10 star defensemen who live up to their contracts in cap leagues.

In salary cap leagues a lot of focus is put into assessing player value in the league. This boils down to production versus cost. Two weeks ago we looked at the top players both up front and on defense in terms of dollars per point. While the players outlined have their usefulness in your fantasy league, simply using dollars per point as your measuring stick will not give you the result you want from a global team-building perspective.

When you rank all players in dollars per point you end up with a lot of players with a minimum salary and poor production. Case in point, Nick Holden's three points in 16 games ranks 12^th in dollars per point but is certainly not fantasy-relevant. Owning a team full of Holden-level players will give you a small budget and an incredibly cost-effective roster. Unfortunately, you will not have nearly enough firepower to win your pool. You will have to pay more for players that simply produce more, even if you lose a bit in terms of efficiency.

Obviously, you want to maximize points while still getting good bang for your buck. Thankfully, there are plenty of players out there that offer a lot of both. Today we will look at the 10 most productive defensemen that are among the league's top cap bargains.

In order to select these 10 defensemen, Cap Geek's Bargain Hunter tool was used. The list of 50 best dollar-per-point players was sorted by points. This helps give a group that combines star power with cost-effectiveness. The first five players will be analyzed in more detail.

Note: Capgeek's Bargain Hunter tool is a bit behind and does not have today's stats. Therefore the numbers will be slightly inaccurate. Nevertheless, the goal is merely to show which players stand out the most.

Mark Giordano

Giordano is currently playing the best hockey of his career and is one of the early Norris favorites. At an affordable $4 million against the cap, he is obviously an excellent player to own in a cap league. His usefulness in keeper leagues extends to next year which is the final one of his current deal. Unfortunately, in the summer of 2016 he will be due for a big raise that could turn him into a fantasy liability in points-only leagues.

In terms of production, Giordano is safe for a while. He and T.J. Brodie are unchallenged as the top two defenders on the Flames. Adding to that, the Flames appear to be building their system successfully. An improving environment will certainly help keep Giordano's production up and help counter some of the regression he will experience now that he is in his 30s.

Brent Burns

Not many people thought that shifting from forward back to defense would actually benefit Burns' offensive numbers. After all, as a blueliner he only eclipsed the 40-point mark twice including 46 points back in 2011. It turns out that being the primary replacement for Dan Boyle is giving Burns the perfect opportunity to make the most of his abilities.