Erik Johnson Is Not a True No. 1 Defenseman

Erik Johnson has been the Colorado Avalanche’s top defenseman for a while now. Unfortunately, he is not a true No. 1 like Duncan Keith, Victor Hedman or Shea Weber, though.

There is no clear-cut definition for a true No. 1 defender. It is hard to say if there are teams with more than one “true No. 1”, but it is safe to assume that not every team has even one — the Colorado Avalanche included. Then again, isn’t every teams’ top D-man one?

So how do we define a true No. 1 defenseman? There are many ways one could go about this, and one of those is the following.

"A true No. 1 defender belongs to the NHL’s elite. He is one of the best defensemen offensively, as well as defensively. That is visible when watching him play and can also be supported by statistics. Furthermore, a true No. 1 defenseman plays a very important role for his team, which shows in a lot of ice time in all situations."

As mentioned above, Chicago’s Duncan Keith, Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman and Nashville’s Shea Weber fit that definition. However, Colorado’s Erik Johnson does not. And here is why.

One of the points mentioned in my definition was offensive production. According to Stats.HockeyAnalysic.com, Johnson recorded .93 points per 60 minutes in 5-on-5 situations in the 2014-15 season. That has him ranked 59th among all NHL defensemen.

As a comparison, Hedman ranked 12th with 1.25 points per 60 minutes, Weber ranked 41st with exactly one point per 60 minutes. However, Johnson was actually better than Keith, who recorded 89 points per 60 minutes.

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Johnson really isn’t that far off, compared to Keith and Weber in this category. One could also argue that Johnson played on a team that had difficulties in scoring last season. However, the best D-man with at least 10 games played, is no other than Tyson Barrie.

Furthermore, Johnson’s production was actually better than in the 2013-14 campaign, which saw the Avalanche win the Central Division title. That season, Johnson only recorded .83 points per 60 minutes.

Another important stat is the iCorsi — all shots for, including blocked and missed shots, while the player is on the ice. In that category, Erik Johnson ranked 55th last season, with an iCorsi of 188. The highest-ranked D-man was Erik Karlsson, who had an iCorsi of 396. Shea Weber ranked seventh at 290, Duncan Keith was 18th at 251, and again, Johnson beat one of the trio — Victor Hedman, who ranked 67th, with an iCorsi of 175.

For comparison, in 2013-14, Johnson had an iCorsi of 217, which had him ranked 32nd among all defensemen. In that season, Keith ranked seventh at 281, Hedman was 11th at 261, Weber was 14th at 254. Everybody has ups and downs, but those three “true No. 1” D-men consistently end up at the top of the league.

Defensive ability itself is hard to fathom into stats.

The iCorsi stat is not all about offense. It does not simply resemble a respective player’s individual shot production. Instead, it includes all shots by the player’s teammates as well. A team must be in possession of the puck to shoot it, which is why the Corsi stat is also called a possession stat. Puck possession has a lot to do with defense as well.

When we look at Shea Weber, we see that he ranked 14th and seventh, respectively, in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. However, Weber is not exactly famous as a high-scoring offensive defenseman. He is famous for big hits and great defensive play, which then again leads to puck possession and offensive production — even if that part is done by other players on the team.

Defensive ability itself is hard to fathom into stats. There are defensive stats like hits and blocked shots, but the leaders in those categories generally aren’t the top D-men in the league.