Best Bang for the Buck - Defence, Part 2

Continuing my Best Bang for the Buck - Defense series, part two is below. If you have any comments ("You're so right", "You're so stupid", etc) please feel free to leave them.

Detroit Red Wings - $19.1M
Brian Rafalski is likely to be seen as an upgrade over an aging Mathieu Schneider but that's no knock on Schneider. With multi-time Norris winner Niklas Lidstrom leading the charge, and never-aging vet Chris Chelios bringing up the rear, it's a solid lineup. Oft-injured Niklas Kronwall has yet to live up to expectations but if he can stay healthy, he'll be great on the second line. An above-average lineup at an above-average price.

Edmonton Oilers - $15.5M
They traded away their captain Jason Smith to get Joni Pitkanen - for at least one season - and then signed Sheldon Souray to give them some more offense on D. Steve Staios will pick up the slack from the departure of Jason Smith and Dick Tarnstrom will try and rebound after a year in the Swiss league. For the service they'll receive from this squad, they've slightly overpaid. Unless Pitkanen starts to live up to his expectations, and soon.

Florida Panthers - $13.9M
Jay Bouwmeester has one year left on his contract and will certainly be looking to show the Panthers that he's worth big money. And Bryan Allen is all that's left of the Luongo trade. Ouch. Tomas Vokoun will need to turn in a big year behind this group.

Los Angeles Kings - $15M
Rob Blake, Tom Preissing, Lubomir Visnovsky, Brad Stuart. How's that for a top-four! With Visnovsky still under his previous contracts cap hit of a mere $1.8M, this team is looking like quite a steal. If Jack Johnson can make the lineup, they'll possibly be icing the most well-rounded ratio of youngsters to vets and offensive to defensive d-men. But if Johnson makes the lineup - when he does - that will bring their cap hit up around $18M due to bonuses (unless they defer the bonus payouts to next year) making them less of a steal.

Minnesota Wild - $14.9M
An overall solid, not spectacular, lineup that just missed being in the top-10 in shots against per game last year. There likely isn't room for Shawn Belle unless they make some roster moves but the Wild will be icing a solid lineup at a reasonable price.

Montreal Canadiens - $19M
Replacing Sheldon Souray with Roman Hamrlik is a slight win for Montreal. Hamrlik has a very underrated point shot and is better defensively than Souray can ever hope to be. Andrei Markov is signed up to lead the squad while Brisebois is signed on for...something. But I don't see them getting $19M worth of defense out of this group.

Nashville Predators - $10.4M
The absense of Kimmo Timonen is certainly not helpful. Greg DeVries will bring in some veteran leadership and combined with Shea Weber - who has developed quite nicely - they can help make up for that absensce. If Ryan Suter can continue to develop then the Predators could have an under-the-radar squad on their hands for a bottom-dollar price.

New Jersey Devils - $12.6M
That is a bargain basement price and for good reason. The loss of Rafalski will really hurt the Devils as they're now left with Colin White and Vitaly Vishnevsky, who are solid defensive defenceman, and the offensive slack will be picked up by Karel Rachunek and Paul Martin. That duo combined for less points than Rafalski produced last year. I can't see the Devils not trying to upgrade their D before Christmas. EDIT: Cap hit adjusted to account for Paul Martin's new deal.

New York Islanders - $9.2M
The Islanders also have a pretty rag-tag group on D. The Isles snagged up one of the top remaining booby prizes for UFA defencemen in Andy Sutton. He is a big shot-blocker who likes to hit, but he's certainly not a #1 defenseman. He and Brendan Witt will do the job clearing the crease while Marc-Andre Bergeron will quarterback the powerplay. While you don't need a marquee defenceman to win a championship, you do need more than this.

New York Rangers - $13.2M
The safe bet says their cap number will drop by approximately $2.989M before the season starts. Coincidentally, that's the cap savings they would get if they sent Kasparaituis to the minors. Weird. Paul Mara is a quality defenceman and Marek Malik is a game-breaking shootout star. Rozsival puts up a solid 0.5 PPG on the offensive side. If Marc Staal can be all he can be and crack the lineup, this will be an acceptable squad.

Part 3 yet to come followed up by a finale naming the team with the Best Bang for the Buck on Defence. Stay tuned!