Best Bang for the Buck - Defence, Finale

It's time. On the tails of Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 comes the grand finale. I've got it narrowed down to 4 teams so let's go over the final four and then find out who the big winner is. In no particular order (ok, it's alphabetical):

Calgary Flames
You can't go wrong with Phaneuf and Regehr with Warrener bringing up the rear. But it's hard to say which Adrian Aucoin will show up and I have my reservations on Sarich's worth.

Dallas Stars
The combination of Zubov and Norstrom is one of the best in the league and Boucher rounds out a nice top-3. It's essentially the same squad which allowed the 2nd least shots against in the league last year, except they've added Norstrom and lost Sydor and Modry. So it's a win for them.

San Jose SharksEven without Hannan, this squad has some grit and veteran leadership. They've also got some excellent young d-men to help lead the charge. Top-5 in goals against and shots against last season, they may slip a bit but should still land in the top-10 this season.

Vancouver Canucks
Possibly the most unheralded squad right now. Fitzpatrick is likely out, Bourdon is likely in and that will likely mean an improvement. With Kevin Bieksa still under a $0.5M cap hit, they're a cheap squad and should provide excellent results.

After much bally-who, it's time to put a true order on these teams and decide who has the best ratio of performance to price.

#4 - Calgary Flames ($14.7M) - unfortunately Aucoin and Sarich are question marks in my mind and even though Regehr and Phaneuf are studs, the price point doesn't cut it

#3 - Vancouver Canucks ($13.6M)- Salo and Ohlund are solid, as is the rest of the squad but their cap hit to performance ratio doesn't cut it compared to the next two teams

#2 - San Jose Sharks ($9.9M) - at a mere $9.9M they were my early favorite when I started this series. If it wasn't for the lack of a solid #1, they'd be the shoo-in.

And what you've all been waiting for (if you haven't figured it out by process of elimination)

#1 - Dallas Stars ($13.6M) - Zubov and Boucher put up points and are reliable defensively, while Norstrom will do nothing but help this squad. Top-3 in goals against and shots against last year and they've improved their corps this year.

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the Best Bang for the Buck series. I hope I find time to do the same for goaltending and forwards in the near future.