NHL Free Agency: Calgary Flames Top Five Targets

Mar 28, 2015; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Los Angeles Kings defenseman Andrej Sekera (7) skates with the puck in the third period against the Minnesota Wild forward Nino Niederreiter (22) at Xcel Energy Center. The Minnesota Wild beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

5. Andrej Sekera – Los Angeles Kings

Andrej Sekera is a 29 year old left shooting defender who was dealt last year from the Carolina Hurricanes to the Los Angeles Kings at the trade deadline after Slava Voynov was lost for the season due to his legal troubles.

Thanks to Voynov’s status still being up in the air and the fact that the Kings are in salary cap trouble even if they get relief from Voynov’s contract, there is little chance that Sekera will re-sign with the Kings before hitting the market on Wednesday.

Sekera has proven to be a solid top four defenceman in the league and really broke out for the Hurricanes in the 2013-14 season. The native of Slovakia scored 11 goals and 44 points in 74 games that season, which would turn out to be his last full year in Carolina.

The Kings gave up a first round pick in next year’s draft and a solid prospect in Roland McKeown who was a second round pick last year to get Sekera, so he clearly has value around the league. Combined between the Kings and Hurricanes, Sekera scored 23 points in 63 games.

Sekera would make a perfect second pairing defenceman on the Flames next season. He would pair up with Dennis Wideman and play behind the top duo of Giordano and Brodie and provide solid two way play for Calgary, pushing Kris Russell down to the third pairing where he would be a better fit.

The thing with signing players to contracts as UFAs is that there is always a bidding war and they are almost always overpaid by the time they sign a new contract. My best guess is that Sekera will end up agreeing to a five year contract at $4.5 million per year.