On Saturday, the NHL Network released their rankings for the top-20 defensemen in the league and the Calgary Flames were well represented.
Only the New York Rangers (2) and Nashville Predators (3) had as many or more players featured.
In case you need a closer look. #NHLTopPlayers pic.twitter.com/zhybLZseuE
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) August 27, 2017
Dougie Hamilton coming in at 16 is somewhat surprising. Not because he doesn't deserve the ranking -- he was nothing short of spectacular last season -- but rather how many people ran with the narrative that he was struggling to find his footing in Calgary and wasn't a good fit for the Western Conference. I guess tallying 50 points and posting remarkably good underlying numbers is enough to silence that talk.
Mark Giordano didn't have his best year -- his point totals were down quite a bit from the two seasons prior -- but, alongside Hamilton, he formed part of arguably the NHL's best defense pairing last season so it's nice to see him get some recognition, too.
There will always be some disagreements when it comes to rankings (Hampus Lindholm, for example, definitely should have been in the top-20) but I think Hamilton and Giordano were slotted reasonably.
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