Kent Huskins

Every NHL team has a guy like Huskins. He is someone who does all of the dirty work for a club without getting much recognition for his talents. The defender delivers hits, blocks shots and has the energy to chase down pucks. Such traits makes him a team player, but not exactly someone you'll be fighting over in fantasy hockey. Formerly with the Sharks, Huskins will throw on a new sweater in 2011-12 after signing a one-year, $1 million deal with the Blues this past July.

Huskins posted a career high in points last season (22), and he could improve on those numbers in 2010-11 since he should grab more ice time with defenseman Rob Blake retired. However, as an oft-injured blueliner, the 82 games that Huskins played last season should be considered an aberration. Plus, Huskins fell flat in the postseason as he went pointless and posted an ugly minus-five in 15 games. There are simply better fantasy options on the Sharks blue line, let alone across the league.

San Jose acquired Huskins from Anaheim last season hoping to get another capable blueliner for their playoff run, however, the experiment proved futile for two reasons: one, Huskins hadn’t fully recovered from a broken right foot and secondly, the Sharks were wiped out by Anaheim by the first round of the postseason. Still, Team Teal must see something in Huskins based on their decision to sign him to a two-year, $3.4 million deal this past offseason. Avoid him in fantasy land though, because he’s not even close to being the best option on his own team, let alone the entire league.

With Mathieu Schneider likely on his way out of town, Huskins might be the blueliner who gets an opportunity for more ice time. He'll need things to really fall his way to provide fantasy owners with more than 25-30 points at the offensive end, but his plus-23 rating from last season suggests some value for those in deeper leagues. It will be nice to see what Huskins can do with more shifts and a goal scorer or two on his line to pass to, but as it stands now, he is someone to monitor for increased playing time or to take a flyer on in deeper leagues hoping for injuries to free up shifts.

Huskins will start the season at Portland (AHL), but he put up 8-23-31 last year and has some upside as a depth blueliner if needed.