Who offers the best bang for your buck on defense in cap leagues?

Offensive defensemen in the NHL are valuable and are paid handsomely. They should be; they not only help keep the puck out but they are relied on heavily to help put the puck in as well.

In this weeks Capped, we are going to take a look at the top scoring defensemen in the NHL today and their salaries. We will look at who is giving their teams the best value in regards to dollars per-point. Other peripherals like hits, blocks and shots on-goal are not taken into consideration in this column, I am strictly focusing on points.

The top nine scoring defenseman in the NHL today are listed below:

Now let’s take a look after we adjust the leaders to show their value in regards to points per dollar.Really, there aren’t many surprises in this top scoring group. All are team leaders and have been expected to lead their team from the backend in regards to scoring. 

Obviously there is no sophomore slump for Klingberg. Of course it does not hurt that he is controlling the power play with two of the league’s best young talents in Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. The Stars were confident enough in him going forward that they signed him to a new seven-year, $29.75M contract. His annual cap hit of $4.25M is going to look like a steal if he keeps up this type of production.John Klingberg is still the best bang for the buck on this list, and P.K. Subban, the third highest scoring defenseman in the league now becomes the worst, simply due to his exuberant salary. In salary cap leagues, this type of chart can be just as important as the first one which is simply showing to scorers. Value is emphasized more in the second chart and in the top scorers, Klingberg is the man.

Roman Josi signed a similar, long-term contract with the Predators back in 2013-14 when he was coming off his rookie season. In his rookie year, he played in all 48 games and put up 18 points; certainly nothing special. He was locked up for seven years at an annual cap hit of $4M per year.  It was also a gamble that has paid off for the Predators in spades. They still have four more years after this current season to enjoy Josi and his bargain contract.

Erik Karlsson is probably the biggest bargain on the list though; he also signed a seven-year contract back in 2012-13. At the time of his long-term deal, he had just come off two very successful seasons that saw him put up 45 points in his rookie season and then 78 points in his sophomore year. Since signing that deal, he has put up 154 points in 181 games (just under a point-per-game pace, 0.85 to be exact) and is the player every offensive defenseman inspires to be.

There’s a couple other young offensive defensemen who should be mentioned but aren’t on the chart above.

Morgan Rielly looks to be turning the corner offensively for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 21-year-old former fifth overall pick has three goals and nine assists for 12 points in 19 games.  He’s in the last year of his entry level contract and has a current cap hit of $894,166. That means his value currently sits at $74513 and would have near the top of that chart, easily ahead of Klingberg. Rielly will certainly see a nice increase in his salary at the end of this year (if not before) and deservedly so if he continues to trend upward as he is going.

Colton Parayko has been a pleasant surprise for the St. Louis Blues early on as well. The 22-year-old rookie is in the first year of his two-year deal that sees him making $858,750 against the cap. His five goals and seven assists have been a nice surprise for the Blues, who were looking for a spark when Kevin Shattenkirk went down early in the year with an injury. This type of production versus his cap hit give him a value of $71563 and would have him at the top of this list if I had gone far enough down the numbers. It will be interesting to see how he continues now that Shattenkirk has returned from the IR.

One last name I will include is Rasmus Ristolainen from the Buffalo Sabres. It is hard to believe that at only 21 years old, he is entering his third NHL season. Like Rielly, this is the last year of his entry level contract and will more than likely see a substantial raise as well. His four goals and seven assists look pretty good compared to the $925,000 cap hit he is costing the Sabres. That gives him a value of $84090 today. He has played well early on but one has to wonder how his numbers will continue now that Zach Bogosian has returned from the injured reserve.

Obviously, it is still early into this season and we will see plenty of changes as the year progresses. Klingberg should continue to stay near the top of the value chart and guys like Subban should see his placement rise.  He’s simply too good on the offensive side of things to stay down. I won’t be surprised to see guys like Suter and Seabrook slide further down off this list as the year progresses but I have been proven wrong before.

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As always, thanks for reading.  Comments are always welcome and you can follow me on twitter @chrispudsey