Even More Potential Free Agents

When the free agent market opens up, there's a pretty good chance that Markus Naslund will be out and available to the highest bidder. What that bid may be, may still be in the Canucks' ballpark, but until we find out for sure, it is likely he'll have a new home come July. Let's also take into consideration, the amount of speculation hovering around that he may return to Sweden for his final seasons of professional hockey.

The Minnesota Wild are likely to let Slovakian winger, Pavol Demitra, go to unrestricted free agency in July. There are plenty of rumours swriling around this playmaker heading to all sorts of places, so he could be one of the more valuable free agents this summer. Demitra only managed to play in 68 games this season, which only gave him 54 points, so his health should be a concern at age 33.

The Washington Capitals have already announced that franchise goalie, Olaf Kolzig, will not be returning to the US Capital next season, so he will officially be an unrestricted free agent come July 1st. Kolzig still has the mindset that he is a number one goalie in this league, but his age, 38, may be his only argument otherwise. There are a couple of teams who may look towards his services as a stop gap while prospects grow and mature. Teams that come to mind would be Los Angeles or Florida.

The hard work and grit from Ryan Malone should earn him a raise for next season from his $1.375 million he earned last season and it all could fit well in Pittsburgh, if the raise is good enough for their books. Malone had 51 points (27G, 24A) in 77 games for the Penguins this year and has had a pretty good playoff season, as the Penguins continue in the Cup Finals. Of course, negotiations with Malone probably won't get under way until after these Finals and it really does seem unlikely he'll get a chance to see the open market.

Veteran forward, Mark Recchi, will have a summer of questions in front of him. The 40-year old is going to have to check to see what is left in the tank before he goes out to market and agree to play another 82-game season in the NHL. Recchi may still have a lot of experience and leadership to offer a young team, which could be a pretty good bargain at around the $1 million mark. If there was any educated guesses to be made, I would assume that he would find one of his old teams that enjoyed having him around, in case he wants to make the move to being behind the bench or anywhere else within the franchise. As you may have seen on TSN, he might have a future in TV as well.

There is a good chance that Johan Holmqvist has seen this part of his career before. Holmqvist played in the NHL for a short period before heading back to Sweden. The Tampa Bay Lightning had one good season out of him before the wheels fell off and then he was shipped to Dallas to be Marty Turco's back-up. There hasn't been a lot of buzz around Holmqvist heading into the free agent frenzy this summer. A possible trip back to Sweden looks possible here.

More retirement speculation surrounds our next potential free agent. Brendan Shanahan finished a pretty good season in the Big Apple, helping the team back into the playoffs. His 46 points (23G, 23A) in 73 games, however, were probably not worth the $5.3 million he was worth against the cap. Shanahan, now 39, should have some more fight in him, but there could be a few clubs offering him something significantly less than what he made last season and eyebrows will be raised if he holds out for more.

Dallas will have another choice to make with a key forward in their line-up. Niklas Hagman, 28, had an improvement in his numbers, finishing the season with 41 points (27G, 14A) in all 82 games. Hagman finally finished in the Top 200 in pool scoring and was a waiver draft pick up in the regular season pool, because of his good goal scoring. If teams believe that Hagman is now peaking in his career, he could earn as much as $3 million per season in a new deal. The grinding winger could get some consideration from a few clubs next season, if Dallas decides to let him test the waters.