On Monday, the NHL Network released its list of Top 20 Defensemen in the league, and for the first time this offseason, the Florida Panthers did not find themselves anywhere on the list.
Despite all the accolades those 20 players have accumulated over the course of their careers, including six Stanley Cups and seven Norris Trophies, the rough 2025-26 season hurt several Florida players, including Seth Jones, Aaron Ekblad, and Gustav Forsling, a name who has appeared on the list in previous campaigns.
Panthers' Forsling misses the cut for Top 20 defensemen in 2026-27
In 2023-24, Forsling led the NHL with a plus-56 rating, while scoring 39 points in 79 games. During the Panthers' run to the Stanley Cup, he added another 13 points and was plus-9, to once again lead the team in that category. On a Florida team that missed the postseason last year, Forsling was minus-5, the worst total during his six-year tenure with the club, and the worst showing since the 2018-19 campaign when he was a member of the Chicago Blackhawks.
As a top-pairing defenseman, he is one of the reasons for the team’s recent run of successes, and his contributions are often overlooked because of the gifted forwards in the lineup. Last year, Forsling was the only skater to play in 80 games, which led the injury-depleted lineup.
Oddly enough, Forsling’s countryman and cross-state rival, Victor Hedman, cracked the Top 20 list, despite playing in a career-low 33 games with just one goal and 17 points with a minus-1 rating. However, neither Swedish player dressed in the playoffs, as Hedman sat out while the Tampa Bay Lightning lost in the first round to the Montreal Canadiens.
In the comments section of the NHL Media’s X post, many are wondering about the calculations that went into the rankings, as there doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason behind the list beyond the top three. Jaacob Slavin, a Stanley Cup-winning defender from the Carolina Hurricanes, secured the 12th spot on the list, despite scoring a single goal and eight points in 39 regular-season games. Of course, he made up for it in the playoffs, with five helpers in 19 postseason games, but many argue that, since he won an Olympic Gold Medal, his stock rose over more deserving defenders.
As usual, these rankings or lists may please the general hockey fan, while many hardcore fans will erupt into debates, fine-picking everyone's merits and the validity of the rankings. Although the Panthers do not have any representatives on this year's list, a strong bounce-back performance in 2026-27 by many of the team's core players could make next year's list a little different. Â
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