( Photo Credit:  AP / Ben Margot )


By: Yanni Latzanakis  |  Follow Me On Twitter @yanlatz
Every summer, the NHL Network narrows down the best players from throughout the league at each position. As part of the series, producers, hosts, and analysts prepared a top-20 list of the current best defensemen in the National Hockey League. This year, the Bruins had two of their own crack the top-20 list as Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug made appearances on the board.

Torey Krug came on the list at number 16 ahead of Zach Werenski, Colton Parayko, Ryan Suter, and rookie Miro Heiskanen. Krug had six goals and 47 assists for 53 points in 64 games which ranked him 12th most in points among defenseman in the NHL. The Bruins power-play quarterback had 30 power-play points which ranked him 16th in the league. This was Krug’s third straight season with 51 or more points and his second-best year in points since he scored 59 points in  76 games during the 2017-2018 campaign. The 28-year-old Michigan native has 62 playoff games under his belt with 11 goals and 35 assists for 46 points and 27 of those on the powerplay. He was second among defensemen in points these past playoffs with 18 points behind Alex Pietrangelo’s 19 points. This past season was Krug’s sixth full season in the NHL and will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2020.

Charlie McAvoy cracked the list two spots ahead of Krug at #14 and one spot behind New Jersey Devil P.K. Subban. The 21-year-old Long Island, NY native was selected 14 overall by the Bruins in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft out of Boston University and has played in two full seasons after beginning his NHL career in the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Ottawa Senators. In his rookie campaign, #73 in Black ‘N Gold put up seven goals and 25 assists for 32 points along with a plus-20 rating. In his sophomore season, McAvoy only appeared in 54 regular season games posting seven goals and 21 assists for 28 points and a plus-14 rating. Playing with Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara has accelerated McAvoy’s growth as a young hockey player in the NHL and has quickly become a dominating defenseman in both his own zone and has an offensive upside. McAvoy is still not signed by the Bruins as he is a restricted free agent. He is joined by Brandon Carlo as the Bruins unsigned RFA’s and it is unclear if both defensemen will be on the ice for the beginning of training camp before the 2019-2020 campaign.

Other notables on the list include a number of division rivals such as Maple Leafs d-man Morgan Reilly at number seven and Tampa’s Victor Hedman at number two. Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Bruins’ second-opponent in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, came in on the list at number five.
However, the NHL Network does know that some fans will disagree with their picks and allow the fans to choose their own top-20. According to the fans, Charlie McAvoy rose up to number 11 while Torey Krug fell one spot to number 17.

Although there was not much of a disagreement from the fans regarding Krug’s and McAvoy’s placements on the list, we can all agree that the Bruins have a couple of gems on the blueline.

Check out the Black N’ Gold Hockey Podcast episode 141 that we recorded on 8-18-19 below! You can find our show on many worldwide platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Stitcher.

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