As the playoffs continues its march toward the Stanley Cup Finals, for fans like myself whose team never even qualified for the post-season while the post-season games are fun to watch you also feel as though you have a lot of extra time to mull over the bigger questions that swirl around your favorite organization. You start thinking about what went wrong in 2009-10, what (if anything) went right, who or what may be to blame, the draft but also free agency. It becomes almost an annual ritual and only a team’s continual participation in the post-season keeps your mind off of those previous questions. In someways, I envy the fans of those teams since they just concern themselves with what is happening right now. No long-hours spent meditating and discussing what player could make the difference or which one is the team’s weakest link. However that is the fate of any fan of a team like the Minnesota Wild; out of the playoffs and with plenty of time on their hands (minds) to consider all these big topics.
As I think about some of those conversations spent on message boards surrounding the Wild, after what even Minnesota General Manager Chuck Fletcher termed as a “disappointing” season I decided to take a look at who will be available this summer and what teams are in a bit of a cap / player crunch. Afterall, what is one team’s misfortune is another team’s potential treasure. That scenario played itself out (sort of) with Minnesota’s acquisition of Martin Havlat from the Chicago Blackhawks who could no longer afford the Czech winger after they had signed Slovak Marian Hossa. Havlat was certainly one of those players who was expected to have had a better season than he did, but Minnesota has him under contract until the 2013-14 season. With the team already at just over $45 million committed to next season that leaves precious little room to fill the glaring holes that played a role in the team’s disappointing season. The Wild were plagued by a revolving door at 2nd line center, whch has been a recurring problem long before Chuck Fletcher and Head Coach Todd Richards became apart of the organization. Minnesota, like just about any team in the league could use another scoring forward to round out its top six and while this may seem insulting to Antti Miettinen who had a career season he really was the beneficiary of being a 3rd liner that played 1st line minutes. The Wild also have a bit of a log jam of young defenseman, Clayton Stoner, Marco Scandella, Justin Falk and Nate Prosser so it seems unlikely Minnesota will re-sign Shane Hnidy or John Scott who does have some limited usefulness in the enforcer role. Minneapolis Star Tribune‘s Wild beat writer Michael Russo has noted that he thinks the team will likely re-sign disappointing center James Sheppard even though he has done little to justify such loyalty after having an abysmal 6 point season. After the team gives appreciable raise to restricted free agent Guillaume Latendresse who was a revelation this season there will not be much left over to add the two crucial missing pieces of a 2nd line center and another goal scoring forward. If the team can take any solace from not be able to make many moves, is that there is not a whole lot of quality free agents that could make a significant difference to the Wild’s roster. Even if the team wanted to acquire that impact player, as you will also see there are a number of other teams who are far better positioned within the salary cap to make such a move.
So which soon-to-be free agents interest you the most? Which one free agents do you think could perhaps put the Wild in the playoffs next season? Or will Minnesota basically have to hope to improve from within? While you would like to be able to make some significant changes after a disappointing season there just is not a lot of room under the cap for the Wild to do so and this will prompt the team to look for ‘affordable’ options which means players who may be able to deliver some of what is wanted but likely not all that is needed for this team to get to the next level.
Just take a look for yourself. All of these salary statistics are from nhlnumbers.com, and the asterisk * denotes players who are restricted free agents as well as a listing of the players’ respective salary from the 2009-10 season.
Anaheim Ducks – ($36.828 million committed for 2010-11)
C – Saku Koivu ~ $3.25M
RW – Teemu Selanne ~ $2M
D – Sheldon Brookbank ~ $550k
D – Aaron Ward ~ $2.5M
*RW – Bobby Ryan ~ $765k
*C – Kyle Chipchura ~ $500k
Atlanta – ($27.898 million committed for 2010-11)
LW – Slava Kozlov ~ $3.85M
RW – Colby Armstrong ~ $2.4M
C – Jim Slater ~ $840k
RW – Maxim Afinogenov ~ $800k
LW – Eric Boulton ~ $600k
RW – Evgeny Artyukin ~ $1M
D – Pavel Kubina ~ $5M
D – Christoph Schubert ~ $900k
G – Johan Hedberg ~ $1.175M
*C – Bryan Little ~ $850k
*LW – Clarke MacArthur ~ $1.4M
*RW – Niklas Bergfors ~ $500k
*G – Ondrej Pavelec ~ $850k
Boston – ($46.140 million committed for 2010-11)
RW – Mark Recchi ~ $1M
LW – Steve Begin ~ $850k
RW – Shawn Thornton ~ $550k
RW – Miroslav Satan ~ $700k
D – Dennis Seidenberg ~ $2.25M
*RW – Blake Wheeler ~ $875k
*LW – Dan Paille ~ $1.35M
*C – Vladimir Sobotka ~ $625k
*D – Mark Stuart ~ $1.5M
*D – Johnny Boychuk ~ $500k
Buffalo – ($43.118 million committed for 2010-11)
RW – Mike Grier ~ $1.2M
LW – Matt Ellis ~ $500k
LW – Raffi Torres ~ $2.75M
D – Toni Lydman ~ $3.15M
D – Henrik Tallinder ~ $3.25M
G – Patrick Lalime ~ $1M
*RW – Patrick Kaleta ~ $522k
Carolina – ($41.758 million committed for 2010-11)
LW – Ray Whitney ~ $3.55M
D – Brian Pothier ~ $2.5M
D – Jay Harrison ~ $500k
G – Manny Legace ~ $500k
*D – Brett Carson ~ $522k
*D – Alexandre Picard ~ $850k
Calgary – ($49.108 million committed for 2010-11)
C – Craig Conroy ~ $1M
C – Chris Higgins ~ $2.25M
LW – Eric Nystrom ~ $775k
RW – Brian McGrattan ~ $547k
RW – Jamal Mayers ~ $1.4M
G – Vesa Toskala ~ $4M
*D – Ian White ~ $950k
Chicago – ($57.566 million committed for 2010-11)
C – John Madden ~ $2.75M
C – Adam Burish ~ $725k
D – Kim Johnsson ~ $5.3M
D – Nick Boynton ~ $1.5M
*LW – Andrew Ladd ~ $1.65M
*LW – Ben Eager ~ $965k
*C – Colin Fraser ~ $700k
*D – Niklas Hjalmarsson ~ $666k
*G – Antti Niemi ~ $827k
Columbus – ($47.595 million committed for 2010-11)
D – Nathan Paetsch – $1.05M
*RW – Jared Boll ~ $550k
*D – Anton Stralman ~ $665k
Colorado – ($28.290 million committed for 2010-11)
LW – Darcy Tucker ~ $2.3M
RW – Marek Svatos ~ $2.35M
LW – David Koci ~ $575k
C – Matt Hendricks ~ $500k
LW – Chris Durno ~ $500k
C – Stephane Yelle ~ $550k
D – Brett Clark ~ $3.5M
D – Ruslan Salei ~ $3.275M
D – Adam Foote ~ $3.25M
G – Peter Budaj ~ $1.25M
*RW – Chris Stewart ~ $850k
*RW – Brandon Yip ~ $575k
*C – Peter Mueller ~ $850k
*D – Kyle Quincey ~ $550k
Dallas – ($35.701 million committed in 2010-11)
C – Mike Modano ~ $2.25M
LW – Jere Lehtinen ~ $1.5M
C – Krys Barch ~ $575k
C – Toby Petersen ~ $550k
G – Marty Turco ~ $5.4M
*LW – James Neal ~ $720k
*D – Nicklas Grossman ~ $1.05M
*D – Matt Niskanen ~ $805k
*G – Kari Lehtonen ~ $3M
Detroit – ($39.905 million committed in 2010-11)
LW – Tomas Holmstrom ~ $2.25M
RW – Todd Bertuzzi ~ $1.5M
C – Jason Williams ~ $1.5M
LW – Kirk Maltby ~ $750k
LW – Brad May ~ $500k
D – Niklas Lidstrom ~ $7.45M
D – Andreas Lilja ~ $1.25M
*RW – Patrick Eaves – $500k
*LW – Drew Miller – $525k
Edmonton – ($41.842 million committed in 2010-11)
RW – Fernando Pisani ~ $2.5M
C – Mike Comrie ~ $1.25M
C – Ryan Stone ~ $600k
D – Jason Strudwick ~ $700k
D – Dean Arsene ~ $500k
*C – Sam Gagner ~ $875k
*C – Andrew Cogliano ~ $850k
*C – Marc-Antoine Pouliot ~ $925k
*C – Gilbert Brule ~ $800k
*C – Ryan Potulny ~ $595k
*D – Theo Peckham ~ $585k
Florida – ($46.622 million committed in 2010-11)
LW – Steve MacIntyre ~ $550k
*C – Greg Campbell ~ $800k
*C – Kamil Kreps ~ $800k
*C – Nick Tarnasky ~ $550k
Los Angeles – ($44.642 million committed in 2010-11)
LW – Alexander Frolov ~ $4M
LW – Fredrik Modin ~ $3.5M
LW – Raitis Ivanans ~ $600k
C – Jeff Halpern ~ $2M
D – Randy Jones ~ $3M
D – Sean O’Donnell ~ $1.25M
*C – Brad Richardson ~ $600k
*RW – Scott Parse ~ $550k
Minnesota – ($45.424 million committed in 2010-11)
RW – Owen Nolan ~ $2.75M
C – Andrew Ebbett ~ $500k
LW – Robbie Earl ~ $550k
LW – Derek Boogaard ~ $1.25M
D – Shane Hnidy ~ $750k
D – John Scott ~ $550k
G – Wade Dubielewicz ~ $600k
*C – James Sheppard ~ $850k
*RW – Guillaume Latendresse ~ $803k
*G – Josh Harding ~ $1.1M
Montreal – ($45.732 million committed in 2010-11)
C – Tomas Plekanec ~ $2.75M
C – Glen Metropolit ~ $1M
C – Dominic Moore ~ $1.1M
LW – Mathieu Darche ~ $600k
D – Paul Mara ~ $1.675M
D – Marc-Andre Bergeron ~ $750k
*C – Maxim Lapierre ~ $800k
*LW – Sergei Kostitsyn ~ $585k
*LW – Benoit Pouliot ~ $803k
*C – Tom Pyatt ~ $685k
*G – Carey Price ~ $850k
*G – Jaroslav Halak ~ $800k
Nashville – ($41.2 million committed in 2010-11)
RW – Wade Belak ~ $650k
D – Dan Hamhuis ~ $2.5M
D – Francis Bouillon ~ $750k
G – Dan Ellis ~ $2M
*RW – Patric Hornqvist ~ $620k
*C – Dustin Boyd ~ $650k
*D – Denis Grebeshkov ~ $3.15M
*D – Cody Franson ~ $525k
New Jersey – ($41.1 million committed in 2010-11)
LW – Ilya Kovalchuk ~ $7.5M
C – Rob Niedermayer ~ $1M
LW – Dean McAmmond ~ $500k
D – Paul Martin ~ $4.5M
D – Mike Mottau ~ $775k
D – Martin Skoula ~ $575k
G – Yann Danis ~ $500k
*D – David Clarkson ~ $875k
New York Islanders – ($31.943 million committed in 2010-11)
C – Doug Weight ~ $2M
LW – Jon Sim ~ $1M
RW – Richard Park ~ $800k
RW – Tim Jackman ~ $550k
LW – Trevor Gillies ~ $500k
D – Freddy Meyer IV ~ $600k
G – Martin Biron ~ $1.4M
*LW – Sean Bergenheim ~ $925k
*C – Rob Schremp ~ $715k
*LW – Jeff Tambellini ~ $625k
*LW – Matt Moulson ~ $575k
New York Rangers – ($45.597 million committed in 2010-11)
C – Olli Jokinen ~ $5.5M
C – Vaclav Prospal ~ $1.1M
LW – Jody Shelley ~ $725k
LW – Pierre-Andre Parenteau ~ $500k
D – Anders Eriksson ~ $600k
G – Alex Auld ~ $1M
*RW – Enver Lisin ~ $790k
*C – Erik Christensen ~ $750k
*C – Brandon Prust ~ $525k
*D – Dan Girardi ~ $1.6M
*D – Marc Staal ~ $765k
Ottawa – ($49.571 million committed in 2010-11)
C – Matt Cullen ~ $2.8M
RW – Shean Donovan ~ $650k
D – Anton Volchenkov ~ $3.2M
D – Andy Sutton ~ $3.5M
*LW – Nick Foligno ~ $785k
*C – Peter Regin ~ $620k
*C – Jesse Winchester ~ $575k
*D – Chris Campoli ~ $675k
Philadelphia – ($48.61 million committed in 2010-11)
RW – Arron Asham ~ $640k
D – Lukas Krajicek ~ $700k
G – Ray Emery ~ $1.5M
G – Michael Leighton ~ $600k
*LW – Daniel Carcillo ~ $938k
*C – Darroll Powe ~ $532k
*D – Braydon Coburn ~ $1.4M
*D – Ryan Parent ~ $765k
Phoenix – ($28.762 million committed in 2010-11)
C – Matthew Lombardi ~ $2.35M
C – Robert Lang ~ $1M
LW – Taylor Pyatt ~ $600k
RW – Lee Stempniak ~ $3.5M
D – Adrian Aucoin ~ $2.25M
D – Zbynek Michalek ~ $1.5M
D – Derek Morris ~ $3.3M
D – Mathieu Schneider ~ $1.55M
*LW – Scottie Upshall ~ $1.5M
*C – Martin Hanzal ~ $850k
*C – Daniel Winnik ~ $600k
*LW – Wojtek Wolski ~ $3.1M
*D – Sami Lepisto ~ $550k
Pittsburgh – ($45.108 million committed in 2010-11)
RW – Bill Guerin ~ $2M
LW – Ruslan Fedotenko ~ $1.8M
LW – Matt Cooke ~ $1.2M
LW – Alexei Ponikarovsky ~ $2.5M
D – Sergei Gonchar ~ $5.5M
D – Mark Eaton ~ $2M
D – Jay McKee ~ $800k
D – Jordan Leopold ~ $1.75M
San Jose – ($35.748 million committed in 2010-11)
C – Patrick Marleau ~ $6.3M
C – Scott Nichol ~ $750k
C – Manny Malhotra ~ $700k
RW – Jed Ortmeyer ~ $550k
D – Rob Blake ~ $3.5M
D – Niclas Wallin ~ $1.725M
G – Evgeni Nabokov ~ $6M
*C – Joe Pavelski ~ $1.725M
*RW – Brad Staubitz ~ $500k
St. Louis – ($27.652 million committed in 2010-11)
LW – Paul Kariya ~ $6M
LW – Brad Winchester ~ $800k
D – Carlo Colaiacovo ~ $1.4M
D – Daryl Sydor ~ $1M
D – Mike Weaver ~ $800k
G – Chris Mason ~ $3M
*C – Alexander Steen ~ $1.7M
*LW – David Perron ~ $875k
*LW – D.J. King ~ $550k
*RW – Cam Janssen ~ $550k
*RW – Matt D’Agostini ~ $500k
*D – Erik Johnson ~ $850k
Tampa Bay – ($39.606 million committed in 2010-11)
LW – Alex Tanguay ~ $2.5M
LW – Stephane Veilleux ~ $750k
C – Zenon Kenopka ~ $500k
RW – Brandon Bochenski ~ $550k
D – David Hale ~ $725k
D – Kurtis Foster ~ $600k
D – Mike Lundin ~ $550k
G – Antero Niitymaki ~ $600k
*RW – Steve Downie ~ $600k
*RW – Ted Purcell ~ $600k
*D – Paul Ranger ~ $1.1M
Toronto – ($44.208 million committed in 2010-11)
C – Wayne Primeau ~ $1.4M
C – Rickard Wallin ~ $800k
C – Jamie Lundmark ~ $600k
D – Mike Van Ryn ~ $3.35M
D – Garnet Exelby ~ $1.725M
*LW – Nikolai Kulemin ~ $850k
*C – John Mitchell ~ $500k
*C – Christian Hanson ~ $875k
*G – Jonas Gustavsson ~ $810k
Vancouver – ($45.008 million committed in 2010-11)
RW – Pavol Demitra ~ $4M
C – Kyle Wellwood ~ $1.2M
C – Ryan Johnson ~ $1.2M
LW – Matt Pettinger ~ $500k
D – Willie Mitchell ~ $3.5M
G – Andrew Raycroft ~ $500k
*LW – Mason Raymond ~ $760k
*RW – Jannik Hansen ~ $550k
*D – Shane O’Brien ~ $1.6M
Washington – ($35.902 million committed in 2010-11)
C – Brendan Morrison ~ $1.5M
RW – Scott Walker ~ $2.5M
LW – Quintin Laing ~ $500k
C – Eric Belanger ~ $1.75M
D – Shaone Morrisonn ~ $1.975M
D – Milan Jurcina ~ $1.375M
D – Joe Corvo ~ $2.75M
G – Jose Theodore ~ $4.5M
*C – Tomas Fleischmann ~ $725k
*D – Jeff Schultz ~ $715k
*C – Nicklas Backstrom ~ $850k
*RW – Eric Fehr ~ $772k
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
