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[ladiesandgentlemen]

Though many may re-sign and never hit the market, here is a pretty comprehensive rundown of those players still scheduled to become UFAs:

BACKCHECKING: A LOOK AT THE 2009 FREE AGENT CLASS

Marian Hossa, LW, Detroit - Signing a one-year deal with the Wings seemed a little risky at the time and seems that way even more with the prospect of a shrinking salary cap in years to come. Nevertheless, Hossa's done his part, scoring 34 goals in 61 games.

Jay Bouwmeester, D, Florida - A tough decision for the Panthers to keep Bouwmeester past the trade deadline in order to make a playoff push this season, with the risk that Bouwmeester will leave for a more hockey-friendly market in the summer. His price keeps going up, as he's having the best year of his career.

Martin Havlat, RW, Chicago...
Mike Komisarek, D, Montreal...
Alex Tanguay, LW, Montreal...
Johan Franzen, LW, Detroit...
Michael Cammalleri, LW, Calgary...

Scott Niedermayer, D, Anaheim - There's nothing wrong with the 45 points he's put up this year and could easily play next season at 36 years of age, but there ought to be some concern with his career-low minus-13 this season, a mark that ranks second-lowest on the Ducks, ahead of only Scott's brother, Rob.

Daniel Sedin, LW, Vancouver...
Henrik Sedin, C, Vancouver...
Alex Kovalev, RW, Montreal...
Marian Gaborik, RW, Minnesota...
Mattias Ohlund, D, Vancouver...
Rob Blake, D, San Jose...
Nikolai Khabibulin, G, Chicago...
Mats Sundin, C, Vancouver...
Saku Koivu, C, Montreal...
Martin Biron, G, Philadelphia...
Tim Thomas, G, Boston...
Erik Cole, RW, Carolina...
Nik Antropov, RW, N.Y. Rangers...
Manny Fernandez, G, Boston...
Antero Niittymaki, G, Philadelphia...
Brian Gionta, RW, New Jersey...
Petr Sykora, RW, Pittsburgh...
Johnny Oduya, D, New Jersey...
Mike Comrie, C, Ottawa...
Steve Sullivan, RW, Nashville...
Bill Guerin, RW, Pittsburgh...
Mathieu Schneider, D, Montreal...
Jordan Leopold, D, Calgary...
Sergei Fedorov, C, Washington...
Jaroslav Spacek, D, Buffalo...
Niclas Havelid, D, New Jersey...
Mike Knuble, RW, Philadelphia...
Todd Bertuzzi, RW, Calgary...
Craig Anderson, G, Florida...
Ales Kotalik, RW, Edmonton...
Tomas Kopecky, C, Detroit...
Dwayne Roloson, G, Edmonton...
Nick Boynton, D, Florida...
John Madden, C, New Jersey...
Keith Tkachuk, LW, St. Louis...
Jere Lehtinen, RW, Dallas...
Jason Williams, C, Columbus...
Mikael Samuelsson, RW, Detroit...
Viktor Kozlov, RW, Washington...
Steve Reinprecht, C, Phoenix...
David Moss, LW, Calgary...
Mike Grier, LW, San Jose...
Ruslan Fedotenko, LW, Pittsburgh...
Marc-Andre Bergeron, D, Minnesota...
Adrian Aucoin, D, Calgary...
Ian Laperriere, RW, Colorado...
Dennis Seidenberg, D, Carolina...
Paul Mara, D, N.Y. Rangers...
Derek Morris, D, N.Y. Rangers...
Dominic Moore, C, Buffalo...
Richard Zednik, RW, Florida...
Chad LaRose, RW, Carolina...
Potential Retirement?
Mark Recchi, RW, Boston...
Doug Weight, C, N.Y. Islanders...
Robert Lang, C, Montreal...
Jeremy Roenick, C, San Jose...
Claude Lemieux, RW, San Jose...
Chris Chelios, D, Detroit
Joe Sakic, C, Colorado...
Sergei Zubov, D, Dallas...
Mike Sillinger, C, N.Y. Islanders...
Olaf Kolzig, G, Toronto...
Curtis Joseph, G, Toronto...
Brendan Shanahan, LW, New Jersey...

Other Potential Unrestricted Free Agents:
Darryl Sydor, D, Dallas; Philippe Boucher, D, Pittsburgh; Karlis Skrastins, D, Florida; Miroslav Satan, RW, Pittsburgh; Travis Moen, LW, San Jose; Radek Dvorak, RW, Florida; Samuel Pahlsson, C, Chicago; Manny Malhotra, C, Columbus; Mathieu Garon, G, Pittsburgh; Bobby Holik, C, New Jersey; Ville Peltonen, LW, Florida; Matt Walker, D, Chicago; Steve Montador, D, Boston; Hal Gill, D, Pittsburgh; Aaron Johnson, D, Chicago; Rob Scuderi, D, Pittsburgh; Alexei Semenov, D, San Jose; Ken Klee, D, Phoenix; Ville Koistinen, D, Nashville; Marty Reasoner, C, Atlanta; Ty Conklin, G, Detroit; Mikael Tellqvist, G, Buffalo; Kyle Calder, LW, Los Angeles; Stephen Valiquette, G, N.Y. Rangers; Brian Boucher, G, San Jose; Brent Johnson, G, Washington; Greg Zanon, D, Nashville; Christian Backman, D, Columbus; Andrew Alberts, D, Philadelphia; Francis Bouillon, D, Montreal; Greg de Vries, D, Nashville; P.J. Axelsson, LW, Boston; Brendan Morrison, C, Dallas; Martin Skoula, D, Minnesota; Kent Huskins, D, San Jose; Teppo Numminen, D, Buffalo; Jassen Cullimore, D, Florida; Joel Ward, RW, Nashville; Chris Neil, RW, Ottawa; Patrice Brisebois, D, Montreal; Cory Murphy, D, Tampa Bay; Michael Peca, C, Columbus; Andy Hilbert, C, N.Y. Islanders; Stephane Yelle, C, Boston; Blair Betts, C, N.Y. Rangers; Mike Rupp, C, New Jersey; Maxim Afinogenov, RW, Buffalo; Taylor Pyatt, RW, Vancouver; Scott Nichol, C, Nashville; Ben Guite, C, Colorado; Radek Bonk, C, Nashville; Bret Hedican, D, Anaheim; Ossi Vaananen, D, Vancouver; Stephane Veilleux, LW, Minnesota; Rob Niedermayer, LW, Anaheim; Yann Danis, G, N.Y. Islanders Martin Gerber, G, Toronto; Kevin Weekes, G, New Jersey; Brad Winchester, LW, St. Louis Vernon Fiddler, C, Nashville; Jason LaBarbera, G, Vancouver; Dean McAmmond, C, N.Y. Islanders Ryan Bayda, LW, Carolina; Steve Begin, RW, Dallas; Shane Hnidy, D, Boston; Dmitri Kalinin, D, Phoenix; Mathieu Dandenault, D, Montreal; Marek Malik, D, Tampa Bay; Kurtis Foster, D, Minnesota; Donald Brashear, RW, Washington; Jason Strudwick, D, Edmonton; Curtis Sanford, G, Vancouver; Josef Melichar, D, Tampa Bay; Mike Weaver, D, St. Louis; Lasse Kukkonen, D, Philadelphia; Thomas Pock, D, N.Y. Islanders; Craig Adams, RW, Pittsburgh; Matt Pettinger, LW, Tampa Bay; Denis Gauthier, D, Los Angeles; Tyler Sloan, D, Washington; Rob Davison, D, Vancouver; Derek Armstrong, C, Los Angeles; Dan Hinote, C, St. Louis; Mark Parrish, RW, Dallas; Tyler Arnason, C, Colorado; Alexandre Giroux, C, Washington; Chris Conner, LW, Dallas; Todd Marchant, C, Anaheim; Daniel Tjarnqvist, D, Colorado; Eric Perrin, C, Atlanta; Brad May, LW, Toronto; Michael Zigomanis, C, Pittsburgh; Krystofer Kolanos, C, Minnesota; Dany Sabourin, G, Edmonton; Manny Legace, G, St. Louis; Andrew Raycroft, G, Colorado; Lawrence Nycholat, D, Colorado; Joey MacDonald, G, N.Y. Islanders; Jamie Lundmark, RW, Calgary; Christopher Minard, LW, Pittsburgh; Jason Jaffray, C, Vancouver; Ben Ondrus, RW, Toronto; Doug Janik, D, Montreal; Boyd Devereaux, RW, Toronto; Bryan Helmer, D, Washington; Landon Wilson, RW, Dallas; Colton Orr, RW, N.Y. Rangers; Andre Roy, RW, Calgary; Wade Brookbank, LW, Tampa Bay; Brad Staubitz, RW, San Jose; David Koci, LW, Tampa Bay; Josh Gratton, RW, Philadelphia

Restricted Free Agents to come in a future edition of Backchecking.

TSN

I have a thought that Teemu might retire, in spite of being signed through next season. If he does, I think we will be in the market for another top-six LW, as Bobby should slide back over to RW.

Of course, Hossa would be most preferred, but probably unrealistic financially. Daniel Sedin would be good, but is supposedly a package deal with his bro at bout $12mil per. Tanguay is a talent, but is somewhat soft and has had Havlat-type of shoulder problems this year. Squid would be good but might be too expensive.

Franzen is interesting. He possibly would be a great match for Getzlaf/Perry. I think using him on the second line would make us too slow, so EC could slide over with Bobby and Ebby.

[ladiesandgentlemen]

Partial list of RFA's (notables):

The NHL's salary cap for next season is expected to flat-line and remaing around $56. 7 million and it is expected to drop substantially in 2010-11...

... Here's a list of this summer's most notable NHL RFAs:

ANAHEIM DUCKS: Erik Christensen, James Wisniewski.

ATLANTA THRASHERS: Colby Armstrong, Kari Lehtonen.

BOSTON BRUINS: Phil Kessel, David Krejci.

BUFFALO SABRES: Clarke MacArthur, Andrej Sekera, Drew Stafford.

CALGARY FLAMES: Dustin Boyd.

CAROLINA HURRICANES: Anton Babchuk, Jussi Jokinen, Tuomo Ruutu.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: Cam Barker, Dave Bolland, Kris Versteeg.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: Ole-Kristian Tollefsen

COLORADO AVALANCHE: Peter Budaj.

DALLAS STARS: Tobias Stephen.

DETROIT RED WINGS: Jiri Hudler.

EDMONTON OILERS: Gilbert Brule, Denis Grebeshkov, Ladislav Smid

FLORIDA PANTHERS: David Booth, Steve Eminger.

LOS ANGELES KINGS: Jack Johnson.

MINNESOTA WILD: Josh Harding.

MONTREAL CANADIENS: Chris Higgins, Guillaume Latendresse, Tomas Plekanec.

NASHVILLE PREDATORS: Ryan Jones.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS: Andy Greene, Travis Zajac

NEW YORK ISLANDERS: Blake Comeau.

NEW YORK RANGERS: Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Nikolai Zherdev.

OTTAWA SENATORS: Brian Elliott.

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS: None.

PHOENIX COYOTES: Petr Prucha, Scottie Upshall,Keith Yandle.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS: Alex Goligoski.

SAN JOSE SHARKS: Ryane Clowe.

ST. LOUIS BLUES: Jay McClement.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: Lukas Krajicek.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Mikhail Grabovski, Justin Pogge.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS: Steve Bernier, Shane O'Brien, Kyle Wellwood.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS: Shoane Morrisonn, Eric Fehr

Lyle Richardson@ Foxsports

[Todrick]

I have a thought that Teemu might retire, in spite of being signed through next season.

I don't think there is even a question about it. He will not retire.

Partial list of RFA's (notables):

Funny they left Moen, Huskins and Pahlsson off that list

[ladiesandgentlemen]

I don't think there is even a question about it.

Wrong

He will not retire.

Right... thankfully.

Funny they left Moen, Huskins and Pahlsson off that list

Note that it is an RFA, not UFA, list.

Here's another list:

A look at 50 of the top free agents

... The doors to hockey's shopping season swing open on July 1. Here's a look at 50 of the top potential free agents -- 15 defensemen, 25 forwards and 10 goaltenders...

Read more at NHL.com ->

If we snag our guys off that list, we will be sitting pretty. At least the first one...