53.6

148

Shea Weber

45

0.58

1.24

237

40.3

166

Roman Josi

55

0.68

1.50

201

45.6

53

Oliver Ekman-Larsson

43

0.52

1.25

264

42.2

167

This is really a two-horse race, so with no further ado the three also-rans. First, Oliver Ekman-Larsson finds his way into this group largely because of his impressive goal total. He was one of two defensemen this year to score more than 20 goals, outpacing the next highest scoring of the five candidates by five goals. OEL launches bombs from the blueline at an impressive rate as he was one of only 10 defensemen to take more than 200 shots and one of only two to take more than 250 shots. That puts him in impressive company with Erik Karlsson. The knock on OEL though is his low overall point total as he suffers from playing on one of the worst teams in hockey, effectively making him an also-ran.

Shea Weber and Roman Josi are the other two also-rans. Josi has the edge in points by 10 as he produces points more efficiently and is a part of more Predator even strength goals. Josi does not shoot nearly as much as Weber but where he really falters is in hitting. He doled out almost 100 fewer hits than the next gentlest candidate. That combination puts him slightly behind Weber in terms of overall impact but it should be clear that Josi deserves to be considered a peer of Weber as opposed to his apprentice. That is especially the case as the Predators score more when Josi is apart than when Weber is apart.

Neither of the two Nashville defensemen are on the same level as Brent Burns or Dustin Byfuglien though. It may not seem close with Burns outscoring Byfuglien by 15 points. Byfuglien, however has a similar edge in hits, having out hit Burns by nearly 50. Burns on the other hand has a sizeable advantage in shots as he nearly cleared 250 shots. The real edge for Burns is the 13 extra games played he had over Byfuglien. With Byfuglien's production rates he likely would have ended up much closer in points and after having closed the gap in shots would have significantly increased his edge in hits. In the end Byfuglien probably had more impact per game but Burns wins overall. Again the argument for the importance of durability plays out in deciding between the best two defensemen as it did for the best forward.

Best Goalie Candidates

Jonathan Quick almost made this conversation but his numbers did not measure up to three goalies in the above list. Quick's wins and shutouts are impressive but he lagged far behind in save percentage, quality start percentage, penalty killing save percentage and high danger save percentage. That suggests he did not contribute as much to the wins he did get as the three goalies who did make the list. The lower quality start percentage basically means that Quick had fewer games where he had a save percentage above the league average. His lower penalty killing save means that he was not as able to carry his team while short handed. His lower save percentage in high danger areas suggests that he may not be as good as the other three, however one season is not enough to fully make that assertion.

Corey Crawford on the other hand does not have the wins and shutouts that Jonathan Quick does likely due to the time he missed because of injury. He is very much deserving of being in the conversation in every respect though. Crawford's impact gets downplayed a lot because he plays for Chicago and as such does not get nearly enough credit. This year Chicago was not the shot suppression monster that it had been in years past. As such Crawford's numbers reflect the fact that he was relied on significantly more as the backbone for Chicago's wins. In the end though those missed games serve to count Crawford out.

That leaves Rinne and Dubnyk as the last two men standing. Both goalies had very impressive years as Rinne was the story of the first half and Dubnyk carried the Wild to the playoffs in the second half. The differences between the two are pretty small as Rinne has five more wins but Dubnyk has two more shutouts. In the end thought Dubnyk had a much greater impact on his team and was much more of a reason for the wins he got. Take for example Dubnyk's penalty killing save percentage of .903, the fourth highest in the league. That was a huge factor for the Wild a by the time Dubnyk took over in the Wild nets the goalies had a sub .800 save percentage on the penalty kill. What really puts Dubnyk over the top as the best goalie in the west is the 38 straight games he played upon arriving in Minnesota, making him the most stable bet of the second half.