With the excitement of the NHL Draft fresh in many people’s minds, it’s time to turn the page and focus on July 1st, when a number of free agents will hit the open market. While the crop of players available may be thin in both top-end talent and depth, there are a number who could be game-changers for shrewd general managers.
There might not be a true number one available in this year’s crop of UFA defensemen (though that’s no surprise), but there are a number top-four types that could thrive with new teams and some depth additions that could prove valuable for contending clubs. There is likewise a mix of players in their prime, veterans, offensive types, and stay-at-home guys – something for everybody. Here’s a look at the top 10 NHL UFA defensemen available on July 1st.
Check out our Top 10 UFA Goaltender 2015 here.
Top 10 NHL UFA Defensemen 2015
1) Mike Green
Age: 29
2014-15 Cap Hit: $6 million
Green is probably the highest risk-reward player on this list, which means he’s likely going to see a good payday.
The career Washington Capital (he was drafted by the club 29th overall back in 2004) was once one of the centerpieces of the high-octane Caps attack. Back in 2008-09, Green became just the 8th defenseman in NHL history to score 30 goals in a season (including 18 on the power play), adding 42 assists to total 73 points. He would finish second in Norris trophy voting that year, and again in 2009-10 when he set a career high 76 points. He would also be voted into the NHL’s First All-Star Team both years. Unfortunately, injuries, which had always been a problem in Green’s career (he’s played just one full NHL season) began to take a toll on the offensive d-man.
The nadir of Green’s career came in 2011-12, when he managed just 7 points in 32 games. However, Green has quietly put together two very solid offensive seasons since being pushed down the depth chart (he averaged just 19:06 in ice time in 2014-15), playing 70+ games in consecutive seasons for just the second time in his career, while posting 38 and 45 points and a Corsi For% of 52.2 and 53.
You know what you’re getting in Green when he’s in the lineup. He can run a power play and, despite his reputation as being weak defensively, has posted positive possession numbers in all but one season. The only question is if his current (relatively) healthy streak will last.
2) Christian Ehrhoff
Age: 32 2014-15
Cap Hit: $4 million
Ehrhoff is in the same position as Green, a once great offensive defenseman that has fallen on hard times recently. After developing his game in San Jose, Ehrhoff exploded once landing in Vancouver in 2009, scoring 94 points in just two seasons with the Canucks, which he eventually parlayed into a monster 10-year, $40 million contract with the Buffalo Sabres.
Ehrhoff’s offensive numbers immediately took a dip (not playing on the power play with the Sedins tends to have that effect on a player) while his possession numbers went into the toilet in Buffalo, and the Sabres eventually bought out the remaining seven years on his contract. Ehrhoff was able to find new life in Pittsburgh, with the hopes of regaining his position as one of the most dangerous defensemen in the league.
Unfortunately for Ehrhoff and the Pens, the skilled German dealt with concussion issues for a large part of the season, and he managed to get into just 49 games, recording 14 points (only two of which came on the power play).
A healthy Ehrhoff (it appears as though his concussion issues should be cleared up by the time training camp begins) in the right situation could be able to recapture his form – at least that’s what some NHL general managers will be hoping.
3) Barret Jackman
Age: 34
2014-15 Cap Hit: $3.16 million
Unlike the first two players on this list, whichever team signs Jackman won’t be expecting the 1999 17th overall pick to make any kind of impact on the scoresheet. He will, however, provide a steady defensive game, hitting, blocking shots, and a huge helping of veteran leadership to boot.
Jackman has played the entirety of his 803-game career with the St. Louis Blues, winning the Calder trophy back in 2002-03. Offensively, he hit a career high back in 2006-07, when he scored 27 points, but lately he’s gotten into a comfortable rhythm of a 15 points and a couple of goals a year. That said, there are a number of positives to Jackman’s game that are incredibly valuable to most NHL teams. He’s averaged more than 100 blocked shots (141) and hits (113) per season, as well as logging big minutes on the penalty kill (2:16 per game last year). Throw in a Corsi For% that hovered between 52-53 percent the last two seasons, and it’s clear Jackman is a quality shut-down defender.
His age may scare some general managers off, as will his declining ice time as he approaches the end of his career, but it’s not unreasonable to expect he can still play a solid top-four, complimentary role .
4) Johnny Oduya
Age: 33 2014-15 Cap Hit: $3.38 million
Oduya is a good candidate to get the most inflated contract of any player on this list, but that’s bound to happen when you’ve played a key role in winning two Stanley Cups in the last three years.
Oduya started his career promisingly in New Jersey, scoring 26 points as a sophomore and setting a career high in points (29) the following season, before he was jettisoned to the purgatory of Atlanta as part of the Ilya Kovalchuk deal. The Swede contributed little of note as a Thrasher, playing 20:19 a night on a team featuring a young and emerging d-corps (which included a young Zach Bogosian and Tobias Enstrom).
However, in February 2012, fate smiled on Oduya, when he was sent to the Blackhawks for two draft picks, and the rest is history. Through Oduya never quite managed to regain his offensive form, he didn’t really have to – all he had to do was be a steady presence on a blueline that featured Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, a role he played with aplomb.
There are, however, some worries about Oduya’s performance in the post-season that might make someone regret signing the two-time champion for too much money. Despite logging huge minutes (24:45) this past playoff run, Oduya posted a 48% Corsi For%, and a -6.4 Corsi For% relative. He’s still a great complimentary piece, but general managers shouldn’t be deceived and thrust him into a primary role, especially when he’ll be 34 before the season begins.
5) Cody Franson
Age: 27
2014-15 Cap Hit: $3.3 million
Teams looking to upgrade their offense from the blueline will likely target Franson if Green and/or Ehrhoff are off the board, as he makes a great secondary option in that regard, though he has struggled with consistency over his career.
After a great junior career with the Vancouver Giants in the WHL, which included a Memorial Cup championship and IIHF World Junior Gold in 2007, the 2005 Predators pick was thought to be yet another in a long line of excellent defenders coming out of Nashville. After two years percolating in Milwaukee with the Admirals, Franson finally made the jump to the big club in 2009. Despite solid offensive play and good possession numbers, he wasn’t able to move up the depth chart in Nashville and was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs in July 2011.
He would take more of a central role in Toronto, producing well on the power play and keeping a positive Corsi For% relative in increased ice time, despite the team around him dragging down his overall Corsi For%. Last season, with the Predators near the the top of the league and hoping to make a run, they brought Franson (along with forward Mike Santorelli) back into the fold, hoping he could bolster their already impressive blueline.
Unfortunately, it was a tale of two seasons for the big-bodied defenseman, as the solid offensive season he had been having in Toronto went the reverse direction, and he managed only 4 points in 28 combined regular and post-season contests for the Preds and saw his average ice time drop five minutes a night. At 27, Franson still has lots to give and, like most players on this list, could thrive if he gets into the right situation on the right team.
6) Andrej Sekera
Age: 29 2014-15
Cap Hit: $2.75 million
Sekera is a good skater and quality puck-mover, but he lacks size for a modern NHL defender. He also, unfortunately, had a bit of a down year, which may hurt his stock on July 1st.
The Slovak got his NHL start in Buffalo, where he showed signs of developing into a top-four d-man who could produce on the power play, though he managed to eclipse the 20-point mark only once (2010-11, when he had 29 points). With Bufflao already bottoming out, he was sent to the Hurricanes in 2013, where his offensive game exploded. He posted 11 goals and 44 points, both career highs, and looked like he had finally reached his potential.
However, with Carolina likewise settling into the bottom of the league, Sekera became part of the sell-off, heading to Los Angeles this past February, as the Kings were gearing up for a run to the post-season. Despite quality ice time and outstanding possession numbers (59.6 Corsi For%, 7.6 Corsi For% relative), the production just wasn’t there, as he managed only one goal and four points in 16 games with the Kings.
Moving forward, Sekera might be a bit of a steal if he can recapture some of the skill he showed in Carolina in recent years, as he really appears to have put it all together, despite not getting the results he and the team hoped for in Los Angeles.
7) Zbynek Michalek
Age: 32
2014-15 Cap Hit: $4 million
On the other side of the ledger is Michalek, who after putting up decent offensive numbers early in his career with the Coyotes, has settled into more of a one-dimensional defensive role.
The undrafted Czech actually got his start with the Minnesota Wild before moving to Phoenix in 2005. His best season probably came in 2009, when in addition to a solid 27 points, he lead the NHL with an impressive 268 blocked shots. His solid body of work in the desert translated into a four-year contract with the Penguins in 2010, where his offense declined but he continued to be a shot-blocking machine who, surprisingly, wasn’t a drag on possession.
Unfortunately Michalek has suffered a slow decline since then, as his offensive game has all but disappeared, while injuries began to take their toll. He finished off 2014-15 with the St. Louis Blues playing second-pairing minutes during the regular season, although he became a non-factor in the post-season.
Michalek falls into the same category as Jackman, averaging a whopping 195 blocked shots and 79 hits a season over his career, plus he’s a few years younger. Teams looking for a solid 5-6 defender will target Michalek
8) Michal Rozsival
Age: 36
2014-15 Cap Hit: $2.2 million
Rozsival falls into the same category as Oduya, a player who will likely get a bump by virtue of playing for the Blackhawks and winning two Cups in recent years, though his age and declining play is a major concern.
Rozsival got his NHL start in Pittsburgh, but it wasn’t until he joined the New York Rangers after the 2005 lockout that he emerged as a top-pairing defenseman, eclipsing the 30-point mark four times, including a career high 40 points in 2007, and logging big minutes. However, a trade in 2011 to the Coyotes marked the beginning of Rozsival’s decline, as he’s seen his ice time fall and has managed only three goals over the last three seasons.
He would prove valuable for the Blackhawks in a bottom-pairing role since joining the club in 2012, however, this can be misleading. There’s sure to be lots of play about how the Hawks had to go with essentially four defensemen this spring on their run to the Cup due to Rozsival’s injury, but that shouldn’t be used to overvalue him. At 36 years of age, he’s a solid bottom-pairing blueliner, but not much more and for not much longer.
9) Francois Beauchemin
Age: 35
2014-15 Cap Hit: $3.5 million
Beauchemin is an interesting foil to Rozsival, in that he’s aged incredibly well and had a bit of a late-career renaissance.
Earlier in his career, he was a key piece of the Anaheim Ducks blueline (behind Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer) that won the Stanley Cup in 2007. Despite a torn ACL that caused him to miss all but 20 games of the 2008-09 season, the Maple Leafs signed Beauchemin to a three-year contract. His tenure in Toronto would be brief however, and he soon found himself traded back to Anaheim in exchange for Joffrey Lupul and Jake Gardiner, as the Leafs were searching for offense and youth on the blueline.
Initially, things did not go well for Beauchemin upon his return to Anaheim; in 2010-11 he managed to get into only 27 games, scoring 5 points. However the next year he started again logging the huge minutes he was accustomed to, and his lock-out shortened 2012-13 season was spectacular – he posted 24 points in 48 games, finishing fourth in Norris voting and earning him a berth on the 2nd NHL All-Star Team.
Since then it’s been steady as she goes for Beauchemin, and he even put up a career-high 11 goals this past season in Anaheim. Of the defensive d-men available this year, Beauchemin might be the best, despite his age, averaging more than 100 blocked shots (161) and hits (122) per season in his career, while providing a touch of offense and great veteran leadership.
10) Paul Martin
Age: 34 2014-15 Cap Hit: $5 million
Martin also falls into the defensive defenseman category, though his role has been less defined over the course of his career, as he’s a very mobile blueliner who can actually produce quite well on the other side of the puck.
The 2000 Devils draft pick had an immediate impact in New Jersey, finishing the season in the Calder conversation with 24 points and exploding for a career-high 37 in 2005-06. He would prove to be both durable and consistent during his time in Jersey, regularly hitting the 30-point mark and rarely missing tons of time with injuries.
However a broken arm in the 2009-10 season derailed what had been the start of a promising year, as he notched 11 points in 22 games. Still, the Penguins liked what they saw in Martin, and locked him up to five-year, $25 million contract.
The American’s tenure in Pittsburgh could be described as more or less successful, though he again missed time in 2013-14 and last season his play slipped quite noticeably – he finished with the lowest point total and lowest ice time since that lost 2009-10 season.
So, at 34 years old, there is serious cause for concern that Martin is no longer the player he once was. He does a little bit of everything well and is still an excellent shot-blocker (he set a career-high with 139 last season), so he could do well if his minutes and role are managed accordingly, but he shouldn’t be expected to play quality top-four minutes for much longer.
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