Every NHL team has a select few warriors who aren’t afraid to put their body in front of a puck. These individuals return home after games with blue bruises and sometimes even play through severe injuries. It’s time to give these players the respect they deserve, by identifying the ones who blocked the most shots last season. They may not always appear on the stat sheet, but they still play a vital role on their respective teams.
The following stats were collected from SportingCharts.
5) Mark Giordano
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The Flames captain is one of the NHL’s more complete players. In addition to posting 39 points in 81 games last season, Girodano led Calgary with 184 total blocked shots. The defenceman’s load may be lightened next season now that former Isles blue-liner Travis Hamonic is in the mix. The Winnipeg native put his body in front of 108 shots in 49 games last year, which is good news for Giordano.
4) Calvin De Haan
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De Haan looks like he may be headed to arbitration, and he is certainly worthy of a raise based on his block shot total. The 26-year-old reached a career high in points (25) and amassed 190 blocks, the second highest amount of his career. As the Hamonic departure will help Calgary, it will consequently hurt New York. Don’t be surprised to see De Haan reach a new career high in the category next season. That number currently lies at 198.
3) Ian Cole
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Cole isn’t as big of a name on the list, but was a key piece of Pittsburgh’s past two title runs. The Ann Arbor native took a back-seat offensively to teammates Kris Letang and Justin Schultz, but proved his worth defensively after blocking 194 shots. Cole’s previous career-high was 122, so the 72 shot increase was extremely significant.
2) Erik Karlsson
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Is there anything this guy can’t do?
Karlsson is appropriately regarded by many as the NHL’s best defenceman due to his offensive pedigree and ability to shut things down on the blue line. The Swede will simply do whatever it takes to win.
Following the Senators’ Game 6 win over the Boston Bruins, Karlsson revealed that he had been playing through two hairline fractures in his foot that he suffered during a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 28, according to The Sun’s Bruce Garrioch. The two-time Norris trophy winner still managed to nearly lead his team to the Stanley Cup Final after a heroic individual postseason. Karlsson finished the season with 201 blocked shots.
1 ) Kris Russell
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No surprises here.
Russell established himself as the king of the shot block after finishing in the top-three in each of the past four seasons. He is a maniac in his own kind of way, and fearless like few others in his sport. By the end of the season, Russell stood on top with 213 blocks and an absurd 8.86 per 60 minutes.
Wow.
Credit also needs to be awarded to the players who didn’t necessarily suit up in as many contests, but still averaged a high blocks per game total. Some notable names are Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Dan Girardi (2.63), newly acquired Arizona Coyote Niklas Hjalmarsson (2.48) and New York Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh (2.08). Russell still stood alone at the top with an average of 3.13/game.
We hope this article gave you a bit more of an appreciation for some of the games’ toughest competitors.
