Unrestricted Free Agents Everywhere And Not A Dime To Spend On Them

According to sources, when the CBA is finally signed, sealed and delivered one of the provisions therein will allow teams to purge themselves of some of their sillier signings. The provision will permit teams to buy out two players each at 2/3 of their projected (post 24% rollback) salary. The result will likely be more unrestricted free agents than ever before, and, with the new cap, less money to spend on them. It should be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Here's a list of some of the more likely buy outs or, put another way, some of the more ridiculous contracts around the League (all salaries are pre-rollback):

• Bobby Holik, NYR (2 more years at $9m per year)
• Alexei Yashin, NYI (6 more years at $10m per year)
• John LeClair, PHI (2 more years at $9m per year)
• Tony Amonte, PHI (1 more year at $6m per year)
• Keith Tkachuk, STL (2 more years at $9m per year)
• Bill Guerin, DAL (2 more years at $9m per year)
• Owen Nolan, TOR (1 more year at $6m per year)

Source: The Hockey News