Key Components of a Successful Defenseman Being a kid, my life was consumed by watching the National Hockey league on the television with my brothers and my sister. As I grew up, I fell deeper in love with hockey. The time I spent watching, playing, and studying how to become a defensemen made me realize how hard it is to, truly, become a successful defenseman in the NHL. There are several minute details that separate an average defenseman from a phenomenal defenseman. A defenseman is a combination of many different traits, the main ones that make an outstanding defenseman are the ability to be two dimensional, being of a high physicality and owning a strong-powerful shot. The greatest defenseman in the NHL is someone who can shut down opponents and also have the capability to succeed in the offensive zone; this is …show more content…
Meanwhile he always puts in his best effort to contribute to the forwards play by joining the rush, or to say, providing shots from the blue line. Due to Ryan McDonagh’s capability to lead by example, he led the Rangers to the Stanley cup final. Ryan was, by far, the best defenseman for The Rangers. As shown by the way he played against the Los Angeles Kings. This team has highly skilled forwards which calls for a strong defenseman to shut them down; such as Ryan. He fulfilled the other part of a “two-way defenseman” by having many shooting opportunities in the offensive zone. He put in his best effort in the offensive zone against the Los Angeles Kings. Unfortunately, his hard work did not pay off because his team failed to beat them in the Stanley Cup Final. One of Ryan’s biggest competitors is Roman Josi, a defenseman for the Nashville Predators. Although they are not nearly comparable in size, they both share similar roles they must fill in their team. Roman is excellent on being fast on skating to the middle of the ice in the offensive zone inside the blue line and getting a shot through. This is also called as walking the blue