Devon Toews is still considered one of the NHL\u2019s top defensemen, but the Colorado Avalanche blueliner took a small step backward in the NHL Network\u2019s latest rankings<\/p>\n
Toews, 32, landed at No. 20 on this year\u2019s list, which was revealed on Sunday, of the league\u2019s top 20 defensemen right now, falling three spots from the No. 17 position he occupied a year ago. The ranking comes after a regular season in which Toews posted just three goals and 24 points in 68 games.<\/p>\n
His 24 points were his lowest total in a full season since joining the Avalanche, while his three goals were tied for the fewest he has scored in a season since becoming an NHL regular.<\/p>\n
In the postseason, the veteran defenseman registered two goals and 11 points in 13 playoff games, giving him the second-highest postseason point total of his career. The only time he produced more came during Colorado\u2019s 2021-22 Stanley Cup run, when he recorded 15 points in 20 games.<\/p>\n
Toews also shouldered a massive workload during Colorado\u2019s playoff run. He averaged 25:39 per game, the second-highest postseason ice-time average of his career, trailing only his 25:53 mark during the Avalanche\u2019s championship run.<\/p>\n
Obviously, there\u2019s more to Toews\u2019 game than just offensive production. He is highly regarded as one of the best defensive defenseman in the game and has been for the better part of the last half-decade. Toews is entering his seventh season with the Avs and has spent the previous five years on the top pair with Cale Makar.<\/p>\n
His ability to handle difficult defensive assignments, move the puck efficiently, and play massive minutes remains a significant part of what makes him so valuable to the Avalanche.<\/p>\n
The NHL Network\u2019s annual list ranks the top 20 players at each position heading into the upcoming season, offering a snapshot of how they view the NHL\u2019s best players.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s likely Makar\u2019s name will appear at or near the top again as the list continues to be revealed.<\/p>\n
In a previous list ranking the wingers, Martin Necas landed at No. 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Devon Toews is still considered one of the NHL\u2019s top defensemen, but the Colorado Avalanche blueliner took a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,192,144,5277,1543,5,4],"class_list":["post-640195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-colorado-avalanche","tag-avalanche","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-coloradoavalanche","tag-devon-toews","tag-hockey","tag-nhl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117070202349014559","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}