The 25 best NHL defensemen of all time

He's maybe the most underappreciated of the Chicago Blackhawks during their mini-dynasty from 2010 until 2015 when they won three Stanley Cups in six years. The list of defenders in NHL history with two Norris Trophies and a Conn Smythe Trophy includes only Bobby Orr, Larry Robinson, Brian Leetch, Nicklas Lidstrom and Duncan Keith. Out of that group, only Keith, Robinson and Lidstrom have also been members of three Stanley Cup-winning teams. He often gets forgotten about amid everything that's said about Jonathan Toews and the Blackhawks' other stars, but he should be considered a slam dunk Hall of Famer and one of the NHL's all-time greats on the blue line. 

Durability was the name of the game for Tim Horton, at one point playing in 486 consecutive games, an accomplishment that is nearly unheard of in NHL history for a defender. He won four Stanley Cups as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs and played in 1,445 regular-season games during his Hall of Fame career. 

One of the greatest offensive blue liners ever, Housley is currently fourth among all defenders in total points and has seven 20-goal seasons to his name. He never won the Norris Trophy or a Stanley Cup, but few defenders in the history of the league were more dangerous or consistent with the puck on their stick. 

His induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame is long overdue and needs to happen. Zubov was an elite defender and offensive force during one of the NHL's worst-ever offensive eras. His numbers, individual accomplishments and overall resume stack up favorably with any defender from any era in the history of the league. His point per game mark of 0.72 is 19th in league history among all defenders with a minimum of 500 games played, even though he spent most of his career in The Dead Puck era. He was a top-five defender during his time and a top-25 defender all time. 

The owner of one of the NHL's most devastating slap shots, Al MacInnis was a monster on the blue line for the Calgary Flames and St. Louis Blues throughout his Hall of Fame career. He was consistently one of the league's most prolific blue liners offensively and is one of just a small handful of defenders to have a 100-point season on his resume. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy during the Calgary Flames' 1989 Stanley Cup season and finally won his first Norris Trophy as the league's top defender at age 35 as a member of the Blues. 

Borje Salming was legendary for being one of the first European-born stars in the NHL, helping to pave the way for generations of players after him. He was a gifted, skilled defender for the Toronto Maple Leafs who was consistently one of the league's best players and is still the owner of several Maple Leafs franchise records today. 

Like Ray Bourque, Rob Blake was an all-time great for another franchise (in this case, the Los Angeles Kings) who was finally able to hoist the Stanley Cup as a member of the Colorado Avalanche. Blake was a heavy hitter with an even bigger slap shot who played more than 1,200 games, scored more than 240 goals and topped 700 points with a Norris Trophy added on top of it. 

The New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators both have to be filled with regret for allowing Zdeno Chara to get away. During his time with the Boston Bruins Chara has been one of the NHL's most physically dominant players, and during his peak years was the focal point of one of the league's best defensive teams that appeared in two Stanley Cup Finals in the salary cap era. He boasts a wicked slap shot that is one of the hardest ever recorded, scored at an elite level and was perhaps the most dominant defensive players of his era. 

Leetch was an all-time great Ranger, one of the greatest American-born players ever, and a favorite in New York for being a key cog on the 1994 team that ended the Rangers' decades long Stanley Cup drought. A smart, savvy player that always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to make the biggest player when the Rangers needed it most. 

Consistent. That is probably the best word you can use to describe Larry Murphy, a standout blue liner for six different teams over two decades. He won four Stanley Cups in the 1990s as a member of back-to-back champions in Pittsburgh (1991 and 1992) and Detroit (1997-98). One of his big contributions to the sport was "The Murphy Dump," a play in which Murphy would clear the defensive zone by lofting the puck high in the air and having it settle at the far end of the ice before reaching the red line, negating what would otherwise be an icing call.  

A mainstay at the top of the Norris Trophy voting throughout the 1960s, Pierre Pilote either won the award or was a runner-up every season from 1961 through 1967. Along with the Norris Trophy love, he was an eight-time All-Star and a Stanley Cup champion with the Blackhawks in 1960. 

He was never the greatest offensive player from the blue line, but there have not been many players in the history of the league who were better than Rod Langway defensively, having earned himself the nickname "the secretary of defense" during his time with the Washington Capitals. He was a two-time Norris Trophy winner as the league's top defender, a Stanley Cup champion with the Montreal Canadiens and is a Hockey Hall of Famer. 

One of the slickest, smoothest skating defenders to ever play in the NHL, Scott Niedermayer was the complete package on defense with his combination of offensive brilliance and defensive dominance. He spent the bulk of his career paired on teams with the likes of Scott Stevens and Chris Pronger to help form defensive duos who made their teams almost impossible score against. Between his time with the New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks, he won four Stanley Cups, a Norris Trophy and a Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP with the Ducks during their 2006-07 championship run. 

Perhaps the most feared open ice hitter to ever play in the NHL, Scott Stevens was more than just a physical presence on the blue line. He also posted consistently dominant offensive numbers and along with Scott Niedermayer and Martin Brodeur was the foundation for the New Jersey Devils' glory days when they won three Stanley Cups between 1994 and 2003. Amazingly, though, for as dominant as Stevens was all over the ice, he never once won the Norris Trophy. 

Brad Park simply played in the wrong era. At the start of his career when he was a member of the New York Rangers, he was constantly in the shadow of Boston Bruins defender Bobby Orr and a consistent runner-up to him in the Norris Trophy voting. When Orr retired, Park ended up moving on Boston to replace him as the Bruins' new franchise defender only to then be stuck behind Denis Potvin. He was a runner-up in the Norris voting six times (to Orr or Potvin every single time) and a top-five finisher in the MVP voting three different times. He was consistently the second best defender of his era, and honestly, there is no shame in being second to Orr and/or Potvin. 

The name Chris Chelios is synonymous with durability. He did, after all, play until he was 47 years old. Chelios was one of the most intimidating and frustrating players to play against in NHL history, winning three Norris Trophies and helping to lead three different teams to four Stanley Cup Final appearances. His name is on the Stanley Cup three different times, once as a member of the Montreal Canadiens and twice as a member of the Detroit Red Wings. 

He's the most dominant defender of his era, and I think one of the top five players of his era after Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and eventually Connor McDavid. He is one of the most impactful offensive players the position has seen since the days of Bobby Orr if you take into account how low the scoring has been in his era. He is already a two-time Norris Trophy winner, but there is a strong argument to be made that he probably should have won at least two more. He took an undermanned Ottawa Senators team to within one game (a double OT Game 7 loss on the road to an eventual back-to-back Stanley Cup Champion) of the Stanley Cup Final while basically playing on one foot. He was so good that year he actually earned Conn Smythe Trophy votes despite not even playing in the Stanley Cup Final. 

The best way to describe Chris Pronger's dominance is like this: Every team he joined after his first two years in Hartford became an immediate Stanley Cup contender. The Blues were one of the best teams in the league throughout his tenure there, only to lose every year because their goaltending was never good enough. He went to Edmonton in 2005-06, and the Oilers went to the Stanley Cup Final. The next year he went to Anaheim and led that team to a Stanley Cup championship alongside Scott Niedermayer. Two years later he went to Philadelphia and immediately helped lead the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final. He's a mountain of a man who could score, play the most physical game in the league and log massive minutes every night. 

Paul Coffey put up numbers as a defender that really only Bobby Orr could match. Coffey also had the luxury of playing behind two of the greatest forwards of all time (Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux) throughout his prime years in the league, but don't mistake that as him just being a passenger riding shotgun alongside some hockey legends. His arrival in Pittsburgh to join Lemieux is one of the biggest turning points in that franchise's history and gave No. 66 his first-ever superstar teammate to help put the organization at a championship level. 

The captain of the 1980s New York Islanders dynasty, Denis Potvin was an offensive force, topping the 20-goal mark nine different times in his career, including three 30-goal seasons. He also scored at least 17 goals three other times, including a 19-goal season in only 77 games. Potvin is one of the most dominant offensive blue liners ever. 

Say whatever you want about plus/minus as an evaluating tool for players, but when you are a plus-120 like Larry Robinson was during the 1976-77 season and a plus-722 for your career, there is a good chance you were a truly dominant player and an all-time great. Robinson won six Stanley Cups with the Canadiens, including four in a row as part of their 1970s dynasty.

He was the foundation of the Detroit Red Wings organization for two decades, a four-time Stanley Cup champion, a seven-time Norris Trophy winner and a Conn Smythe winner as playoff MVP. His all-around play is what every young defender who enters the league strives to be but will never be able to duplicate. His retirement marked the end of the Red Wings' run of dominance in the NHL, and they have never been able to come close to replacing what he provided. 

Ray Bourque was a nearly unmatched combination of offensive dominance, shutdown defense and incredible longevity. He scored at least 10 goals in 20 of his 21 seasons in the NHL (he scored seven at the age of 40 in his last year in the NHL, when he was still playing more than 26 minutes per night) and won seven Norris Trophies. The only bad thing Boston fans can say about his career is that he never had a chance to lift the Stanley Cup as a member of the Bruins. He finally earned that chance as a member of the Colorado Avalanche after accepting a trade at the age of 39, two decades into his career. 

Before Bobby Orr took over as the NHL's dominant defender, Doug Harvey was the player at the top of the league's hierarchy among blue liners. The Hall of Famer won seven Norris Trophies on the Canadiens' blue line and was the focal point of six Stanley Cup winning teams in Montreal, including five in a row from 1955 through 1960. His skating and passing ability were ahead of his time for his era and made him one of the best and most dangerous players in the league. 

There is no way a list of the top defensemen of all time can have anybody other than Bobby Orr in the top spot. No player changed the way hockey is played more than Orr did, no defender dominated the game the way Orr did, and there is a strong argument to be made that he might even be the best player of all time because of those previous two statements. He finished as the league's leading scorer as a defender two different times, he topped the 100-point mark in six consecutive seasons and won the Norris Trophy in eight consecutive seasons. Nobody won it more than him, and no defender has more 100-point seasons. The rest of the defenders in NHL history combined for only eight such seasons (five for Paul Coffey, one each for Brian Leetch, Denis Potvin, and Al MacInnis).