For instance, Sergei Zuobv signed a three year deal that will keep him in Dallas through the 2007-08 season. What did it cost the Stars to bring back the only active defenseman with none consecutive 40-point seasons? Merely an average of $4 million per season.

On offense there are players available like Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, Mike Modano, Alexei Kovalev, Pavol Demitra, Ziggy Palffy, Bobby Holik, Miroslav Satan, Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, plus many more.

On defense, teams can look into signing Scott Niedermayer, Adam Foote, Sergei Gonchar, Brian Leetch, Brian Rafalski (my pick for the Wild to sign), Mathieu Schneider, Mike Rathje, Roman Hamrlik, and many others.

Where will these players end up? And for how much? Nobody knows for certain. But some things are known. 1.) NO player will make more than $7.8 million/season due to the cap of a player not making more than 20% of the team’s salary cap number. 2.) NHL clubs may be hesitant to push themselves right up to that $39 million cap with another strong free agent class coming up next season. Names like Joe Thornton, Jerome Iginla, Chris Pronger, Vincent Lecavlier, Jose Theodore, Ed Jovanovski, Wade Redden, Zdeno Chara, Sergei Samsonov, Patrick Marleau. Marty Turco, Evgeni Nabokov, Patrick Elias and Ryan Smith could be available next season if they don’t resign with their clubs. So the clubs that have these guys need to leave cap room so they can sign them to extensions, and the teams that don’t have these guys need to save cap room so they can pursue them next summer.

The teams expected to reap the greatest benefits from this year’s free agency period are Columbus, Pittsburgh, Nashville and Atlanta. Minnesota could be a player as well, though GM Doug Risebrough’s philosophy has been to build from within and just add complimentary pieces to the puzzle through free agency. That could again be the case this season, though adding even one big name like Rafalski on defense could go a long way towards taking Minnesota to the next level. It’s a fine line to walk…giving your up-and-coming talent ice time while also icing a team that is capable of competing for the Stanley Cup. Let’s hope Risebrough is a good tight-rope walker.