NHL's Top Ten Bluelines

Brad Lukowich is underrated. He is a fantastic penalty killer with poise and experience (two Stanley Cups with two different teams, although Dallas did not earn theirs!). Marc-Eduoard Vlasic is solid on both ends and a great shot-blocker, with the stamina of someone his age (20) and presence of a veteran. B-

Christian Ehrhoff is a great skater who is developing nicely defencively and has shown skill on the offencive end. However, he does get rattled by the forecheck and cannot be counted on to put the puck on net. Douglas Murray is a tremendous defencive player whose still-developing offencive skills and sub-standard skating make him useful only on that end. C

Kyle McLaren is good defencively and a great penalty killer. He is also fair on the offencive end, but struggles to stay healthy. The Sharks may need to send him to the minors in order to stay under the cap, but don’t expect anyone to claim him with his $2.5+ million salary. The next best option is Derek Joslin, a skilled defenceman who has yet to play in the NHL. D

In the interest of space, I will round out the top ten without the same detailed analysis:

7. Dallas Stars: Sergei Zubov, Phillipe Boucher, Stephane Robidas, Trevor Dailey, Matt Niskanen, Marc Fistric, Nicklas Grossman, and Dan Jancevski. Rating: 6.8

8. Florida Panthers: Jay Boumeester, Keith Ballard, Nick Boynton, Bryan Allen,  Karlis Strastins, Noah Welch, Mike Van Ryn, and a host of others if desperate. Rating: 6.7

9. Phoenix Coyotes: Ed Jovanovski, Derek Morris, Zbynek Michalek, David Hale, Keith Yandle, Matt Jones, Kurt Sauer, and Drew Fata. Rating: 6.6

10. New York Rangers: Wade Redden, Dmitri Kalinin, Michal Rozsival, Dan Girardi, Paul Mara, Marc Staal, Ivan Baranka, and Thomas Pock. Rating: 6.4

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