Free agents Kim Johnsson, Willie Mitchell and Mike Mottau were all 20-minute NHL defensemen last season, and none has a new contract for next season. Paul Kariya also hasn't found work, nor have Bill Guerin and Lee Stempniak, who had 21 and 28 goals, respectively, last season.
Financial considerations led the Blackhawks to part company with goalie Antti Niemi, stopping a puck during Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Flyers.
The Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on Monday parted ways with No. 1 goalie Antti Niemi because they considered his arbitration award too steep.
"There are teams with cash and no cap room, and there are teams with cap room and no budgetary room," Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke said. "That's why there are so many players unsigned."
With just over a month to go before the start of training camp, 50-plus unrestricted free agent veterans are looking for employment.
"I think everyone is tying up their key players, and the squeeze has been on the bottom six forwards and bottom two defensemen," Burke said. "There have been bargains already, and there will be more bargains."
The strangeness of this summer's marketplace has been accented by the Blackhawks being forced, by salary-cap issues, to trade away five players from their championship team and then declining to accept Niemi's $2.85 million arbitration award.
"I believe I could have fit him under the cap," said Niemi's agent, Bill Zito. "But it would be (wrong) to say the cap didn't have something to do with their decision."
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SOURCE: USA Today
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