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Advanced statistics: Dobson is currently one of the NHL’s best defensive defenders

Originally posted on Dose.ca | Last updated Oct 14, 2025 6:20 PM ET

When Noah Dobson was acquired by the Canadiens last June, it was assumed that his arrival in Montreal would stabilize the Canadiens’ defense, and that’s exactly what’s happening right now. Dobson plays on a pair with Mike Matheson, allowing Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle to shine together. The addition of the right-hander solidifies the team’s top-4 at the blue line, to put it another way. That said, some have pointed to the fact that he looked nonchalant on the ice and wasn’t 100% involved. His dubious fallback against Toronto in the first game of the season caused a stir, after all, but when you look at the advanced stats, you realize that the defenseman isn’t bad defensively. In fact, according to hisDefenfive rating, Dobson is among the NHL’s elite so far this season:

Top defensive players per Dom’s Net Rating metric pic.twitter.com/cuIgLM8Wb5

– HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) October 14, 2025

The higher a player’s rating, the better.

And there are many factors that go into calculating a player’s grade: blocked shots, expected goals at five-on-five, goals scored at five-on-five, a player’s impact in terms of playing time… Right now, Noah Dobson is doing more good things than bad things on the ice. He’s able to help the Canadiens in the defensive zone because of his mobility and his ability to cover a lot of ice. That said, we’re entitled to expect more from him offensively too. At $9.5 million a season, Dobson needs to be able to produce offensively to help the Canadiens… and he’s only picked up one assist in three games so far this season. He’s still adjusting to the Canadiens’ game, and it’s clearly showing. When it comes down to it, though… it’s likely to produce a really interesting result.

’Overtime’

– Bravo.

Here are the members of our 4th Team of the Week this season!

STATS : https://t.co/zPAkndJP9V#EDLS | @FloHockey pic.twitter.com/3CzSEALWfp– QMJHL (@QMJHL) October 14, 2025

– Ouch.

Tampa Bay’s powerplay this season ranks:

– 30th in shot attempts/60 – 27th in shots/60 – 27th in xGF/60 – 30th in high-danger chances/60 If Tampa’s powerplay isn’t elite anymore, they’re basically easy pickins in the Atlantic. pic.twitter.com/1YJyFRzvkf– Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) October 14, 2025

– That would be sick.

Hopefully Arber Xhekaj skates out to “DMX – X Gon’ Give It To Ya” during the Habs players intro tonight

pic.twitter.com/hN304JgQLU– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) October 14, 2025

– Oh!

#habs

– Kenzie Lalonde (@KenzieTSN) October 14, 2025

– Pierre-Luc Dubois is injured.

Dubois was injured in Sunday’s game against the Rangershttps://t.co/BrnHJ3dlny –

NHL (@NHL_EN) October 14, 2025

– He’s going to be good.

Zeev Buium’s been a winner at every level.

The smooth-skating D-man has three points through his first three NHL games! #NHLFaceOff: @mnwild vs. @DallasStars TONIGHT at 9:30p ET on @espn pic.twitter.com/E4HhKILe1f– NHL (@NHL) October 14, 2025