Protadin Weapon, Quest Reward helpFollow

So I've been trying to plan out my gear in advance (rather than the way I did it in TBC which was to choose willy nilly). I came across this quest: Wanted: Ragemane's Flipper. The rewards for this quest offer two very decent tanking weapons: Hammer of Quiet Mourning and Sword of Heartwrenching Slaughter (great name BTW!). I can only choose one, so there is no going back once the decision is made.

Which reward is the best pre-raid tanking option for my Draeni pally?

The Hammer has defense, and I realize the need to get defense to 535/540 for heroic/raids. However, I've noticed that a lot of the gear out there is loaded with defense, especially the BS crafted items which I plan on getting.

Would it be a better option to go with the Sword since there seems to be an abundance of defense gear and a lack of avoidance gear out there? Or should I go for defense which is a critical stat and not worry about avoidance as much.

Or, is there a better weapon out there that maybe I don't know about yet?

(Please note at this time my pally is only 71 and don't really have any new tanking gear, so I have a looooong way to go).

Thanks!

I anticipate the need for Defense. It takes a little bit of work at 80 to get yourself up to 540.. it's not too bad, but it doesn't just drop in your lap (even if you have all of the crafted epics before hand).

Incidentally, there's also a sword as a reward for a quest in Icecrown that's pretty much equal to both of those. Actually, I'd rate the mace as the best of the three -- but only by the slimmest margin.

I took the mace because my Pally likes maces better. Maces fit my pallies RP desires.