Is it better defensively in the modern NHL game to play the body or play the puck? Here are the qualified defensemen ranked over the last three seasons by top 40 highest and lowest 5v5 hitting rate.

8 comments

1. Would like to see GA/60 or some measure of defensive performance to compare between these groups. Really cool data and maybe im not understanding something but I am not left with an idea of which is better

2. As an initial gut reaction to this is defensive defense men tend to have very high hit rates while offensive defense men have very low hit rates.

3. Not really sure what you are hoping to see here.

   If you are a small non physical d man you better be good with the puck. While guys that hit and are physical are usually depth role players.

4. Playing the body doesn’t mean going for a hit though. You can effectively block a player from going past you without it being credited as a hit.

5. I’m not convinced “taking the body” results in a hit most of the time. If you just block him so he can’t get around you is that really a hit?

   Look at Lidstrom guiding guys into the corner for a great example of how it’s not a choice between poke checking and blowing a guy up. You physically block his path, give him the choice to veer off into no man’s land or try to go through you.

   There’s probably a correlation between playing the body and hits, but they’re definitely not interchangeable. Every defenseman physically gets in the way of guys trying to get around him, but not every one will blow you up as opposed to just blocking you.

6. It’s funny (and totally predictable) that Cale Makar is not on either of these lists.

7. I’d ask yourself this. Look at Norris nominees/winners in the top 40 of each. In the least likely to hit, you have Karlsson, Fox, Burns, Keith, Josh. And stalwarts like Theodore, Slavic.

   On the most likely to hit, you have zero I believe.

   It’s better to have the puck than not.

8. I’ve learned nothing