Best NHL Defensemen of All-Time
From offensive masterminds who can quarterback the powerplay to the ever-reliable shot blockers, the NHL has been home to hundreds of world-class defensemen over the decades.
Here, however, we’re narrowing it down to the outright top ten best NHL defensemen of all-time, from Bobby Orr to Larry Robinson. Plus, we’ve got a few honourable mentions to round out the list.
Top 10 NHL Defensemen of All-Time
Below are the best NHL defensemen of all time. Each was chosen for their stellar statistical records, glittering collection of personal and team accolades, and their impact on the league.
In some cases, the blueliner has been pivotal in changing how the position is played. To this day, each stands as an example for modern defensemen to follow.
Bobby Orr
It was a rocky road for Bobby Orr as a top young talent with eyes on the NHL. In 1962, as a mere 14-year-old, he signed with the Boston Bruins. However, his father brought in a lawyer to defy league convention and negotiate for a salary. This move would cause the two parties to clash before Orr took to the ice, but it would get him the highest salary in league history, create the NHLPA, and commence the era of players’ agents in hockey.
In 1966/77, Orr would join up with the Bruins to play professionally in the NHL. The team tried him out at center, given his offensive prowess, but he’d secure his spot on the blueline by the time the season got underway. That season, he put up 41 points in 61, showcasing his incredible skating speed and offensive IQ.
By the end of the 1969/70 season, Orr had cemented himself as a truly elite, two-way talent the likes of which the NHL had never seen. That season, he scored 33 goals and 120 points – the first of six successive seasons with at least 29 goals and 72 points.
By the end of his relatively short 12-year career – the last three seasons of which were 20 games or fewer – he’d amassed 915 points in 657 games, three Hart Memorial Trophies, two Art Ross Trophies, eight James Norris Trophies, the Calder Memorial Trophy, and won the Stanley Cup twice. Of course, his legend goes well beyond stats. Orr laid the blueprint for all two-way and offensive defensemen to come.
Ray Bourque
Ray Bourque remains the NHL’s all-time leader in points (1,579), goals (410), assists (1,169), and game-winning goals (60) scored by a defenseman. He spent 20 seasons with the Boston Bruins from 1979/80 to 1999/00, going to the playoffs in all but two seasons, and finished his career with the Colorado Avalanche. He began his career with the Calder Memorial Trophy and ended it with five Norris Trophies and 19 total All-Star team nominations.
Easily his crowning achievement, however, came in Bourque’s final season. Seen as one of the greatest players to never win the Stanley Cup, he left the Bruins in 1999/00 to join the playoff-bound Avalanche. They fell to the Dallas Stars in the Conference Finals, so he ran it back one more time for his 22nd NHL season.
In 2000/01, 3-2 down in the Stanley Cup Finals, Bourque told his Avs teammates that this would be his last campaign, and that it’s up to them how many games that would be. A 4-0 win took it to Game 7, which the Avs brought home 3-1. Captain Joe Sakic handed the 40-year-old defenseman the Cup for the customary victory lap.
Nicklas Lidström
With the Detroit Red Wings for his entire 20-year career, Nicklas Lidström never played fewer than 70 games in a season and helped get his team to the playoffs every single season.
Becoming the team captain for his final six seasons, he was the first European born-and-trained captain to win the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy.
He stands sixth of all-time in points, putting up 264 goals and 1,142 points in his two decades. His haul of 183 points in 263 postseason games lands the Swede second only to Paul Coffey in the history books. Further showcasing his blueline prowess, he won seven Norris Trophies and was in the top six of the voting in each of his last 16 seasons. His stellar play and durability were pivotal in Detroit winning four Stanley Cups.
He entered the NHL seeking to emulate the impact made by the original Swedish superstar, Börje Salming, but he more than exceeded the benchmark left by his compatriot.
Now the vice president of hockey operations with the Red Wings, Lidström will be hoping that a leader of his calibre will emerge to make good on their Metropolitan Division odds.
Paul Coffey
Famed for wearing size six skates on his size eight feet for improved control on the ice, Paul Coffey’s greatest asset was his skating. He expertly leveraged this to become an incredible threat in the offensive zone, and all while being able to track back and defend. Goaltenders across the NHL feared the moments he’d get the puck, wind back his stick, and fire the heaviest of slap shots on net.
From his seven seasons with the Edmonton Oilers beginning in 1980/81 to his final 18 games with the Boston Bruins in 2000/01, Coffey tallied 396 goals and 1,531 points in 1,409 games, playing for nine teams.
To this day, he’s the only defenseman to come close to Bourque’s points record, finishing just 48 points or 14 goals short of the top spot.
Even with this being the case, Coffey still boasts 19 NHL records and 16 playoff records. In a crowded era for all-time defenseman, Coffey landed the Norris Trophy three times and played in the All-Star Game 14 times. His blueline play even enabled the Ontario native to stand out in the vaunted 80s Oilers team, which he helped to hoist the Stanley Cup three times. Later, he’d win the Cup again, this time with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991.
Doug Harvey
A staple on the blueline for the immensely dominant Montréal Canadiens throughout the 1950s, Doug Harvey had only one peer for much of his post-playing legacy, with that man being Bobby Orr.
A huge part of his game was puck control, vision, and passing, which made him the hub of the Habs’ destructive powerplay. Harvey and his teammates proved so effective that the NHL had to change the rules.
In came “The Canadiens Rule,” which ended man-advantages when a goal was scored, rather than allowing the full time to play out. Beyond the powerplay, Harvey was a master at generating offence from the defensive end and drawing in forwards to create opportunities for his teammates.
Across his 23 seasons in professional hockey, he spent 19 of them in NHL lines, totalling 1,113 games, 88 goals, and 540 points in the regular season. With the Canadiens, he won the Stanley Cup six times in 13 seasons. Individually, Harvey landed the Norris Trophy seven times between 1955 and 1962, and her got called up to the All-Star Game on 13 occasions.
Al MacInnis
Hailing from Nova Scotia and standing 6’1’’, 204lbs, right-shot defenseman Al MacInnis went into legend for having one of the hardest shots in the history of the NHL.
Despite being a powerhouse and an offensive menace, MacInnis managed to enjoy a very long career, clocking in 1,593 games across the playoffs and regular season to score 379 goals and 1,434 points.
Across his time with the Calgary Flames from 1982/83 to 1993/94 and then the St. Louis Blues between 1994/95 and 2003/04, coaches were keen for him to unleash his thunderous slap shot. Of all of the goalie-stunning shots that flew off his tape, the one against the Blues in his second season with the Flames in 1983/84 is what’s remembered best. A good five feet back from the blue line, he hit a missile that’d crack the goalie’s mask and go into the net.
While written off by some critics when taken as the 15th overall pick in 1981, he certainly made good on the selection. In 1989, his efforts won him the Norris Trophy and the Conn Smythe Trophy en route to beating the Habs in the Stanley Cup Finals. Now a senior advisor to the general manager of the Blues, MacInnis has his name on the Cup as an executive and is helping them to climb back up the Central Division odds.
Scott Niedermayer
Scott Niedermayer is another fine example of one of the best NHL defensemen of all time who took the biggest games by the scruff of the neck to vault his team to the title. For the Alberta native, it was the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals that proved to be his greatest stage of all.
Up against the Ottawa Senators, the Anaheim Ducks blueliner was instrumental in the 4-1 rout. Defence was the cornerstone of the Ducks, but their captain was also sure to get in on the scoring. By the end of Game 5, Niedermayer had tallied 11 points and led the franchise to its first-ever Stanley Cup, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in the process.
While certainly his most glorious moment, those Finals came towards the end of the elite-tier blueliner’s 17-year career and marked his fourth Stanley Cup triumph. Following his final season with the New Jersey Devils, and before he joined the then-Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Niedermayer added the Norris Trophy to his collection. Plus, despite playing for rather defence-oriented teams, his natural ability earned him 740 points in 1,263 NHL games.
Denis Potvin
Taken first overall in the 1973 NHL Draft, expectations were high for defenseman Denis Potvin.
He made good on the promise of his potential right away, winning the Calder Trophy in 1973/74 and his first Norris Trophy two seasons later. This Norris Trophy triumph brought Orr’s own eight-year run to an end, with the New York Islanders' left-shot needing to score 31 goals and 98 points to achieve the feat.
That would prove to be a sign of things to come. From the 1976/77 season onwards, Potvin scored 80, 94, and 101 points. Strangely enough, it was after this onslaught of scoring that he helped bring about his team’s dynastic run of success.
In seasons where Potvin scored 41, 76, 61, and 66 points, missing many games in the 1979/80 campaign, he and the Isles went on to win the Stanley Cup in four successive seasons.
Naturally, Potvin’s scoring in the playoffs was instrumental. In those four Cup-winning runs, he scored a combined 29 goals and 85 points. By the end of his 15-year career, all of which was with the Isles, he’d secured the Norris Trophy three times and scored 1,052 points in 1060 games.
After retiring, he became the colour commentator for Ottawa Senators and then Florida Panthers broadcasts, but retired before the Panthers became repeat Stanley Cup favourites.
Sergei Zubov
Bobby Orr was the prototypical two-way defenseman, showing offensive prowess while also keeping up with his defensive duties. Sergei Zubov became one of the more stalwart, outright offensive defensemen. In just his second, and his only 70-plus game, season for the New York Rangers, Zubov led the incredibly high-scoring team with 12 goals and 89 points.
He’d later take his talents to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a season before holding down a spot in the Dallas Stars' lines for the last 12 seasons of his NHL career. His offence-heavy playing style would collect 152 goals and 771 points across 1,068 games, landing him 23rd in the all-time rankings for defenseman scoring in the regular season.
Showcasing his ability to step up his play at the business end of the season, the Russian blueliner ranks 13th in the all-time playoff scoring for defensemen.
Across 164 games, he scored 24 goals and 117 points, powering the Rangers to the Cup in 1994 and the Stars to the trophy in 1999. Zubov’s extended NHL stay also normalized Russian players spending the early and prime years of their careers in the league rather than arriving later on.
Larry Robinson
Towering at 6’4’’ before putting his skates on, Larry Robinson was incredibly mobile. He proved to be a dynamic threat for the Montréal Canadiens and later the Los Angeles Kings, having been taken 20th overall in the 1971 draft. Naturally, he was a very strong blueliner, but it was his skating that made him so potent with and without the puck.
His NHL career ran from 1972 to 1991/92, and in every single season, he’d go with his team to the playoffs. After his opening campaign with the Habs got him on the ice in 36 games, “Big Bird” would play at least 65 games every season through to 1987/89 – five years before his retirement.
Robinson’s durability and high-calibre play across the ice led him to play 1,611 games and score 972 points across the regular and postseason.
By the end of his career, Robinson had won the Stanley Cup six times with the Habs, claimed the Norris Trophy twice, and boasted a near-endless highlight reel of surging, heavy hits.
Honourable Mentions
These are the best NHL defensemen of all-time who didn’t quite make the cut for the top ten but are certainly worthy of an honourable mention.
Brad Park
Taken second in the 1966 NHL Draft, Brad Park would prove himself to be incredibly valuable to the New York Rangers, helping them reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 1971/72.
Park was a superb mover of the puck as well as a relentlessly physical defenseman without the puck. His later years took him to the Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings, helping him to set the assists record for NHL defensemen.
Scott Stevens
At the time of his retirement in 2003/04 and after 22 seasons in the league, Scott Stevens was the all-time leader in games played at 1,635. Only Zdeno Chára and Chris Chelios have been able to break that mark since.
During those years, Stevens never once posted a negative on the plus-minus and won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2000 alongside the Cup – his second of what would be three championships for the Caps, Blues, and Devils blueliner.
Rod Langway
Born in Taiwan, the 6’3’’ Rod Langway was picked 36th overall by the Montréal Canadiens in 1977. However, the bulk of his career was spent with the Washington Capitals. It was with the Caps that Langway would win back-to-back Norris Trophies, becoming famed for his excellent defending rather than the high-scoring that had previously dominated the Norris Trophy selections. In 1979, with the Habs, he secured his one and only Stanley Cup.