When trying to judge the contribution of defensemen towards the success of their team, offensive statistics can be useful for one side of the story, but when it comes to their ability to prevent goals, the primary tool available is the plus/minus stat, which takes a basic stab at measuring the goals for/against ratio when a given player is on the ice in most situations. In particular, if a team is shorthanded and a goal is scored against them, plus/minus isn't affected. Combine that with the fact that plus/minus is largely affected by the other players on the ice, and you have a pretty limited measurement to work with.

One way to shed a little more light on the play of defensemen is to examine how many minor penalties they take relative to their ice time. For example, if two stalwarts play twenty a minutes a game, but one takes twice as many minor penalties (leaving his teammates shorthanded) as the other, surely the player who commits fewer fouls is a greater help to his team, all other factors being equal. Sergei Gonchar, for example, has led the league two years in a row in Hooking calls, but if a goal gets scored while he's sitting in the box, his plus/minus doesn't take a hit.

Today's tables outline those defensemen taking both the fewest and most minor penalties given their ice time (minimum 41 games played). Those minor penalties have then been converted into a "Goal Cost" figure, reflecting a calculation done in a piece by Alan Ryder that provides a guideline, stating that the average shorthanded situation costs its team 0.153 goals, and that 12% of minor penalties are offsetting, meaning that 4-on-4 or something similar results. Therefore if a given player takes 40 penalties, we take 40 times 0.153 times 0.88 to yield a Goal Cost of 5.39, which is worth right about two points in the overall league standings. That may not sound like much, but for teams such as the Lightning, Islanders, Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Flames and Avalanche, it meant the difference between making the playoffs or not. Bringing this aspect of a defenseman's play into focus can help round out the view of their total impact on a team.

To start with, here are our elite defensive performers...

Fewest Minor Penalties based on Total Ice Time, 2006-7 Defensemen

Player	Team	GP	TOI/G	Minors	GoalCost	Min/Penalty
PAUL MARTIN	NJD	82	25:13	9	1.21	229:45
MARC-EDOUARD VLASIC	SJS	81	22:11	9	1.21	199:39
TOMAS KABERLE	TOR	74	25:52	10	1.35	191:24
ALEXANDRE PICARD	PHI	62	18:28	6	0.81	190:49
SERGEI ZUBOV	DAL	78	25:56	13	1.75	155:36
MARK STREIT	MTL	76	14:00	7	0.94	152:00
TOM PREISSING	OTT	80	15:15	9	1.21	135:33
LUBOMIR VISNOVSKY	LAK	69	24:27	13	1.75	129:46
SCOTT HANNAN	SJS	79	22:49	14	1.88	128:45
BRIAN RAFALSKI	NJD	82	25:29	17	2.29	122:55
BRIAN CAMPBELL	BUF	82	21:52	15	2.02	119:32
ZBYNEK MICHALEK	PHX	82	23:39	17	2.29	114:04
KEVIN DALLMAN	LAK	53	12:48	6	0.81	113:04
SAMI SALO	VAN	67	21:27	13	1.75	110:33
BRENT SOPEL	VAN	64	20:15	12	1.62	108:00
JOHN-MICHAEL LILES	COL	71	17:45	12	1.62	105:01
ROBERT SCUDERI	PIT	78	18:48	14	1.88	104:44
TEPPO NUMMINEN	BUF	79	20:47	16	2.15	102:37
SHEA WEBER	NSH	79	19:23	15	2.02	102:05
KARLIS SKRASTINS	COL	68	21:13	15	2.02	96:10
NICKLAS LIDSTROM	DET	80	27:29	23	3.10	95:35
PETTERI NUMMELIN	MIN	51	20:17	11	1.48	94:02
BRENT BURNS	MIN	77	15:47	13	1.75	93:29
DENNIS SEIDENBERG	CAR	52	16:10	9	1.21	93:24
MATTHEW CARLE	SJS	77	18:08	15	2.02	93:05

It's interesting to see the number of young players near the top of this list, as you typically think of more experienced blueliners not allowing themselves to get caught out of position and taking penalties as a result. And now, those defenders spending way too much time in the sin bin...

Most Minor Penalties based on Total Ice Time, 2006-7 Defensemen

Player	Team	GP	TOI/Game	Minors	Goal Cost	Min/Penalty
WADE BELAK	TOR	65	5:01	20	2.69	16:18
NICK BOYNTON	PHX	59	16:47	39	5.25	25:23
OLE-KRISTIAN TOLLEFS	CBJ	70	14:13	39	5.25	25:31
BRANISLAV MEZEI	FLA	45	15:57	25	3.37	28:42
JASSEN CULLIMORE	CHI	65	16:16	32	4.31	33:02
BRENDAN WITT	NYI	81	21:38	53	7.14	33:03
SEAN HILL	NYI	81	22:32	55	7.41	33:11
ANDREW HUTCHINSON	CAR	41	12:13	15	2.02	33:23
JANNE NIINIMAA	MTL	41	14:50	18	2.42	33:47
RHETT WARRENER	CGY	62	17:07	31	4.17	34:14
ROSTISLAV KLESLA	CBJ	75	22:54	50	6.73	34:21
STEVE MONTADOR	FLA	72	13:08	27	3.64	35:01
RORY FITZPATRICK	VAN	58	14:05	23	3.10	35:30
ANDREW ALBERTS	BOS	76	19:40	42	5.65	35:35
STEPHANE ROBIDAS	DAL	75	18:04	38	5.12	35:39
DENIS GAUTHIER	PHI	43	16:39	20	2.69	35:47
MARK GIORDANO	CGY	48	13:26	18	2.42	35:49
HAL GILL	TOR	82	18:53	43	5.79	36:00
SHANE O'BRIEN	TBL	80	14:58	33	4.44	36:16
MICHAEL KOMISAREK	MTL	82	19:15	43	5.79	36:42
MIKE COMMODORE	CAR	82	19:53	44	5.92	37:03
RUSLAN SALEI	FLA	82	23:19	51	6.87	37:29
GLEN WESLEY	CAR	68	15:34	28	3.77	37:48
MAREK MALIK	NYR	69	19:16	35	4.71	37:58
SHAONE MORRISONN	WSH	78	20:57	43	5.79	38:00

You have to feel for poor Wade Belak - perhaps one reason he only snagged 5:01 per game of ice time is that his coach couldn't trust him to stay out of the box. 5:01 per game? Yeesh, that's hardly worth the effort of lacing up your skates. And look at the dynamic duo of Brendan Witt and Sean Hill for the New York Islanders - cutting down a few trips to the box between those two could easily have bumped them up a seed or two in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

So keep this in mind during the long months of the upcoming regular season, as you see the same defenders going to the box time and time again - over the long haul they truly hurt their team. By comparison, those blueliners who take fewer penalties are often underappreciated, and even labelled "soft" for having disappointingly low PIM totals.