Perhaps the best thing about free agency this year is that
the class has become so weak.
Now that Tomas Plekanec, Patrick Marleau, Nicklas Lidstrom,
Tomas Holmstrom, etc. have re-signed with their respective teams, the list of
quality free agents set to be available tomorrow has rapidly diminished.
GM Glen Sather’s recent remarks about how he plans to build
from within, sign his own free agents, and avoid overspending this summer
seemed farfetched a few weeks ago, but now it’s hard to imagine who is left
that anyone will want to pay big money. Of course, Sather showed with Wade Redden that he’s willing to give
monster deals to undeserving players even when no other teams are interested,
but let’s hope he’s learned his lesson.
The fact is, there really aren’t many free agents left who
can expect big money deals in July. Beyond Ilya Kovalchuk, who the Rangers likely won’t (read: can’t) be in
on, there aren’t many forwards left who will command significant money. Sure Teemu Selanne, Ray Whitney, Matthew Lombardi
and Alex Frolov are nice players, but none will break the bank.
On the defensive side, it’s possible that Sather might go
hard after Anton Volchenkov, Dan Hamhuis, Sergei Gonchar, Paul Martin, or
Zbynek Michalek, but the point is that the star power of this free agent class
is severely lacking.
For a compulsive spender like Sather, maybe its best that
temptations are removed from the market before he gets a chance to fantasize
about them.
Blueshirt Bulletin will have live coverage of free agency
starting at noon tomorrow.
- I’ll be hosting a BlogTalkRadio show at 12 p.m.
- Another CoverItLive chat
- Updates on Blueshirtbulletin.com and our Twitter feed of
the latest news and rumors
