Deep Blue Sea: How does Sharks’ top D-pair stack up against others?

Photo by Ben Jackson/NHLI via Getty ImagesThe Athletic’s Harman Dayal followed up his analysis of each team’s top line with a look into their top defensive pairings, first by identifying which two players were considered each team’s top pairing, then comparing stats from goals scored while that pairing is on the ice.

The article goes into detail on the methodology for deciding which defenders were considered each team’s top pair, but it should come as no surprise that for the purposes of this breakdown, the San Jose Sharks’ top pairing is Brent Burns and Mario Ferraro. The pair have played 732 minutes together so far this season.

First, Dayal looked at each top pairing’s 5-on-5 goal…