Capped: Free Agent Defencemen Winners

Chris Pudsey

2015-07-09

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Andrej Sekera and the Edmonton Oilers are among the free agent defensive winners so far.

Here we are, one week into the free agent period, and there still hasn't been that many big money signings. Don't get me wrong, there have been a few, but nothing like what we are used to seeing at this time of year.

Last week, I took a look at some free agent winners for your fantasy team from the forward position. This week, I am going to focus on the defensive free agent winners. Surprisingly, it wasn't that easy to find that many really good bargains from the defense because there are still a lot of good players who still have yet to find a home. Guys like Cody Franson, Johnny Oduya, Christian Ehrhoff and Michael Del Zotto, to name a few, are still out there, patiently waiting to find out where they are headed.

Here are a few to consider when looking for a free agent winner so far this offseason.

Andrej Sekera (Edmonton – $5.5M / six years)

I know, you are probably thinking to yourself, why would he pick a guy who just got a massive raise and a long term deal as a free agent winner? For me, it boils down to the same thing you look for in a new home; location, location, location.

%TOI

VAN RIEMSDYK, TREVOR

0.06

00:10

2.5

3.4

13:32

22.1

Robert Bortuzzo (St. Louis Blues – $1.05M / two-years)

The 25-year-old Bortuzzo came to the Blues at last season's trade deadline to aid in their toughness from the back-end. So far, he has been all that and then some.

As the sixth and sometimes seventh defenseman on a deep Blues team, he doesn't get a lot of ice-time but when he's out there, he makes it count. He won't get you much for offense, but for the money, he is excellent at offering you penalty minutes, hits and blocks.

When asked about Bortuzzo, General Manager Doug Armstrong had this to say:

"I like having that size on the back-end," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. "He and Lindbohm are going to give us a little bit of a snarl back there. Younger guys, good skaters."

The 6-foot-4, 215 pounder is exactly that; a good skater with some bite to his game. If you need some peripherals like hits and PIMs, you could do a lot worse than Bortuzzo.

Thanks to Frozen Pool, here's a look at Bortuzzo and his numbers from the past three seasons:

SEASON	GP	G	A	P	PntPG	+/-	PIM	Shots	SH%	HITS	PPG	PPP	SHG	BLKS	PPTOI	%PP	%SH	TOI/G	%TOI
2014-2015	51	3	5	8	0.16	-8	93	56	0.05	157	0	0	0	61	00:08	2.8	16.5	15:07	24.7
2013-2014	54	0	10	10	0.19	-3	74	50	0.00	137	0	0	0	73	00:02	0.7	25.5	15:29	25.5
2012-2013	15	2	2	4	0.27	3	27	10	0.20	18	0	0	0	14	00:04	1.2	8.3	13:17	22.0

****

In the past week, there was probably 40 or so defensemen signed and honestly, not a lot of fantasy relevance in most of those signings. A lot of guys were signed to two-way deals and most were minor league guys at best. Sure, Mike Green signed a new deal, but you will probably see him in next week's Capped when I take a look at some of the free agent deals that I simply didn't like.

As always, thanks for reading. Feel free to follow me on twitter @chrispudsey where I am always throwing out thoughts and plenty of retweets from some of the better hockey minds out there. Lots of data and information there for your pleasure.

Other columns by Chris:

Free Agent Forward Winners

Resurrecting the Career of Devan Dubnyk