Defensive-ratings are calculated in order to determine each player's success-rate when attempting to acquire or remove puck possession from the opposition. The rates included here, not only show each player's overall defensive-ratings, but are also broken down in order to communicate each player's success-rate when attempting to remove or acquire puck-possession from the opposition in each of the 3 zones.
Events used in calculating defensive-ratings include; puck-battles, loose-puck recoveries, blocked shots, and intercepted/blocked passes.
OVERALL
Patrick Holland has the top overall defensive-rating among forwards. The only other forward with a success-rate when attempting to remove puck-possession from the opposition above 80% belongs to Michael Bournival. The lowest defensive-ratings belong to Aaron Palushaj and Alex Avtsin.
St. Denis is more successful than any other defensemen at removing or acquiring puck-possession from the opposition. Other d-men with success-rates above 80% include; Jarred Tinordi, Antoine Corbin, Joe Stejskal, and Nathan Beaulieu.
OFFENSIVE-ZONE
Defensemen with an offensive-zone defensive-rating below 80% can be seen as a danger in terms of giving up more odd-man rushes. Four of the eight defensemen included here have o-zone defensive success-rates below 80%. They include; Greg Pateryn, Corbin, St. Denis and Ellis.
The top success-rate when attempting to remove puck-possession from the opposition in the offensive-zone belongs to Patrick Holland. Other forwards with success-rates above 80% include; Quailer, Leblanc (limited events), Dumont and Geoffrion. The lowest rating belongs to Avtsin.
NEUTRAL-ZONE
Defensemen tend to engage in far less neutral-zone defensive-events than forwards. This reason, combined by the fact that most plays in the neutral-zone occur in front of defensemen, allow d-men to produce higher defensive-ratings than most forwards.
Among forwards, and outside of Leblanc (limited events), the top neutral-zone success-rate when attempting to remove or acquire puck-possession belongs to Holland. The only other forward with a success-rate above 90% was earned by Bournival. The lowest ratings belong to Nattinen, Palushaj and Avtsin.
DEFENSIVE-ZONE
The top defensive success-rate in the defensive-zone has been earned by St. Denis. The only other defensemen with a success-rate above 80% belongs to Jarred Tinordi. The lowest defensive-ratings among d-men belongs to Beaulieu and Pateryn.
The top defensive-rating among forwards belongs to Nattinen. Other forwards with defensive-zone success-rates above 80% include; Bournival, Holland and Geoffrion. Outside of Leblanc (limited events), the lowest defensive-ratings belong to Quailer and Avtsin.
