Market for defensemen changing quickly

Three weeks ago, here at RLD, Ryan took a look at the top defensemen in the NHL’s free agent pool this off-season. With the opening of free agent frenzy less than 48 hours away, the market for blueliners has changed considerably.

First, we got the official word last Thursday that the Salary Cap (and floor) would be rising by $5 million – think of it as close to a 10% COLA number. This announcement is a jolt to the budgets of teams at both ends of the spectrum. With 10 teams below the floor, 7 significantly, suddenly there’s a lot more cash that must be spent on salary.

Secondly, a few teams with desperate needs like San Jose and Toronto, which Ryan highlighted, took the path of making a trade during the draft in order to get the player they wanted, avoiding the uncertainty of the July 1 rush.

The Sharks’ Doug Wilson acquisition of Minnesota’s Brent Burns for a steep price (Devin Setoguchi, a highly rated prospect Charlie Coyle AND their first round pick in 2011) got a big round of applause in St Paul. To a lesser degree, Brian Burke getting John-Michael Liles from Colorado for a 2nd rounder in 2011 indicated the same strategy, and shows how badly GMs do not want to enter the wild bidding wars come Friday. Both the acquired players have just one year remaining on their contracts.

Dale Tallon's Florida Panthers are another team required to take on salary while also needing some leadership on the back end. Brian Campbell's remaining 5 years at over $7mil per will help, as Tallon was kind enough to relieve Chicago's Scotty Bowman of that contract Friday in exchange for Rostislav Olesz. What a bizarre situation where overpriced and lengthy contracts are suddenly in demand.

And last, and contrary to expectations, three of the top UFA blueliners, the Canucks’ Kevin Bieksa (5 yrs at $4.6mil/yr), the Hurricanes’ Joni Pitkanen (3 yrs at $4.5mil/yr), and Tampa Bay’s Eric Brewer (4 yrs at $3.85mil.yr) have re-upped with their current teams at what most regard as discounted terms. Andrei Markov (Montreal, 3 yrs at $5.75mi/yr) continues with no increase from his previous contract.

These contracts seem modest compared to the inflated figures we expected in this off-season, where supply/demand algorithms developed from the increase in budget and lack of depth in this year’s class of UFAs would suggest it was a sellers/players market.

Who’s left?

Christian Ehrhoff (28), Tomas Kaberle (33) and James Wisniewski (27) now become the biggest targets out there. Or you move on to names like Ian White, Scott Hannan or Jan Hejda. Older veterans Brent Sopel, Ed Jovanovski, Bryan McCabe suddenly seem more viable. Sami Salo anyone?

The plum position no doubt is that offered by the Red Wings GM Ken Holland. Who will take over Brian Rafalski’s spot paired with the living legend that is Nick Lidstrom? Though Garth Snow now has 2 more days to negotiate with Ehrhoff, whose rights he acquired from Vancouver yesterday, others speculate the 28-year-old German is now the leading candidate in Detroit.

How much will the Islanders, who have a long ways to go to reach the floor, offer Ehrhoff to lock him up so that Holland never enters the negotiations? Wisniewski is apparently the other candidate Detroit has their sights on. Three months ago, in your wildest dreams, would you have seen Lidstrom and Wisniewski as Detroit's top pairing next season? Didn't think so.

The pickings are slim, the need is great. The pieces are in place for a crazy day Friday. As always, expect the unexpected and contract terms that stagger the imagination. They don’t call it "Silly Season" for nothing.

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