With one day in the books in the 2010 NHL free agency period -- that wasn’t really a frenzy as much as it was nutty -- here’s the top free agents remaining (and their 2009-2010 cap hit) who are still looking for jobs.
Forwards:
Ilya Kovalchuck - 27 - $6,389,300
Pavol Demitra - 35 - $4,000,000
Mike Modano - 40 - $3,450,000
Fredrik Modin - 35 - $3,250,000
Patrick O’Sullivan - 25 - $2,925,000
Owen Nolan - 38 - $2,750,000
John Madden - 37 - $2,750,000
Lee Stempniak - 27 - $2,500,000
Matthew Lombardi - 28 - $2,900,000
Maxim Afinogenov - 30 - $800,000
Alexei Ponikarovsky - 30 - $2,105,000
Ryan Potulny - 25 - $525,000
Eric Belanger -32 - $1,750,000
Mike Comrie - 29 - $1,250,000
Kyle Wellwood - 27 - $1,200,000
Raffi Torres - 28 - $2,250,000
Aaron Asham - 32 - $640,000
Defensemen:
Marc-Andre Bergeron - 29 - $750,000
Pavel Kubina - 33 - $5,000,000
Carlo Colaiacovo - 27 - $1,283,333
Ruslan Sulei - 35 - $3,025,000
Denis Grebeshkov - 26 - $3,150,000
Joe Corvo - 33 - $2,625,000
Kim Johnsson - 34 - $540,000
Shaone Morrison - 27 - $1,975,000
Nick Boynton - 31 - $1,500,000
Goaltenders:
Evgeni Nabokov - 34 - $5,375,000
Marty Turco - 34 - $5,700,000
Jose Theodore - 33 - $4,500,00
Ray Emery - 27 - $1,500,000
Vesa Toskala - 33 - $4,000,000
Denis Yann - 29 - $500,000
Patrick Lalime - 35 - $1,000,000
Wade Dubielewicz - 31 - $600,000
Matt Climie - 27 - $574,500
Some thoughts:
The run was on defensemen the first day, leaving plenty of forwards for the pickings in the next few days. With the amount of overly expensive contracts we’ve seen so far, it’s not surprising to see teams take it easy and wait for the market to shake out a bit.