One still frame look at these two guys is probably enough to convince you which of these guys is a finesse player from a Scandinavian land and which guy likes to smash Swedish dudes’ heads into the plexi-glass.

The rough and tumble Shea Weber is quite possibly the toughest defenseman in the NHL. Swede-bashing aside, the Nashville blue-liner has emerged as one of the fiercest competitors on the ice today. At age 27, the 6’4” 235-pound British Columbia native is hitting his prime. With a booming shot, superior hockey-sense and a mean streak a quarter-mile  wide, Weber personifies everything you love to have on your team but hate to play against.

Weber is a fantasy hockey owners dream, posting positive numbers across the board. About the only area you won’t find the Predator’s captain among the team leaders is penalty minutes. For someone who displays such tenacity night in and night out, Weber has only exceeded 60-minutes in penalty box time once in his seven year career.

In the other (figurative) corner we have controversial Norris Trophy winner and polar opposite of Shea Weber, Mr. Erik Karlsson. The silky smooth Swede stunned everyone in his third NHL season by posting offensive stats that are normally reserved for forwards in the NHL. Karlsson finished with 78 points, 25 ahead of the next closest defenseman, and tenth among all skaters in the NHL. Did I mention it was only his third season?

The knock on Karlsson is the irony of his position. He plays defense the way Hal Gill plays offense. If that metaphor was lost on you, I’ll just say he is a marginally effective defensive player, possibly more deserving of the Selke Trophy (awarded to the league’s top defensive forward) than the Norris. The fact that he has any hits or blocked shots is probably more from incidental contact than an attempt to play, gasp, defense.

This is fantasy hockey though folks. We’re not rebuilding a franchise, and there is no statistical category for grit (though Steve Ott may be lobbying for one). Weber and Karlsson are two of the elite defensemen, but from a purely fantasy standpoint, you can’t go wrong with the mullet-ed and sometimes mustachioed Swede. He just turned 22 in May, and, stop me if you’ve heard this before, he’s only in his third season.