6.21).

Scott Perunovich, Tyler Tucker (6.26) and Matthew Kessel should be in the mix for next season.

Edmonton Oilers – 21st overall – (6.428) down from 7th

He has his critics, but this team is led by Darnell Nurse (6.66) on defense, with Mattias Ekholm (6.47) and Evan Bouchard (6.46) next on the pecking order. After that Brett Kulak (6.38), Cody Ceci (6.34), Vincent Desharnais (6.26) and Philip Broberg (6.24) make up the depth on this defense.

Ekholm has seen his rating go from 6.41 to 6.47 in his short time with Edmonton.

Vancouver Canucks – 19th overall – (6.433) up from 21st

This defense is led by Quinn Hughes (6.68) and his 73 points in 71 games so far this year. The addition of Filip Hronek (6.54) should help fill the gap to the next group of defenders which consists of Ethan Bear (6.38), Tyler Myers (6.37) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (6.37).

The others who might get a shot next season are Kyle Burroughs (6.34), Tucker Poolman (6.29), Christian Wolanin (6.25), Jack Rathbone (6.22), Travis Dermott (6.16), Guillaume Brisebois and Akito Hirose.

It hurts to have Myers and Ekmann-Larson account for $16 million in salary this season and be slightly below average.

Dallas Stars – 19th overall – (6.433) up from 20th

The Stars have had a breakout season from Miro Heiskanen (6.71) which wasn't unexpected. Esa Lindell (6.44) has had better seasons, but is the best of the rest which consists of Jani Hakanpaa (6.41), Ryan Suter (6.35), Nils Lundkvist (6.35) and Colin Miller (6.34). The Stars are 9th overall in the NHL overall standings, but their defense is bolstered a little by the play of Jake Oettinger.

Thomas Harley should see the NHL next season on a regular basis.

Calgary Flames – 18th overall – (6.438) down from 3rd

The Flames didn't have Oliver Kylington (6.43) available this season and added Mackenzie Weegar so on paper they should have been better than they have been.

The defense is led by Rasmus Andersson (6.61) with Noah Hanifin (6.53) right behind him with Weegar (6.5) as well. The rest of the defense consists of Chris Tanev (6.37), Nikita Zadorov (6.36), Troy Stecher (6.26), Dennis Gilbert (6.29) and Michael Stone (6.39).

Not much has changed, but it appears that every player has taken a slight step back this season.

Winnipeg Jets – 17th overall – (6.44) down from 8th

With the breakout of Josh Morrissey (6.71), one would think that the Jets overall defense would be improved but that hasn't been the case.

Neal Pionk (6.49) is next on the pecking order with Dylan DeMelo (6.4), Brenden Dillon (6.38), Nate Schmidt (6.36) and rookie Dylan Samberg (6.3) being the other regulars.

Logan Stanley, Kyle Copabianco and Ville Heinola each saw less than 20 games this season and couldn't quite crack the lineup on a regular basis.

Seattle Kraken – 15th overall – (6.447) up from 25th

The Kraken defense has improved greatly from last season but the goaltending hasn’t, which is not a recipe for where Seattle is in the standings. They have out-scored their issues all season but don't appear that they will crack before the playoffs. It has been an incredible run.

Vince Dunn (6.63) has had a breakout season while Adam Larsson (6.6) has had the kind of season that Edmonton regrets giving him away in the expansion draft. Other than those two, the rest of the defense has been average and steady with Jamie Oleksiak (6.4), Justin Schultz (6.38), Will Borgen (6.34), Carson Soucy (6.33) and Jaycob Megna (6.33) being regulars.

The Kraken have been able to avoid injuries this season which would have really tested their lack of depth on the back end.

Los Angeles Kings – 12th overall – (6.453) up from 19th

The Kings have had an envious prospect pool for a few years now and it is starting to be incorporated into their NHL lineup now.

The defense is still led by Drew Doughty (6.57), but Sean Durzi (6.53) has chipped in with some offense while Matt Roy (6.48), Mikey Anderson (6.43), Vladislav Gavrikov (6.36), Sean Walker (6.35) and Alexander Edler (6.34) have all been fairly steady.

The team still has Tobias Bjornfot, Jordan Spence, Helge Grans and Brandt Clarke in the pipeline.

Vegas Golden Knights – 2nd overall – (6.51) same

Vegas is certainly not the youngest defense in the NHL, but they are consistently one of the best this year and last.

They are led by the duo of Alex Pietrangelo (6.73) and Shea Theodore (6.67). The gap is not that big to the next group which is Brayden McNabb (6.47), Alec Martinez (6.46), Nicolas Hague (6.37) and Zack Whitecloud (6.36) with Ben Hutton (6.3) playing when needed.

There are only three or four teams in this league that when healthy can boast a top-four defense as good as Vegas.

Colorado Avalanche – 1st overall – (6.569) 4th

With Cale Makar (6.86) on defense alone, it would make the Avalanche defense top 10 in the league. Add Devon Toews (6.61), a healthy Bowen Byram (6.55), Josh Manson (6.51), Samuel Girard (6.46) and Erik Johnson (6.38) and you have five above-average defenders which not many teams can claim. The trick for Colorado is to keep them in the lineup all at the same time.

The Avalanche added Jack Johnson (6.26) for depth during their playoffs.

After going through this, I'll be the first to admit that measuring defensive abilities is a tricky thing as my ratings are based off of production, shots on goal, hits and blocked shots.

I'm not able to give credit for the little nuances that separate Chris Tanev (as an example) from other defenders which most people who watch Tanev play know about. I'm constantly looking for a way to do that but have been unable to as of yet as I can only include publicly available stats in my formula.

Thanks very much for reading and if you have any comments or suggestions, please leave them below or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15