Why Noah Dobson’s Defensive Game Is Underrated

When Dobson first started with the Habs, I will admit that after seeing many clips of his play with the Islanders from last year, as well as the fact that he didn’t play any penalty kill time with the Islanders, it made me question his overall ability in his own zone. However, halfway into the 2025-26 season, I have been pleasantly surprised with how well he’s done playing in defensive situations.

Despite his tendency not to throw hits very often, because of his big size, he can cover a lot of area and therefore uses that to get in the way of shots. Dobson has quietly blocked more shots than any defenseman on the Habs this year and is currently ranked 3rd in the entire NHL with 95 blocked shots, behind only Jake McCabe and Brayden McNabb. For a so-called defensive liability as claimed by the Islanders after the pretty amazing trade.

Most people would have thought that Dobson’s best defensive skill would likely be takeaways, as he is great at defending by using his stick as well, but even that isn’t as effective as his shot-blocking abilities. In terms of takeaways, he is 3rd on the Habs with 16, behind only Lane Hutson and, surprisingly, Alexandre Carrier. Being 3rd on the team is rather expected, as he’s arguably the team’s 3rd best defenseman behind Hutson and Mike Matheson, although some may have him ahead of Matheson. Either way, Dobson is good at knocking pucks off opponents’ sticks, which is the other reason that he is so good on the penalty kill this year.

Dobson has often been described as an offensive defenseman because of his 2023-24 season, when he finished with 10 goals and 70 points in 76 games, mixed with his inability to be physical. He may be a good offensive defenseman with 5 goals and 27 points in 39 games so far this season, but he brings much more than solid offence from the backend. 

The fact that he wasn’t given a proper opportunity to show what he can do in a defensive situation, such as being a prominent penalty killer, could definitely be a factor. Now that he is among the top penalty killers on the Habs this year, he has shown that he truly is a 2-way defenseman.

For example, last season he only blocked 1.77 shots per game while getting next to no penalty kill time with the Islanders. Whereas this year with the Canadiens, he’s up to 2.43 blocked shots per game. His career high in this area previously came the year he had his best offensive output with the Islanders, when he blocked 2.27 shots per game. Therefore, the defensive abilities have been there for a long time; it just hasn’t been recognized due to his offensive game previously overpowering his defensive game.

This season that isn’t as much the case, as he is only on the 2nd power play unit, so the chances for points aren’t as numerous as they were with the Islanders. Although he has shown that he isn’t as good of a puck handler as he was perceived to be in 2023-24, which can be an issue if he were the quarterback on a PP1 unit.

Truthfully it seems like that 70-point season would have been an outlier even if he were given more power-play time. The good news is the Habs have figured out he can play big minutes on the penalty kill and serve as a shutdown defenseman if needed. He may not bring much physicality to his game, but he’s far from a one-dimensional defenseman.