60 pt D-men?

[ross10019]

Am I the only one that thinks Keith is a 45-50 point dman who had an awesome year in 2009?

He's definitely not a 45-50 guy, just look at how he played in Games 4-6 against the Canucks, dominant. But I do think that the 69-pt season will prove to be the outlier, with that powerhouse Hawks team that has since been broken up. I'd draft him as a consistent 55-pt Dman with lots of PPPs.

[Domi's Homey]

What says Letang plays as well as he did last year? Perhaps he played so well because he had to step it up since Sid and Geno were out?
I'm not a Letang or Yandle hater, but as the previous post points out, even Duncan Keith had an excepional year before levelling out.
If only 2 Dmen have scored 60+ each of the last 3 seasons, then I'm gonna keep the list short, not a dozen players long:
Mike Green and perhaps Old Man Lidstrom.

[Dean Youngblood]

Am I the only one that thinks Keith is a 45-50 point dman who had an awesome year in 2009?

Nope. I am in the same boat as you. I would expect Keith to finish somewhere between 45-55 each year (if healthy) and do think that 69 will be his career high.

He's definitely not a 45-50 guy, just look at how he played in Games 4-6 against the Canucks, dominant. But I do think that the 69-pt season will prove to be the outlier, with that powerhouse Hawks team that has since been broken up. I'd draft him as a consistent 55-pt Dman with lots of PPPs.

Powerplay Points are his specialty but I wouldn't go as far to say that Keith is a "consistent 55-pt Dman". He has broke 50 once (2009-10) and his next two highest point totals were 44 (2008-09) and 45 (2010-11).

For me, he's a 45-50 point dman with the potential to break out for 55-60 but I wouldn't call him "consistent for 55"

[Rocky71]

I say Doughty breaks 60, and runs away with the Norris.

Keith has a shot if he regains his number 1 PP unit duties from Seabrook.

Mike Green needs bothy Ovy and Backstrom to flirt with 100.

Dark horse: Erik Johnson if he can stay healthy.

Fowler and Pietrangelo are future members of the 60 point club.

[ross10019]

What says Letang plays as well as he did last year? Perhaps he played so well because he had to step it up since Sid and Geno were out?
I'm not a Letang or Yandle hater, but as the previous post points out, even Duncan Keith had an excepional year before levelling out.
If only 2 Dmen have scored 60+ each of the last 3 seasons, then I'm gonna keep the list short, not a dozen players long:
Mike Green and perhaps Old Man Lidstrom.

Letang was on a 70+ pt pace before Crosby went down, and slowed down considerably thereafter, so no his breakout had nothing to do with having to step up in the absence of Sid and Geno. In fact, his slowing down had to do with their absence, as he w as forced to focus more on stay at home D responsibilities given that the Pens had to play a much tighter style and game plan.

[ross10019]

Letang was on a 70+ pt pace before Crosby went down, and slowed down considerably thereafter, so no his breakout had nothing to do with having to step up in the absence of Sid and Geno. In fact, his slowing down had to do with their absence, as he w as forced to focus more on stay at home D responsibilities given that the Pens had to play a much tighter style and game plan.

Incidentally, and apologies for the threadjack, but this is precisely why I thought Bylsma was a perfect choice for the Jack Adams award last year. Losing his two best players and being forced to switch mid-season to a much tighter defensive system, and getting your players to totally buy into it (guys like Letang, to go from somewhat of a free-wheeling style to a much more conservative approach), and then having your team finish the season with 106 points, tied for 3rd in the entire league and only 1 point behind Washington for 1st in the Eastern Conference. That, my friends, was a hell of a coaching job. Not surprising either, for those of us who watched 24/7 religiously, he clearly is an EXCELLENT coach who commands respect and gets a hell of a lot out of his players. Vigneault had a great season and in any other year probably would have taken it, but his team was so much deeper than the injury-plagued Pens.

[Domi's Homey]

Letang was on a 70+ pt pace before Crosby went down, and slowed down considerably thereafter, so no his breakout had nothing to do with having to step up in the absence of Sid and Geno. In fact, his slowing down had to do with their absence, as he w as forced to focus more on stay at home D responsibilities given that the Pens had to play a much tighter style and game plan.

Excellent point ... and good research.
Rep to you for sure!

All I'm saying is that if we are trying to guess which D are going to score 60+ this season, and if there are so few each season that actually score that much, then I'll give the nod to those guys who have already done so in their careers.

Has Letang scored 60 points? No.
Could he score 60 points? Maybe.
But I will take Lidstrom, Green, Visnovsky, Keith over Letang because I know they've done it before.

[DarthVain]

Mike Green and perhaps Old Man Lidstrom.

At this point they should just throw the Norris away, bronze one of Lidstrom's skates and call it the "Old Man Lidstrom"... I mean the Norris lives at his place... heck he probably has a shelf for it.

[sergioel]

Solid arguments all around. The list of players are consistent for most. My sleeper for 60 is Streit. As the Islanders continue to gel offensively his ability to shoot well and run the PP puts him in the conversation. Hopefully he's able to jump right back in to it this season after a year off

[deantime419]

I know Letang hasn't done that before but I'm personally pretty high on him and I know I'm not the only one. I see very little in the way of dmen to challenge his spot on the PP in Pittsburgh(which should be a high scoring team with Sid and Geno back) and he is well rounded enough that he is unlikely to get demoted due to poor defensive play. Maybe the fact that he hasn't done it yet should be a sign of trying to acquire him sooner rather than later because once he does he'll be even tougher to pry away from his owner. I expect good +/- and PIM peripherals from him too.