Andrew Berkshire of Sportsnet takes a look at a few defensemen who may be available at the trade deadline.

Defencemen as a whole are tougher to evaluate than a specific targeted skill set like goal scoring, but a general overview of the impact defencemen can have is a good place to start, and we’ll go into some specifics on each player.

Mike Green

Every year I think this is the one where Green falls off, but credit to him, he just keeps on being a very good player. On the car crash of a team that is the Red Wings, Green is one the only players who is treading close to even in inner slot shots and slot pass differentials. He completes carry outs at an obscene rate, and is the only player on the list above who is significantly above average in all styles of controlled exits.

Green is also surprisingly good at defending his own blue line, by far the best on the Red Wings, and he recovers loose pucks at a higher rate than any other defenceman available.

The decline for Green as he’s entered his mid-30s has come pretty much exclusively in his offence, where he’s now below league average at even strength, but he’s always been better in other areas of the game than many wanted to give him credit for.

If you’re looking for the offensive dynamo Green once was, look elsewhere, but he is still a very strong top-four option.

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