1. Who is The N.H.L.’s Best Defenseman?
MDM 4U

2. Problem
I want to determine who the best overall defenseman is playing in the N.H.L. at this time.
6 players have been selected: Scott Niedermayer, Rob Blake, Chris Pronger, Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Gonchar, and Chris Chelios.
These players will all be assessed points for their goals, assists, total points, plus/minus, penalty minutes, games played. They will also be accessed on power play goals, shorthanded goals, and total number of shots taken.

3. Hypothesis
I believe that Nik Lidstrom will be found the best overall defenseman in the league at this time. His stats will prove this, since he accumulates a lot of points throughout the season. I also believe that Scott Niedermayer will finish second on the list, since he has low penalty minutes and his stats are relatively consistent throughout his career. I believe that Chris Chelios will finish third, since he is one of the most experienced defenseman in the league, and because of the impact he has on any game he plays. Rob Blake will finish fourth, because of his power play abilities, but is brought down by his penalty minutes. Chris Pronger will finish fifth, due to his passing, but is limited due to the teams he has played for, and Sergei Gonchar will finish last, because he has never played on a winning team.

4. Nicklas Lidstrom Born on April 28, 1970, in Vasteras, Sweden.
Chosen 53rd overall in the 1989 entry draft by the Detroit Red Wings.
Has represented Sweden at the Olympics 3 times so far, and has competed in several World Cup tournaments.

5. Rob Blake Born on December 10, 1969, in Simcoe, Ontario.
Selected 70th overall in the 1988 entry draft by the Los Angeles Kings.
Has represented Canada twice at the Olympics, and 5 times in World Cup Tournaments.

6. Sergei Gonchar Born on April 13, 1974, in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
Chosen 14th overall by the Washington Capitals in the 1992 entry draft.
Has represented Russia 3 times at the Olympics, and several times in World Cup action.

7. Scott Niedermayer Born on August 31, 1973, in Edmonton, Alberta.
Selected 3rd overall in the 1991 entry draft by the New Jersey Devils.
Has represented Canada at 3 Olympic tournaments, and over 5 times during World Cup Tournaments.

8. Chris Chelios Born on January 25, 1962, in Chicago, Illinois.
Selected 40th overall in the 1981 entry draft by the Montreal Canadiens.
Has represented the U.S. 6 times at the Olympics, and on several other occassions throughout his career.

9. Chris Pronger Born on October 10, 1974, in Dryden, Ontario.
Chosen 2nd overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1993 entry draft.
Has represented Canada twice at the Olympics, and several more times in World Cup Tournaments.

10. Games Played

11. Analysis
Nik Lidstrom has played the most games each season of any of the defensemen surveyed. He is also consistent defensemen for games played each season, as each season is relatively close to the others when observing the number of games played. The number of games that the spread of the data covers is only games.
Chris Chelios finished second for games played, however, his seasons are not very consistent, and the spread of the data covered by him is 39.6 games, almost half a season.
Rob Blake finished third, and he is also the most consistent, the spread that his data covered is only 16.2 games.
Sergei Gonchar finished fourth, and his data covered a spread of 24.4 games.
Scott Niedermayer finished fifth, and his data covered a spread of 18.3 games.
Chris Pronger finished last; his data covered a spread of 19.6 games

12. Goals Scored

13. Analysis
Rob Blake finished first among the defensemen observed for the average number of goals scored since He has an average of 40 goals in 15 years, an impressive feat for a defenseman.
Nik Lidstrom finished second for goals scored; he had an average of 39.7 goals in the 15 years that the graph covers.
Sergei Gonchar finished third in the goal scoring observation; he had an average of 37.1 goals in 15 years.
Scott Niedermayer finished fourth in total goals scored; he had an average of goals in the 15 years covered by the graph.
Chris Pronger finished fifth in the goal scoring section of my project; he had an average of 24.2 goals in the last 15 years.
Chris Chelios finished last in the goals scored section; he only had an average of 22 goals in the last 15 years.

14. Assists

15. Analysis
Nik Lidstrom finished first among the defensemen observed in the graph for assists. He had an average of assists in the last 15 years, an impressive amount of assists for a defenseman.
Chris Chelios finished second among the defensemen included in the graph, with an average of assists in the last 15 seasons.
Rob Blake finished third among defensemen, with an average of 87.4 assists over the last 15 years.
Scott Niedermayer was fourth in assists tallied, with an average of assists accumulated over the past 15 seasons.
Chris Pronger finished fifth in total assists; he has accumulated an average of 80.2 assists collected over 15 years.
Sergei Gonchar finished last for assists; he only had an average of 73.9 assists in the last 15 years.

16. Total Points

17. Analysis
Once again, Nik Lidstrom finished first among the defensemen in total points, with an impressive average of approximately 175 points in the last 15 seasons.
Rob Blake finished second once again, with an average of 138 points collected over 15 years.
Chris Chelios finished third in points accumulated, with an average of 125 points earned over the past 15 seasons.
Sergei Gonchar finished fourth in points earned, collecting an average of 120 points in the last 15 years.
Scott Niedermayer finished fifth in the points section, accumulating an average 117 points over 15 years.
Chris Pronger finished last in points earned; only tallying an average of 110 points in 15 years.

18. Plus/Minus

19. Analysis
Once again Nik Lidstrom finished first among the defensemen, this time in plus/minus. He had an average of over the last 15 years. The data collected also only covered a spread of 0.6, showing that Lidstrom is extremely consistent in the plus/minus department.
Chris Chelios finished second in plus/minus among defensemen, with an average of +51 over the past 15 seasons. The data is also very consistent, only covering a spread of 1.6.
Scott Niedermayer finished third in plus/minus. He had an average of +36 and his data covered a spread of 7.2.
Chris Pronger finished fourth among the defensemen in plus/minus. He had an average of +20.9, and his data covered a spread of 27.3, showing that he is not consistent at all from year to year.
Sergei Gonchar finished fifth in plus/minus, with an average of His data covered a spread of 17.5, showing that he also does not have great consistency from season to season.
Rob Blake finished last in the plus/minus department. He had an average of only +2.4, and his data covered a spread of 15, demonstrating his lack of consistency.

20. Penalty Minutes

21. Analysis
Chris Chelios finished first in penalty minutes for the defensemen, with 2020 minutes earned, an amount that covers 33.4% of the pie graph.
Rob Blake finished second with 1329 penalty minutes, which covers 21.9% of the pie graph.
Chris Pronger finished third with 1172 penalty minutes earned, which covers 19.3% of the pie graph.
Sergei Gonchar finished fourth among defensemen with 629 penalty minutes, an amount that covers 10.4% of the pie graph.
Scott Niedermayer finished fifth among defensemen with 574 minutes, which covers 9.5% of the pie graph.
Nik Lidstrom finished last with only 332 penalty minutes earned, an amount that makes up only 5.5% of the pie graph.

22. Power Play Points

23. Analysis
Rob Blake finished first among the defensemen with 110 power play points, covering 26.3% of the pie graph.
Nik Lidstrom finished second with 91 power play points, covering 21.8% of the pie graph.
Sergei Gonchar finished third with 63 points on the power play, which covers 15.1% of the pie graph.
Scott Niedermayer finished fourth with 60 power play points, an amount that covers 14.3% of the pie graph.
Chris Pronger finished fifth with 54 points while on the man advantage, covering 12.9% of the pie graph.
Chris Chelios only had 40 points on the power play, only covering 9.6% of the pie graph.

24. Shorthanded Points

25. Analysis
Once again, Nik Lidstrom finished first among the defensemen with 10 shorthanded points, an amount that covers 37% of the pie graph.
Chris Chelios finished second among the blue liners with 9 points while shorthanded, which covers 33.3% of the pie graph.
Rob Blake finished third with 4 shorthanded points, covering 14.9% of the pie graph.
Chris Pronger was fourth with 2 points while shorthanded, an amount that covers 7.4% of the pie graph.
Both Sergei Gonchar and Scott Niedermayer finished last with only 1 shorthanded point each, an amount that covers 3.7% of the pie graph.

26. Shots Taken

27. Analysis
Rob Blake finished first in total shots, with a total average of shots over the last 15 years.
Nik Lidstrom finished second, with a total average of shots since 1991.
Chris Chelios finished third in shots taken, with an average of shots in the last 15 seasons.
Chris Pronger placed fourth, with an average of shots taken over the last 15 years.
Sergei Gonchar finished fifth in shots taken, with a total average of shots in the last 15 seasons.
Scott Niedermayer placed last in shots taken, with an average of only shots since 1991.

28. Conclusion Chelios Gonchar Lidstrom Pronger Blake Niedermayer
Games Played 5 3 6 1 4 2
Goals
Assists
Total Points
Plus/Minus
Penalty Minutes
Power Play Points
Shorthanded Points
Shots Taken
Sum 31 24 70 20 38

29. Using a system to assign points for the position each player finished in each category that they were judged upon, I was able to order the players into a rank. For each first place finish, a player was assigned 6 points, second place, 5 points, and so on. The only exception was penalty minutes, in which the player who earned the most penalty minutes (Chris Chelios), was assigned the lowest amount of points, since a player is of no use to his team if he is in the penalty box.

30. According to the chart above, Nik Lidstrom is the best defenseman in the N.H.L. today, finishing first or second in every single category that the defensemen were judged upon. Rob Blake finished second, followed next by Chris Chelios, and then by both Sergei Gonchar and Scott Niedermayer. Chris Pronger was ranked last of the defensemen I chose to judge.

31. My hypothesis was not totally correct
My hypothesis was not totally correct. I was correct that Nik Lidstrom would be ranked first, and that Chris Chelios would be ranked third, but my other players were not ranked appropriately in my hypothesis. I did not take into account that Rob Blake gets a huge amount of power play time, or the fact that he played on a very good team for most of his career. I also didn’t think about the fact that neither Scott Niedermayer nor Chris Pronger have played on high ranking teams in the last 10 years.

32. The End