The Man Advantage: Emerging Defensemen

The Man Advantage
Mark McLarney, RotoWire Staff Writer

Hey hockey poolies - are all the top PP defensemen in your deep league taken? Guys like P.K. Subban, Shea Weber, Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang? Of course they are. Are you finding it difficult trolling your waiver wire finding decent PP defensemen who can fill out your roster? Of course you are. But don't fret. This week, we take a look at six "deep value" blue liners who could be going unnoticed in your leagues. Most of these guys weren't seeing very much PP time as recently as a few weeks ago, but hey, things change. Nowadays, they're seeing a big jump in their minutes. At least a few of them are probably available in your league - go see if they can be picked up for cheap.

Jordan Leopold, D, COB: In what could turn out to be a career-saving trade, the 34-year-old Leopold was dealt by St. Louis to Columbus in mid-November, and has since seen a healthy jump in ice time. Under-utilized by the defense-rich Blues, Leopold was a healthy scratch for 10 games from Oct 24 to Nov 14. However, since his arrival in Columbus, he has played in eight consecutive games in a top-four role, averaging roughly 18½ minutes per night. He didn't see any PP time his first four games with his new team, but in the last four games he has averaged over two PP minutes per contest and scored a goal. With injuries to Fedor Tyutin (lower body) and Ryan Murray (knee), it looks like the Jackets will continue to lean on Leopold to provide them with some PP offensive support from the blue line, at least for the foreseeable future.

Jason Demers, D, DAL: Looking for another good reclamation project success story? How about Demers, who went from frequent healthy scratch with the Sharks to top-pairing D-man following a mid-November trade to the Stars? Despite having guys like Trevor Daley and Alex Goligoski on the roster, Dallas was seeing limited scoring output from the blue line, and thus decided to swing a deal for Demers who has seen modest success over the years as a puck-moving defenseman. Demers made an immediate impact for his new team, scoring the game winner in his first game against the Kings Nov. 22, a goal which also came on the power play. Since his arrival, Demers' ice time has jumped from 16-18 minutes per game to the 21-22 minute level, including roughly 2:00-3:00 on the PP, usually on the second unit.

Jakub Kindl, D, DET: After not seeing any meaningful PP time during the month of October, Kindl began seeing regular minutes beginning last month, averaging just over two minutes per night over his last 10 games. Aside from a four-game stretch in the second half of November where he sat as a healthy scratch, Kindl has been fairly productive for a third-pairing defenseman this season, registering seven points (2G, 5A) - five of which have come on the PP. Since returning from his trip to the press box, he has three assists in five games, two of those coming with the man advantage. Following his first game back (Nov. 24 vs. OTT), coach Mike Babcock was asked what Kindl had to do to remain in the lineup. "Just flat out compete," Babcock said. So far, it looks like Kindl's compete level has been enough to keep him both on the ice, and on the power play.

Brayden McNabb, D, LOS: McNabb proved long ago that he could score in the AHL (95 points in 145 games for the Rochester Americans), but has never really stuck at the NHL level - until now. Since being traded by the Sabres in March, McNabb has found a new home in L.A. where he has played in every single game for the Kings so far this season. Initially, he did not see any real PP time during October and early November, but he has since found himself seeing regular minutes on the Kings' second unit, averaging 1:55 over his last 10 games. He also has seven assists over that span, two of which were registered with the man advantage. He typically lines up with the likes of Justin Williams, Dustin Brown and Jarret Stoll, with Drew Doughty seeing the majority of first-unit PP time.

Marco Scandella, D, MIN: There seems to be a real mumps epidemic hitting the NHL this season - particularly the Wild's blue line corps - and Scandella has seen both the best and worst of it. Scandella actually got off relatively easy when he came down with the illness back in mid-November, missing only two games. However, this pales in comparison to the amount of time several of his teammates have been forced to miss, including Christian Folin (five games), Jonas Brodin (seven games) and Keith Ballard (nine games). More recently, stud defenseman Ryan Suter is the latest to be hit. Bad news for Suter, but good news for Scandella, who saw 25:07 worth of ice time in Suter's absence (Dec. 3 vs. MON), including a season-high 4:29 on the power play. He has just eight points on the season thus far (including one PP assist), however if Suter is out for an extended period with the illness, as many of his teammates have been, there should be plenty of opportunities for Scandella to provide some offense in his stead.

John Klingberg, D, DAL: Okay, with the amount that's been written about Klingberg over the past couple of weeks, maybe he doesn't really qualify as a "deep value" pick as much as the other guys on this list. On the other hand, given the fact that he's only owned in 29% of all Yahoo! leagues right now, maybe he does. Klingberg burst onto the scene in mid-November and went largely unnoticed in his first three games, but since then has gone on quite a tear, with three goals and six assists over his next eight contests. Even though one of those points have come on the power play, he's still eating up a ton of PP minutes every night, averaging 2:44 in the 11 games he's played to date, including a whopping 6:39 against the Kings on Nov. 22. Bottom line, it appears Klingberg, along with the aforementioned Jason Demers, have taken over from Trevor Daley as the top PP defensemen in Dallas, at least for the time being.