With the 2010 NHL Free Agency market set to open on Thursday, we’ll be listing the top unrestricted free agents in all three positions throughout the day. This isn’t the full list of free agents, but it’s a good chunk of them. The defensemen:
| Player | Age | Team | 09-10 cap hit |
| Pavel Kubina | 33 | Atlanta | $5 million |
| Sergei Gonchar | 36 | Pittsburgh | $5 million |
| Kim Johnsson | 34 | Chicago | $4.85 million |
| Paul Martin | 29 | New Jersey | $3.8 million |
| Derek Morris | 31 | Phoenix | $3.3 million |
| Ruslan Sulei | 35 | Colorado | $3.02 million |
| Randy Jones | 28 | Los Angeles | $2.75 million |
| Joe Corvo | 33 | Washington | $2.625 million |
| Anton Volchenkov | 28 | Ottawa | $2.5 million |
| Brian Pothier | 33 | Carolina | $2.5 million |
| Dan Hamhuis | 27 | Pittsburgh | $2 million |
| Shaone Morrison | 27 | Washington | $1.975 million |
| Jordan Leopold | 29 | Pittsburgh | $1.75 million |
| Carlo Colaiacovo | 27 | St. Louis | $1.28 million |
| Zybnek Michalek | 27 | Phoenix | $1.25 million |
| Marc-Andre Bergeron | 29 | Montreal | $750,000 |
| Lukas Krajicek | 27 | Philadelphia | $700,000 |
| Brett Lebda | 28 | Detroit | $650,000 |
| Kurtis Foster | 28 | Tampa Bay | $600,00 |
Quick analysis:
Not exactly an elite group of defensemen this season, as teams have done a good job of locking up their elite soon-to-be free agents before they hit the open market on Thursday.
What’s left is an okay group of good but not great defensemen, highlighted by the impending free agency of Sergei Gonchar. He’s one of the older defensemen in this group, yet still puts up a high number of points. I doubt he’ll see another $5 million-a-year contract, but he’s going to make some team happy should Pittsburgh fail, or decide not to, keep him.
Paul Martin would certainly seem to be the next best player available, followed by Dan Hamhuis, Anton Volchenkov and perhaps Joe Corvo.
Two names to keep an eye on are Kurtis Foster and Marc-Andre Bergeron. I know that MAB got a bad rap in Montreal, but both he and Foster were the two of the most valuable defensemen in the NHL last season in point production.
