As one of the most important positions on the ice, the defenseman has the greatest pressure to perform with the least amount of glory for a job well done. The greatest defensemen in the game don't always score the winning goals, but their teams could not survive without their presence on the ice. Some of the best in the game today like Nicklas Lidstrom, Andrei Markov, Dion Phaneuf, Chris Pronger and Jay Bouwmeester don't always get the credit for winning a game single handedly but recognition must be given to any player assigned with the task of stopping the likes of Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin on a nightly basis. Hockey's Hottest Defensemen provides a unique look into the lives of the best players in the National Hockey League playing today and some of the younger players destined to lead their teams to glory.

Arpon Basu had said since the age of eight that he would one day make the National Hockey League. Any chance of that happening, came to a crashing halt when, at 15 when he realized he was completely devoid of any talent. He earned a graduate journalism degree from Concordia University and went straight to a sports-writing job with the Canadian Press. The first time he walked into the Montréal Canadiens dressing room as a giddy cub reporter, Basu nearly fell over as it dawned on him that, despite his ineptitude on the ice, he had in fact been telling the truth as a dreamy-eyed eight-year-old.Basu covers sports for the Canadian Press in Montréal and writes a weekly sports column for the Montréal Gazette. He is also editor of Montréal’s South Shore, The St-Lambert Journal.

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