The top 5 NHL defensemen of 2024

Credit: © Sergei Belski

With the final days of 2024 ahead, I figured what better way to celebrate then by highlighting some of the best performances that we’ve witnessed in the calendar year.

Over these last few days of the year, I’ll look at the best players at all five positions (goaltender, defense, right wing, left wing, and center) from 2024, which includes the January to April months of the 2023-24 season, the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the October to December months in the 2024-25 season.

Today, we’ll be looking at defensemen. The position continues to see players jump into the fold with the skill and talent to match forwards, or at the very least, bridge the gap a bit more. Unlike our goalies list, this list features very few surprises, although with the defensive aspect of hockey being up to the interpretation of the viewer, there might be a few picks that come as a surprise, as they can appear to be sloppy at that end, although the results speak for themselves.

Let’s look at a few honourable mentions before kicking off the countdown:

Honourable Mentions

Mattias Ekholm – Ekholm was always regarded as an excellent defensive defenseman with the Nashville Predators, but it wasn’t until he was dealt to the Edmonton Oilers at the 2023 trade deadline that he’s been thrust into the spotlight. He got an honourable mention on my list last year, and he’s back here again this year. He’s been a perfect fit alongside Evan Bouchard, and when that pairing is on the ice, the Oilers are a dominant force. In fact, it was the team’s play outside of that pairing that likely what made them fall short in the Stanley Cup Final.

Gustav Forsling – Can you believe that the Florida Panthers got this guy on waivers? The Panthers are one of the best at turning castaways into top tier players, and Forsling may be their biggest success story of the bunch. He’s transformed into one of the best defensive defensemen in the league, and it was his work alongside Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart that shutdown the likes of Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrnak, Artemi Panarin and Connor McDavid on route to their Stanley Cup victory.

Victor Hedman – The Hedman we’ve seen over the past few seasons isn’t quite the Hedman that we’d grown accustomed to, especially defensively, but he’s still been an excellent defenseman offensively. He missed a bit more time than other defensemen on this list, but his 0.94 points per game in 2024 was tied for fourth. Among the other defensemen I considered for this honourable mention spot for their offensive game (Josh Morrissey and Zach Werenski), he was the most consistent across the year, and he was the best defensively, helped especially by the fact that Ryan McDonaugh’s return in the summer has lightened Hedman’s load from October to December and improved his defensive game for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

5. Roman Josi

Regular Season: 76GP, 22G, 58A, 80P
Playoffs: 6GP, 1G, 2A, 3P

The Predators haven’t exactly been living up to the expectations that many had for them this season after a busy 2024 offseason, and Josi has slightly underperformed as a result, but Josi’s level of “underperformance” is still much better than other defensemen. However, it’s his performance during the January to April stretch of the year that really secured his spot on here.

In that second half of the 2023-24 season, Josi led all defensemen in points, including the eventual Norris Trophy winner in Quinn Hughes, where he had 15 goals and 56 points in 45 games, a pace that would have given 102 points in 82 games. The Preds slow start to 2023-24 resulted in Josi only getting 24 points in 31 games, giving him 80 on the year. However, that still makes him one of three defensemen in 2024 to produce above a point-per-game, and he was also one of three defensemen to score 20 goals in the year. He also had 3 points in 6 playoff games during Nashville’s attempt to upset the Vancouver Canucks, so that certainly helps his case.

The one thing that holds Josi back on this list was his defensive performance this year. In 2024, he had a +0.33 5v5 expected goals against per 60 relative to his teammates, which means that the Predators were giving up more chances with him on the ice. That is a part of his high-octane style and is what makes him a strong offensive defensemen, but when there are four other defensemen putting up similar numbers offensively and performing better defensively, it’s going to keep Josi this low on the list.

4. Adam Fox

Regular Season: 81GP, 15G, 60A, 75P
Playoffs: 16GP, 0G, 8A, 8P

Igor Shesterkin gets a lot of the credit for the New York Rangers‘ success despite not being quite as elite of a team under the hood, but Adam Fox is as much of a driving force for that success. From 2021-22 to 2023-24, only Juuso Valimaki, Devon Toews and Alex Vlasic have a higher 5v5 expected goal share relative to their teammates than Fox’s +6.17%, and the Rangers go from playing like an elite playoff team to a team just outside of the playoffs.

Need more proof of the value he has to the Rangers? During this trainwreck of a season for the Rangers so far, he’s second in the league among defensemen with 100 minutes in 5v5 xG% Rel with a whopping +13.82%, so the Rangers turn into a borderline lottery team without him on the ice this year.

In 2024, Fox was fourth among all blueliners in points 75 points in 81 games, so it’s not just his defensive game that gets him a spot on the list. His two-way game is one of the best in the league, and may even be the best among defenders. The only thing that holds him back from being further up the list was the fact that his playoff performance was a bit more pedestrian with only 8 assists in 16 games and a +4.22% 5v5 xG% Rel, the 20th-best in the league. It’s still a performance that most teams would take on their top pair, but by his lofty standards and the ones set by the four ahead of him, it sets him back just a little bit.

3. Evan Bouchard

Regular Season: 81GP, 15G, 56A, 71P
Playoffs: 25GP, 6G, 26A, 32P

This will be a controversial one.

Bouchard has seen his game progress to an elite level since the 2023 trade deadline for two reasons: the Oilers acquiring Ekholm gave him the perfect shutdown defenseman to compliment him, and Tyson Barrie going the other way in the deal allowed Bouchard to join the Oilers top power play and give him more opportunities to produce. Sure, playing with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl helps, but Barrie and Darnell Nurse never produced like Bouchard has in the same role, so that speaks to Bouchard’s offensive ability.

Bouchard’s 2024-25 season hasn’t been quite at the same level that we would expect from him, but that can also be attributed to the Oiler’s slow start to the season, and how their power play has underperformed up to this point. However, considering that the two defensemen ranked below him have also underperformed this season, I put all three on equal footing, and gave the advantage to Bouchard for his playoff performance. In 25 games, Bouchard put up 32 points, which was the third-highest scoring playoff run ever by a defenseman.

I say this one is controversial because Bouchard’s play has gotten a lot more flak this season, particularly on the defensive side. It feels like every Oilers game this season was followed by a video circulating on the internet of Bouchard getting embarrassed or looking lazy. Sometimes that’s people misevaluating what Bouchard should actually be doing, sometimes it’s people mistaking Bouchard’s efficient skating ability as laziness, sometimes it’s just the nature of Bouchard’s style of play leading to glaring turnovers, and sometimes he just straight up screwed up. However, his -0.03 xGA per 60 Rel in 2024 proves that he is at least providing the Oilers with adequate defense, which is more than enough for how much offense he provides, especially when Ekholm is more than capable of carrying the defensive load on that pair.

2. Cale Makar

Regular Season: 81GP, 24G, 70A, 94P
Playoffs: 11GP, 5G, 10A, 15P

I was very close to putting Makar in the top spot, even if he didn’t win the Norris Trophy. Between him and Quinn Hughes, both players produced at an almost identical rate in the 2024 regular season, with Makar getting 94 points in 81 games, and Hughes getting 89 in 80. And what nearly won me over with Makar was both his play in the playoffs with 15 points in 11 games, and he also had the better defensive numbers of the two, with a -0.17% 5v5 xGA per 60 Rel compared to Hughes’ +0.1%.

However, the ultimate decision came down to this: Makar spends more time with the Colorado Avalanche‘s other star players than Hughes does with the Canucks’, and when he’s away from them, his performance this year has been horrible. With Nathan MacKinnon, Makar has a 58.65% 5v5 xG share. Away from him, it’s 42.61%. Some of that can be attributed to the lack of depth beyond the Avalanche’s top line, but a top defenseman like Makar should probably be able to at least hold his own in those situations, not be caved in.

1. Quinn Hughes

Regular Season: 80GP, 15G, 74A, 89P, Norris Trophy
Playoffs: 13GP, 0G, 10A, 10P

I gave it away while talking about Makar, but you probably knew it was going to come down to one of those two defensemen to take the top spot. And while I nearly didn’t give it to Hughes, I couldn’t deny the reigning Norris Trophy winner the top spot. He has always been one of the best up-and-coming defensemen, but his 2023-24 season saw him take another massive step to become one of the best in the league, and that’s continued into this season.

I cited Makar’s playoff performance and defensive metrics for the reason why I almost went with him, and while I found holes in his defensive game, he very much did have an advantage over Hughes in the playoffs. While both players only lasted two rounds, Makar played at a level similar to Bouchard, while Hughes was a bit more underwhelming with 10 points in 13 games, including no goals.

But, where I ultimately gave him credit was his consistency as a play-driving defenseman no matter who he played with. In fact, when looking at his with-or-without-you stats with the Vancouver Canucks’ three top forwards in Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, they not only stayed the same, but actually improved away from them. That’s the kind of play you should expect from a top defenseman, and it’s what secures him the role of best defenseman in 2024.