Let's go through a list of the 15 most sought after skater (in my opinion and not in order) unrestricted free agents and where they've signed (as of July 4th):
Suter, Parise - Minnesota
Jagr, Whitney - Dallas
Hudler, Wideman* - Calgary
Smyth, Schultz - Edmonton
Parenteau - Colorado
Garisson - Vancouver
Carle - Tampa
Jokinen - Winnipeg
Kuba - Florida
Semin and Doan - unsigned
Northwest Division - 8 players
Southeast Division - 3 players
Pacific Division - 2 players
..That's it.
Nothing from the traditional big players in the Northeast, the Central, or the Atlantic.
The top 10 most valuable NHL teams according to Forbes includes all original 6 teams at 1-6, followed by Vancouver, Philly, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles.
Of these teams only the Canucks have been able to attract a player on that list.
That player was Jason Garisson of White Rock, B.C. who has less than 200 NHL games under his belt in 3 seasons with a grand total of 59 career points. Granted, last year he was 3rd in the league among D-men in goals and tied for 32nd in total points - but at $4.6M per season for 6 years he isn't exactly a superstar coming in.
From all the rumours I hear all the big market teams are out there looking for free agents but it seems the free agents are looking equally at the smaller markets.
With Detroit, New York, Toronto, Boston, Montreal, Chicago, Vancouver, and Philadelphia losing their long held advantage you can be sure we're headed to a lockout.
*Wideman wasn't really unrestricted, but he's included.
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