Projecting the NHL’s Top 5 Defenses for 2024-25 – The Hockey Writers – Column

A few weeks back, The Hockey Writers (THW) projected the top five offenses for the upcoming season. So, it’s time to project the teams that will thrive at the other end of the ice. The catch with defense is that, unlike offense, there’s a lot more change from season to season as more variables come into play.

Related: Projecting the NHL’s Top 5 Offenses in 2024-25

For example, of the top five teams last season, only the Carolina Hurricanes also made it in 2022-23. Looking at last season’s top five, it’s easy to see why a few teams might regress and not make the list this time around.

5. Vancouver Canucks (2.70)

4. Carolina Hurricanes (2.57)

3. Los Angeles Kings (2.56)

*1 (tied) Winnipeg Jets (2.41)

*1. (tied) Florida Panthers (2.41)

So, let’s dive into what the top five will look like for this season. It must be noted that this isn’t a ranking of the best defensive units but overall team defense. This includes goaltending along with the defensive unit.

5 – Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights seem like one team that wouldn’t make this list. They allowed 2.96 goals per game last season which was outside the top 10 and even in the season where they won the Cup, they had an underwhelming defense, allowing 2.74 goals per game. On top of that, the goaltending makes it easy to believe that the Golden Knights will struggle as they have a questionable trio heading into the new season. That said, they will surprise and crack the top five.

The defensive unit is one of the best in the league. Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore, Zach Whitecloud, and Brayden McNabb lead the top two pairings. They lost Alec Martinez in the offseason, one of their best shot-blocking defensemen but made up for it by adding Noah Hanifin at the 2024 Trade Deadline. The Golden Knights will make the job easy for their goaltenders, with their defensemen playing great limiting effective shots on the net.

Then there’s the goaltending which isn’t great but will be good enough with Adin Hill becoming the primary starter while Ilya Samsonov and Akira Schmid are the high-upside backups. The combination of great defense and solid goaltending will allow the Golden Knights to end the season with one of the best team defenses in the game.

4 – Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks shocked everyone last season, finishing with the best record in the Pacific Division and it’s easy to think they will regress. The defense was…