Capped: Free Agent Defencemen Winners
Chris Pudsey
2015-07-09
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
18
0
1
1
0.06
0
2
21
4
0
0
0
15
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:
Related Posts
UPCOMING GAMES
PIT
WPG
ANA
BUFStarting Goalies
Top Skater Views
DAL
CBJ
S.J
COLTop Goalie Profile Views
CGY
CAR
UTA
LINE COMBOS
| Frequency |
 DET Players
| |
|---|---|---|
| 23.4 | MARCO KASPER PATRICK KANE ALEX DEBRINCAT | |
| 20.2 | MICHAEL RASMUSSEN CHRISTIAN FISCHER ANDREW COPP | |
| 11.1 | LUCAS RAYMOND TYLER MOTTE DYLAN LARKIN | |
DobberHockey Podcasts
Keeping Karlsson Short Shifts – Regicide
Jeremy and Shams are here to break down all the new injuries and update timelines as well. After all the injury news they close out the show covering all the cold Kings players giving actionable fantasy advice on each one. Lastly, they close out the show the latest hot Russian forward for Columbus that is only 1% rostered on Yahoo right now.
Keeping Karlsson: Marchment Madness
Elan and Brian look at who comes out on top the Avalanche return to health, opine on the likelihood of complementary top six players in Toronto, Los Angeles and Edmonton remaining relevant, and consider giving up on underachievers in Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia.
Fantasy Hockey Life: Corey Sznajder
Corey Sznajder of allthreezones.com joins the show to talk about how he tracks microstats and identifies a couple of players they might help them assess. Have a listen! Our show is part of the Dobber Podcast Network and sponsored by Fantrax.com. Email [email protected] and ask to join our free discord. Join our Patreon at Patreon.com/fantasyhockeylife […]
Keeping Karlsson: Matchup Maximizer Week 7
Jeremy subs in to look at the schedule for the upcoming week of NHL action and recommends some players with good schedules that you should consider streaming in to win your head to head matchups.
Keeping Karlsson Short Shifts – Permission To Cut
Jeremy and Shams cover the usual headlines and injuries but get your permission slips out as the second half of the show they cover a litany of suggested players from the Patreon community to give their input on whether it’s ok to cut that big name player off your fantasy team.