Top NHL Defensemen by Expected Goals For %

2025-26·Regular Season·20+ GP

Sam Malinski (COL) leads NHL defensemen with 62.0% expected goals for % across 82 games, 1.5 percentage points ahead of Jordan Spence. Devon Toews rounds out the top three at 60.2%. Rankings cover the 2025-26 NHL season among qualifying defensemen.

Position: DefenseMin GP: 20+

Player	Team	Pos	Age	GP	G	A	A1	P	P/60	S%	xGF%	CF%	+/-	TOI	Cap Hit
Sam Malinski DCOL#70	COL	D	28	82	8	32	19	40	1.66	4.9%	62.0	58.7	+43	17.6	$1.40M
Jordan Spence DOTT#21	OTT	D	25	73	7	24	8	31	1.36	6.5%	60.5	60.3	+15	18.7	$1.50M
Devon Toews DCOL#7	COL	D	32	68	3	21	9	24	0.95	2.6%	60.2	57.2	+37	22.4	$7.25M
Shayne Gostisbehere DCAR#4	CAR	D	33	55	13	37	17	50	2.84	11.2%	59.2	59.9	+11	19.2	$3.20M
Ilya Solovyov DPIT#7	PIT	D	26	30	1	7	3	8	1.26	4.3%	58.9	55.2	0	12.7	$775,000
Mattias Ekholm DEDM#14	EDM	D	36	82	6	35	14	41	1.46	4.6%	58.6	56.1	+32	20.6	$6.25M
Evan Bouchard DEDM#2	EDM	D	26	82	21	74	33	95	2.82	9.5%	58.5	55.3	+25	24.7	$10.50M
Josh Manson DCOL#42	COL	D	35	79	5	26	13	31	1.32	3.9%	58.3	57.0	+42	17.8	$4.50M
Jaccob Slavin DCAR#74	CAR	D	32	39	1	7	1	8	0.58	1.6%	57.5	59.0	+8	21.3	$6.40M
Joel Nystrom DCAR#-	CAR	D	24	38	1	9	7	10	1.04	2.3%	57.4	59.5	+6	15.2	$925,000
Noah Hanifin DVGK#15	VGK	D	29	71	3	25	9	28	1.05	2.2%	57.1	54.1	0	22.6	$7.35M
Sean Walker DCAR#26	CAR	D	31	81	9	22	10	31	1.05	5.0%	57.1	61.8	+6	21.8	$3.60M
Cale Makar DCOL#8	COL	D	27	75	20	59	33	79	2.54	10.1%	57.0	54.3	+32	24.8	$9.00M
Shea Theodore DVGK#27	VGK	D	31	70	10	29	14	39	1.46	7.7%	57.0	54.3	+19	22.8	$7.43M
K'Andre Miller DCAR#79	CAR	D	26	72	8	29	13	37	1.38	6.5%	56.9	62.3	+7	22.4	$7.50M
Damon Severson DCBJ#78	CBJ	D	32	71	8	24	12	32	1.28	8.6%	56.9	54.4	+18	21.1	$6.25M
Samuel Girard DPIT#49	PIT	D	28	60	3	16	6	19	1.05	7.3%	56.7	53.4	+17	18.1	$5.00M
Charles-Edouard D'Astous DTBL#-	TBL	D	28	70	6	23	8	29	1.33	7.5%	56.6	53.4	−4	18.8	$775,000
Kaedan Korczak DVGK#6	VGK	D	25	78	3	13	7	16	0.77	5.0%	56.5	51.5	+6	16.0	$825,000
Max Crozier DTBL#65	TBL	D	26	35	1	9	4	10	1.07	2.2%	56.4	53.6	+7	16.0	$775,000
Jake Sanderson DOTT#85	OTT	D	24	67	14	40	17	54	1.95	9.5%	56.3	56.0	+16	24.8	$8.05M
Brent Burns DCOL#8	COL	D	41	82	12	23	13	35	1.36	7.0%	56.3	55.3	+33	18.9	$1.00M
Darren Raddysh DTBL#43	TBL	D	30	73	22	48	24	70	2.54	10.4%	56.1	57.2	+21	22.7	$975,000
Brayden McNabb DVGK#3	VGK	D	35	63	5	7	3	12	0.56	6.2%	55.9	52.9	+2	20.5	$3.65M
Thomas Chabot DOTT#72	OTT	D	29	57	7	24	14	31	1.45	7.1%	55.8	52.3	+6	22.6	$8.00M
Mike Reilly DCAR#2	CAR	D	33	42	1	8	4	9	0.86	1.6%	55.7	60.1	+11	15.0	$1.10M
Ryan McDonagh DTBL#27	TBL	D	37	48	6	15	9	21	1.36	15.4%	55.6	50.0	+14	19.3	$6.75M
Nate Schmidt DUTA#88	UTA	D	35	82	5	17	8	22	0.82	5.8%	55.4	55.0	+31	19.7	$3.50M
Adam Fox DNYR#23	NYR	D	28	55	9	44	17	53	2.45	9.9%	55.4	55.9	+5	23.6	$9.50M
Zach Werenski DCBJ#8	CBJ	D	29	75	22	59	28	81	2.43	8.5%	55.3	53.8	+7	26.6	$9.58M
Connor Clifton DPIT#75	PIT	D	31	50	2	4	2	6	0.43	5.7%	55.2	47.8	+5	16.8	$3.33M
Moritz Seider DDET#53	DET	D	25	82	10	50	26	60	1.71	5.3%	55.1	53.0	+15	25.7	$8.55M
Jonas Brodin DMIN#25	MIN	D	33	62	4	14	10	18	0.86	5.3%	55.1	48.7	+19	20.3	$6.00M
John Marino DUTA#6	UTA	D	29	80	4	32	15	36	1.34	7.3%	55.1	54.0	+42	20.2	$4.40M
Lane Hutson DMTL#48	MTL	D	22	82	12	66	31	78	2.40	9.7%	55.0	52.4	+36	23.8	$950,000
Esa Lindell DDAL#23	DAL	D	32	82	6	26	11	32	1.01	7.2%	54.9	47.8	+30	23.2	$5.25M
Miro Heiskanen DDAL#4	DAL	D	27	77	9	54	21	63	1.93	6.1%	54.7	49.3	+9	25.5	$8.45M
Drew Doughty DLAK#8	LAK	D	36	72	5	18	7	23	0.83	5.0%	54.7	54.0	+4	23.1	$11.00M
J.J. Moser DTBL#90	TBL	D	26	79	7	22	7	29	1.02	6.3%	54.7	56.7	+41	21.6	$3.38M
Emil Lilleberg DTBL#78	TBL	D	25	50	4	8	3	12	0.83	9.3%	54.5	51.2	+15	17.3	$800,000
Alexander Nikishin DCAR#21	CAR	D	25	81	11	22	12	33	1.34	9.0%	54.4	58.6	+18	18.2	$925,000
Emil Andrae DPHI#36	PHI	D	24	61	2	11	9	13	0.83	5.6%	54.3	49.4	+15	15.3	$903,333
John Carlson DANA#74	ANA	D	36	71	14	46	23	60	2.19	9.1%	54.2	54.5	+9	23.2	$8.00M
Artem Zub DOTT#2	OTT	D	31	81	5	25	13	30	1.07	5.4%	54.1	51.3	+22	20.8	$4.60M
Quinn Hughes DMIN#43	MIN	D	26	74	7	69	33	76	2.22	3.7%	54.1	53.1	−4	27.7	$7.85M
Brock Faber DMIN#7	MIN	D	24	80	15	36	19	51	1.55	8.7%	54.1	50.0	+18	24.7	$8.50M
Rasmus Ristolainen DPHI#55	PHI	D	31	44	1	13	4	14	0.89	1.7%	53.9	47.7	+10	21.4	$5.10M
Ben Hutton DVGK#17	VGK	D	33	55	6	9	3	15	1.12	8.5%	53.9	50.2	+2	14.6	$975,000
Jeremy Lauzon DVGK#3	VGK	D	29	68	1	12	5	13	0.67	1.4%	53.7	50.9	−3	17.2	$2.00M
Erik Cernak DTBL#81	TBL	D	29	61	3	8	3	11	0.61	5.7%	53.5	49.1	+3	17.6	$5.20M

Showing 1–50 of 239 players

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GP: Games Played

Green: Above 50% (league avg)

Red: Below 50%