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Which NHL teams have the most expensive defense?

Greg Wyshynski

The Minnesota Wild have seven defensemen under contract for next season. One of them is Ryan Suter, just added $7,538,462 to their overall cap figure. And yet, the Wild have among the NHL's lowest cap hits for their defense: $15,610,961 or almost $9 million less than the San Jose Sharks.

The miracle that is Cap Geek allows for many hours of puckhead diversion; that includes charts that tally up the total cap hits for specific positions on NHL teams — such as on defense.

So which NHL teams besides the San Jose Sharks are loading up on defense? And does a wealthy 'D' mean a better chance at the Cup?

Via Cap Geek, the top paid defenses in the NHL, via the cap:

Team

Signed D-men

$/Player

Total $ to defensemen

San Jose Sharks

7

$3,446,667

$24,126,667

Philadelphia Flyers

8*

$3,356,548

$23,495,833

(Tampa Bay Lightning)

(8**)

($2,935,268)

($23,482,143)

Chicago Blackhawks

7

$3,334,066

$23,338,461

Vancouver Canucks

7

$3,325,000

$23,275,000

Calgary Flames

8

$2,902,083

$23,216,666

Buffalo Sabres

8

$2,868,125

$22,945,000

Boston Bruins

7

$2,935,476

$20,548,333

Ottawa Senators

6

$3,416,389

$20,498,333

Columbus Blue Jackets

7

$2,912,687

$20,388,810

Florida Panthers

6

$3,377,979

$20,267,875

* The Flyers' number was inflated by Chris Pronger's $4,921,429 against the cap; since we don't expect him to play next season, we've subtracted that from the original total ($28,417,262).

** The Tampa Bay Lightning's totals are listed here for the eight defensemen currently under contract; take off injured D-man Mattias Ohlund, and the total drops to $19,875,000 for seven players, or an average of $2,839,286 per defenseman.

Seven of those 11 teams made the playoffs last season, although six of them lost in the first round. Only the Philadelphia Flyers went on to skate another day.

Not counting Pronger, the Flyers' blue line features three players that make $4 million or more against the cap: Kimmo Timonen ($6,333,333), Braydon Coburn ($4.5 million) and Andrej Mezaros ($4 million). The Sharks have two defensemen making over $5.7 million: Dan Boyle ($6,666,667) and Brent Burns ($5,760,000). The Blackhawks don't have a defenseman under contract making less than $1.12 million dollars.

If we filter it down to the top average salaries for defensemen, it looks like this. (Unlike in our chart, Pronger's salary is factored in here.)

Now, what if we factor in goaltenders into the defensive cost analysis? (No Pronger here.)

There are some teams that drop off, and some that hop into the top 10.

Team

Signed Goalies/Defensemen

Totals for D/G

Vancouver Canucks

9

$32,608,333

Philadelphia Flyers

9

$30,062,500

Calgary Flames

10

$29,912,499

Buffalo Sabres

10

$29,870,000

San Jose Sharks

9

$28,514,167

Chicago Blackhawks

9

$27,155,128

Tampa Bay Lightning

10

$26,582,143

Edmonton Oilers

10

$25,966,666

Montreal Canadiens

8

$25,900,000

New Jersey Devils

9

$25,141,667

Jumping onto the list are the Edmonton Oilers, with $7.25 million tied up between Devan Dubnyk and Nikolai Khabibulin; the New Jersey Devils, with $5.9 million shared between Martin Brodeur and Johan Hedberg; and the Montreal Canadiens, who just broke the bank on Carey Price ($6.5 million) and still have PK Subban to pay.

Hey now: Where are the New York Rangers and Henrik "$6,875,000 against the cap" Lundqvist in all of this?

Near the bottom of the League:

The Rangers currently have five defensemen under contract, with Michael Del Zotto out there as an RFA. They also have Ryan McDonagh on his rookie deal, and he'll get paid pretty soon.

As for the Nashville Predators ... well, one imagines their costs won't rise by $7,538,462 this summer.

Any surprises on these lists?