All week leading up to Sunday, July 1, we’ll be profiling unrestricted free agents and speculating where they might end up.
Michal Rozsival (D)
Age: 33
2011-12 cap hit: $5 million
The skinny:
The early indication is that Rozsival’s final moment in a Phoenix uniform involved ending up on the wrong side of a controversial Dustin Brown hit. Indeed, it appears the return of Zbynek Michalek to the desert will allow the Coyotes to part ways with the 33-year-old Czech-born blue-liner.
It’s difficult to predict where Rozsival will land, but the stay-at-home defenseman will almost certainly need to take a significant pay cut from the hefty $5 million cap hit he previously generated.
Even though the Brown hit reportedly left no significant damage, he’s becoming more injury prone with age. After missing time since the lockout, he played in just 65 games in 2010-11 and 54 this past season.
That being said, this is a notably thin market for defensemen and Rozsival’s perception rebounds once you forget about the salary he was pulling in. He could be a shrewd (if not particularly sexy) addition for a team searching for stability and depth on the blue line.
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