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# What's a 6th Defenseman Anyway? - A Brett Lebda Study
- URL: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/whats-a-6th-defenseman-anyway-a/
- Published: 2010-07-08T16:01:04.000Z
- Updated: 2010-07-08T16:01:04.000Z
- Author: Colin Odneal
- Tags: #chorus, #Import 2023-04-05 11:15

Last night, [for some reason or another](https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/brett-lebda-maple-leafs/), Brian Burke signed defenseman [Brett Lebda](http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55731/Brett%5FLebda?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) to a two-year deal worth $1.45M per. I'll just come out and say that I am not a fan of the signing. Had Kaberle or Finger been moved/waived first, then I'd like it a little more. Anyways, it looks like Lebda will be our 6th defenseman for the upcoming season once Kaberle and Finger are dealt with.

That then got me thinking; Lebda's contract struck me as being too much for too little (he's 5'9"), I wonder what the average contract and performance of a #6 defenseman in the NHL is like? So off to [NHL.com](http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20102ALLDADAll&sort=avgTOIPerGame&viewName=summary&ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) and [capgeek.com](http://capgeek.com/?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) I went to scrounge up some numbers.

To determine who was a team's #6 defenseman, I compared their TOI/G and their games played for the 2009-2010 season, and then used a little judgement to determine who was in fact that team's 6th defenseman *for the majority of the season*. Then once I had my list of names, I plugged them into capgeek to determine their salary cap hit. If that player was under contract, I used that figure; if they had signed a new contract beginning in the 2010 season, I used that figure; if they had their contract expire this summer and have yet to sign a new contract, I used their cap hit from the previous season.

Check out the numbers and discussion after the jump.

| **Player** | **Team**  | **TOI/G**  | **Pts**   | **$$**    | **w/ bonus** |
| ---------- | --------- | ---------- | --------- | --------- | ------------ |
| **Lebda**  | **DET**   | **14:59**  | **8**     | **1.450** |              |
| Brookbank  | ANA       | 14:57      | 9         | 0.750     |              |
| Schubert   | ATL       | 15:46      | 7         | 0.883     |              |
| Stuart     | BOS       | 17:01      | 7         | 1.300     |              |
| Sekera     | BUF       | 17:26      | 11        | 1.000     |              |
| Pardy      | CGY       | 15:51      | 9         | 0.700     |              |
| Carson     | CAR       | 17:22      | 12        | 0.522     |              |
| Barker     | CHI       | 13:05      | 21        | 3.083     |              |
| Wilson     | COL       | 16:16      | 21        | 0.552     |              |
| Russell    | CBJ       | 18:35      | 22        | 1.300     |              |
| Fistric    | DAL       | 14:55      | 10        | 1.000     |              |
| Strudwick  | EDM       | 16:56      | 6         | 0.725     |              |
| Kulikov    | FLA       | 17:56      | 16        | 0.900     | 1.325        |
| Drewiskie  | LAK       | 15:14      | 8         | 0.617     |              |
| Hnidy      | MIN       | 13:32      | 14        | 0.750     |              |
| O'Byrne    | MTL       | 15:15      | 4         | 0.942     |              |
| Franson    | NSH       | 14:11      | 21        | 0.693     |              |
| Fraser     | NJD       | 12:22      | 6         | 0.500     |              |
| Meyer      | NYI       | 16:46      | 15        | 0.588     |              |
| Gilroy     | NYR       | 16:18      | 15        | 1.750     |              |
| Campoli    | OTT       | 17:50      | 18        | 0.633     |              |
| Bartulis   | PHI       | 13:58      | 9         | 0.600     |              |
| Demers     | SJS       | 15:25      | 21        | 0.543     |              |
| Weaver     | STL       | 16:57      | 10        | 0.800     |              |
| Walker     | TBL       | 16:09      | 5         | 1.700     |              |
| Schenn     | TOR       | 16:52      | 17        | 0.875     | 2.975        |
| O'Brien    | VAN       | 17:00      | 8         | 1.600     |              |
| Erskine    | WAS       | 15:58      | 6         | 1.250     |              |
|            |           |            |           |           |              |
| **AVG**    | **15:53** | **12.000** | **1.000** |           |              |

So basically a #6 defenseman plays 15:53 minutes a game on average; scores 12 points over the course of the season; and comes with a caphit of around $1M. (Note: If you remove [Cam Barker](http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/56126/Cam%5FBarker?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com) from Chicago and replace him with [Jordan Hendry](http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/56115/Jordan%5FHendry?ref=pensionplanpuppets.com), the average caphit falls to $912k)

So what does that tell us about Brett Lebda and the contract he was given yesterday? Well it tells me that for a 6th defenseman, he's overpaid and under performing. In fact, per my numbers, he's now the 4th highest paid #6 defenseman in the league.

Thoughts?