It would seem that if an NHL team wants to do a major overhaul of it’s roster, a la the 2009 Canadiens, they’re going to have to go to the trade market.  It’s a given that the quality level of this year’s crop of NHL unrestricted free agents is the thinnest ever.  The dropoff in talent after you get by Ilya Kovalchuk, Tomas Plekanec, Patrick Marleau, Dan Hamhuis and Anton Volchenkov is acute with many of the players either of  third and fourth line calibre, aging veterans or underachievers.  For that reason, we may see unprecedented activity in the trade market with, on one hand, some teams looking to shed big contracts to meet salary cap issues and others motivated to improve their club with top talent.   

The Canadiens are one of those teams that have to go both ways.  In order to make any substantial moves they will have to first clear cap space.  I’m sure they would like to get some first or second line size at both the left wing and centre position.   Read here the  full list of the 2010 UFA’s position-by-position via fromtherink.com. Any ideas? 

Sunday commentary from around the league’s cities.

 Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun

GMs have traditionally used the market to fill empty spots and even change the face of a franchise. But this UFA market lacks big names and impact players. There won’t be the same drama.

San Jose’s Patrick Marleau, New Jersey’s Ilya Kovalchuk and Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec lead the forwards who are set to hit the market. Nashville’s Dan Hamhuis, Pittsburgh’s Sergei Gonchar and Ottawa’s Anton Volchenkov are the top blueliners.

“If you want to remake your team, the ability to do that isn’t there this year,” said the executive. “There just isn’t the depth that you’ve had in past years.

“Sure, you could go out and sign a guy like Tomas Plekanec to a contract worth $4.5 million (all terms US) per year, but then you’re going to hate yourself every day after that happens.”

 Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe

The Bruins have approximately $51 million committed to existing contracts, which leaves them with little cash to be major players in free agency come July 1. But given how thin the market projects to be, they aren’t missing out on much. After Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrick Marleau, pickings become awful slim in the impact department. Kovalchuk is being pursued by Russian teams, while Marleau, a career Shark, could return to San Jose. “Maybe [Tomas] Plekanec, too,’’ said one NHL agent. “But among free agents, the third-highest goal scorer was Teemu Selanne. Hey, all the credit to Teemu. But it doesn’t say much about the rest of the crowd.’’ Selanne will turn 40 on July 3, two days after the opening of free agency.

 Larry Brooks – New York Post

It sounds as if Nashville defenseman Dan Hamhuis is going to be the good player on the open market who gets paid way too much money for way too long a time.

At The Hockey News, John Grigg listed an arguable ‘Top-10’ list of UFA’s.  Ilya Kovalchuk 5^th on the list behind defencemen Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek?  Here’s his list.