Top Ten NHL defensemen just hitting their prime

Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman would like to forget last season. He missed significant time with a concussion and things turned ugly in Tampa Bay’s end of the ice, largely due to shaky goaltending.Hedman, 22, regressed from plus-3 in his second NHL season to minus-9 last season in 81 games. The Lightning acquired Anders Lindback during the summer to settle the goaltending situation and Hedman seemed poised to break out after averaging 23 points in his first three seasons.He showed signs of growth last season, scoring 17 points with a plus-3 rating in 29 games after the All-Star break. Perhaps he will play a bigger role with the man advantage this season after scoring just eight power-play points since arriving from Modo Hockey Ornskoldsvik.Here are some other defensemen just hitting their NHL prime: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Coyotes: He scored five times in March to signal his imminent arrival as an elite offensive talent. He finished with 13 goals and 19 assists while playing all 8...