One of the strange things about the increase in scoring this past season is that the list of disappointing defensemen isn’t as plentiful as a list of disappointing forwards.

Anyone putting together a list of disappointing forwards should easily come up with 20 players (Calgary alone would probably net half a dozen). But most of the top offensive defensemen continued to put up points. The key word in the previous sentence is most. There will always be some disappointments, and this season was no exception. 

Below are the top 10 disappointing defensemen of this past season. Note, just like for forwards, while we will talk about other statistics, we’re mostly judging a poor season based on point production. Also, a player will not be on this list for simply being injured, but missing games for whatever reason can be a part of it. 

10. Morgan Rielly

It amazes me that Rielly doesn’t produce more points in Toronto, especially considering he manned the top power-play unit on the second-best power-play team this past season. He’s been arguably the best player during Toronto’s playoff run, but his regulation season success has been underwhelming. He’s had a couple of great seasons flanked by seasons where we wanted more. Case in point, a few years ago he had a 72-point season, which he followed up with 27 points in 47 games, a 47-point pace. A year ago, he had 68 points in 82 games. This year, he had 41 in 65, a 52-point pace. He also averaged almost a shot fewer per game this year compared to a season ago. At some point, you would think he has to put up back-to-back 60-point seasons, but he’s 29 years old, has been in the league for 10 years and has only reached 60 points twice so far. He also finished the regular season with two points in his last eight games, a total disappointment for fantasy playoffs.

9. Torey Krug

Gone are the days when Krug would reach a 60-point pace with ease. Nowadays, it’s a tough task for him to get to 60 games. In each of the six seasons preceding this one, he reached a minimum of a 51-point pace. A year ago, he had 43 points in 64 games, a 55-point pace. This year, that dropped to 32 points in 63 games, a 42-point pace. He also finished a minus-26. His 14 power-play points are only one better than his career low (and that was during the 56-game Covid-induced season). His ice time was down two minutes per night from last year, which was already two fewer minutes per game than the previous season. His power-play time has also been dropping over the last number of years. No one was expecting an Erik Karlsson-type level of offense, but we were hoping for more than this. 

8. Matt Dumba

While we are focusing on points, Dumba saw a decrease in every statistical category that wasn’t blocked shots (which remained even on a per-game basis from last year). His four goals were the lowest since his 13-game rookie season, and his 14 points were the lowest of his career (again, aside from his rookie season). His 82-game pace of 15 points was almost a third of last year’s 39-point pace. His minus-eight was the lowest mark he’s ever produced, and 1.3 shots per game is also one of his worst marks ever. His average of 1.32 hits per game was his lowest since 2016-17 and a significant decrease from the two hits per game he averaged a year ago. It’s also the first time he failed to pick up a power-play point as he was relegated to seven seconds of man-advantage ice time per game. 

7. Ivan Provorov

Last September, fantasy general managers were warned that Provorov wouldn’t bounce back, but that didn’t prevent him from being drafted in many fantasy leagues. Somehow, Provorov was even worse than one could have predicted. He finished with 27 points in 82 games, his 1.4 shots per game was easily the lowest of his career (and down from 2.2 the previous season), and he finished with a minus-17. All this despite Provorov starting in the offensive zone for more than 50 per cent of his shifts for the first time in his career. Maybe most frustrating was that he had a grand total of two power-play points as John Tortorella chose to put everyone else out with the man advantage (I think the hot dog vendor got more of an opportunity). Provorov had 25 games where he failed to play a single second with the man advantage, and another 16 games where he reached 20 seconds maximum. We’re at the point where he’s not draftable in one-year leagues and not keepable in keeper leagues. 

6. Thomas Chabot

I’ve never been the biggest Chabot fan, and for a couple of years, I’ve been touting how it’s only a matter of time before Jake Sanderson is the top guy in Ottawa. Just think of this past season. Despite Ottawa increasing its goals per game from 2.73 to 3.18 and going from the 20th-ranked power-play to the top 10, Chabot’s per-game production dropped from 0.64 points per game last year to 0.6 this season. His 20 power-play points were a career high, but Sanderson was more effective, putting up 17 man-advantage points despite averaging about 1:30 fewer power-play minutes per game than Chabot. Chabot’s 21 even-strength points in 68 games stand out as a potential issue, despite him being deployed with the top two lines. He missed Ottawa’s last eight games with a broken wrist and torn ligament, which hurt anyone who needed him for fantasy playoffs.

5. Moritz Seider

Not all young players see their production improve in a linear line. Some have to struggle and go through downturns before reaching their full potential. That’s what happened to Seider this past season, but that doesn’t make it any easier for those who drafted him in one-year leagues. While he was dynamite in leagues that counted hits and blocked shots, he dropped from 50 points a year ago to 42 this season. His power-play production also dropped, and he lost that spot on the top power-play unit to Filip Hronek on a couple of occasions. It also doesn’t help that he went from 2.3 shots per game to 1.7.  

4. Tony DeAngelo

At this point of his career, we all know what DeAngelo is: An offensive talent who isn’t great in his own zone. One of the problems this year was that he plays for John Tortorella, who is not known as a coach willing to overlook bad defensive playing. DeAngelo was a healthy scratch for a game in December, and then again for the last five games of the season (at one point Tortorella chose to go with 15 forwards and five defensemen instead of having DeAngelo play). However, the healthy scratches are just a small sliver of why DeAngelo appears on this list. His 42 points in 70 games is alright, but many were hoping he could reach 60 again, or even 50. He also had a minus-27 (only six defensemen finished with a worse plus/minus).

3. Aaron Ekblad

Back in October, you might have thought Ekblad was going to reach career highs. After all, he had 10 points in his first 12 games, six of which came with the man advantage (of note, he also missed about a dozen games at this time with his annual trip to the IR). Then it all came crashing down. He had only four points in his next 16 contests, and although he never lost his spot on the top unit for a consistent amount of time, he only finished with 38 in 71 games. That’s a 44-point pace, a significant decrease from the 77-point pace he had a year ago and his lowest since 2018-19. 

2. John Klingberg

A year ago, Klingberg signed a cheap, one-year show-me deal with the Anaheim Ducks. All he showed was that was a mistake. His time in Anaheim was a disaster, as he had 24 points in 50 games with the Ducks, a 39-point pace. He started the season manning the top power-play unit but was quickly demoted to the second unit. He had an eight-game pointless streak and two streaks of seven games apiece. For one stretch, he had four points in 19 games. It was only a trade to Minnesota that managed to “save” his season, where had nine points in 17 games. Those 33 points in 67 games is a 40-point pace, not that great for a “show-me” contract. 

1. Victor Hedman

In 2016-17, Hedman was given the opportunity to take over the top power-play duties from Anton Stralman. Since then, he never had a season below 22 power-play points, and his lowest 82-game point pace was 63. Last year, he set career highs in goals (20), assists (65), points (85), power-play points (38) and shots (218). This year, he struggled mightily and lost the top power-play duties several times to Mikhail Sergachev. Hedman’s 49 points in 76 games would be acceptable for most (there are a ton of defensemen who dream they could experience a season as good as Hedman's down season), but it’s completely below expectations for Hedman.