The race among NHL forwards for the Maurice "the Rocket" Richard Trophy and the Art Ross is usually down to just a few elite snipers by the three-quarter mark of the season. Steven Stamkos, Sidney Crosby, Martin St. Louis—whichever five or six players are competing in the goal and point sprints have put a lot of separation between themselves and the pack by then.
For instance, 2011-12 scoring champ Evgeni Malkin posted 109 points to win the Art Ross. Sitting in fifth that year was Ilya Kovalchuk. His points total? 83.
That's a pretty large gap between No. 1 and No. 5.
The competition to be the NHL's top-scoring defensemen, on the other hand, is a ridiculously tight affair on a yearly basis. Except for when a player like Erik Karlsson or Mike Green posts gaudy, forward-like numbers of course.
There was no runaway defensive scoring king in 2013. P.K. Subban put up 38 points and was the No. 1 scoring defender. Kris Letang tied that total, and only three other defenders broke the 30-point barrier.
After that, seven points separated the sixth-placed Niklas Kronwall and the 30th-placed John Ca ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Franklin Steele
Predicting the 10 Highest-Scoring Defensemen for the 2013-14 NHL Season
September 20th, 2013 by Franklin Steele Leave a reply »
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