Attention NHL Shoppers: Lightning Free Agent Frenzy Is Here!

Now that the draft is over, Bolthead Nation can focus on the “Free Agent Frenzy” that begins on Thursday, July 1.

The Tampa Bay Lightning probably won’t get involved in signing an upper echelon free agent player. The free agent pool is shallow as compared to other years and new GM Steve Yzerman simply cannot afford to spend much money. The Lightning already are paying $45 million for the services of defensemen Andrej Meszaros, Matt Walker and Mattias Ohlund. Captain Vincent Lecavalier is owed $76 million over the next ten years. Superstar Steven Stamkos must be signed long term and will break the bank with his next contract, while Victor Hedman will come calling in 2012. Yzerman has stated that it is a priority to re-sign Martin St. Louis and he is certain to get more than his current bargain basement $4 million. The only way the Bolts will add a top notch player is through a trade, probably involving fan favorite Ryan Malone and his “bad” contract. Malone is signed through the 2012-13 season and will make $6 million in the upcoming season, much too pricey for his 69 game, 47 point, -8 performance last season.

Lightning GM Steve Yzerman realizes the predicament that he is in andwill not act just to make headlines, an all too common trait of the former management team. “As much as I would love to have a big splash on July 1,” Yzerman said, “I don’t want to sign a player just to have a press conference. It has to make sense. That’s the discipline we have to have. You don’t want to be in a position two years from now where we can’t sign our own players and have to start moving players based on numbers.”

Stevie’s “methodical” approach may pay dividends during the free agent signing period if he remains patient and waits until prices come down.

Here is the breakdown of the Lightning free agents:

UNRESTRICTED
RW Brandon Bochenski, C Ryan Craig, D Kurtis Foster, LW Mitch Fritz, D David Hale, C Zenon Konopka, G Antero Niittymaki, RW Mark Parrish, LW Alex Tanguay, LW Stephane Veilleux

RESTRICTED
RW Steve Downie, C Blair Jones, RW Martins Karsums, C Chris Lawrence, D Mike Lundin, D Vladimir Mihalik, RW Teddy Purcell, D Paul Ranger, LW Juraj Simek, LW Radek Smolenak, C Paul Szczechura, C Nate Thompson, RW Lauri Tukonen

The Lightning have extended offers to ten restricted free agents. They are RW Steve Downie, C Blair Jones, RW Martins Karsums, D Mike Lundin, D Vladimir Mihalik, RW Teddy Purcell, D Paul Ranger, LW Juraj Simek, C Paul Szczechura and C Nate Thompson. RW Chris Lawrence, LW Radek Smolenak and RW Lauri Tukonen did not receive offers and will become unrestricted free agents on July 1.

So you want to be GM Steve Yzerman? Here is your complete free agent store as of June 25. Happy shopping!

2010 NHL Free Agent List

ANAHEIM DUCKS

UNRESTRICTED

D Sheldon Brookbank, LW Kyle Calder, LW Ryan Donally, D Brennan Evans, C Saku Koivu, G Joey MacDonald, D Scott Niedermayer, D Brian Salcido, RW Teemu Selanne, D Aaron Ward

RESTRICTED
LW Bobby Bolt, G Jean-Philippe Levasseur, D Brendan Mikkelson, RW Bobby Ryan, LW Shawn Weller, D James Wisniewski

SIGNED
C Kyle Chipchura (Anaheim, 1 yr., NA)

ATLANTA THRASHERS

UNRESTRICTED
RW Maxim Afinogenov, RW Colby Armstrong, RW Evgeny Artyukhin, LW Eric Boulton, D Chris Chelios, , LW Josh Gratton, G Johan Hedberg, LW Slava Kozlov, D Pavel Kubina, D Steve McCarthy, D Mark Popovic, D Christoph Schubert, C Jim Slater, C Tim Stapleton, D Noah Welch

RESTRICTED
RW Niclas Bergfors, D Chad Denny, LW Ben Eager, C Rylan Kaip, D Scott Lehman, C Bryan Little, LW Clarke MacArthur, G Peter Mannino, G Ondrej Pavelec, RW Matthew Siddall, C Anthony Stewart

LOST
RW Joey Crabb (trade, Chicago), LW Brett Sterling (trade, San Jose), D Mike Vernace (trade, San Jose)

BOSTON BRUINS

UNRESTRICTED
LW Steve Begin, D Drew Fata, C Drew Larman, LW Guillaume Lefebvre, RW Mark Recchi, G Dany Sabourin, RW Miroslav Satan RW, D Andy Wozniewski

RESTRICTED
D Andrew Bodnarchuk, C Gregory Campbell, RW Mikko Lehtonen, LW Jeff LoVecchio, D Zach McKelvie, D Adam McQuaid, LW Daniel Paille, G Kevin Regan, C Vladimir Sobotka, D Mark Stuart, RW, Blake Wheeler

SIGNED
D Dennis Seidenberg (Boston, 4 years, NA), RW Shawn Thornton (Boston, 2 years, $1.625m), D Johnny Boychuk (Boston, 2 yrs. NA)

BUFFALO SABRES

UNRESTRICTED
RW Jeff Cowan, D Joe DiPenta, LW Matt Ellis, G Patrick Lalime, D Toni Lydman, C Adam Mair, C Cody McCormick, D Henrik Tallinder, LW Raffi Torres

RESTRICTED
D Matt Generous, LW Philip Gogulla, D Marc-Andre Gragnani, RW Patrick Kaleta, LW Tim Kennedy, D Michael Kostka, G Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, RW Mark Mancari, D Mike Weber, LW Derek Whitmore

CALGARY FLAMES

UNRESTRICTED
C Craig Conroy, LW Cam Cunning, D Andy Delmore, C Carsen Germyn, LW Christopher Higgins, RW Jamal Mayers, RW Brian McGrattan, C Garth Murray, LW Eric Nystrom, D Brett Palin, C Colin Stuart, G Vesa Toskala

RESTRICTED
D Gord Baldwin, LW Kris Chucko, D Brad Cole, G Matt Keetley, D Matt Pelech, C Brett Sutter, RW David Van der Gulik, RW J.D. Watt, D CIan White

CAROLINA HURRICANES

UNRESTRICTED
LW Mike Angelidis, RW Tim Conboy, D Zach Fitzgerald, RW Steven Goertzen, D Jay Harrison, C Rob Hennigar, G Manny Legace, D Brian Pothier, C Michael Ryan, LW Ray Whitney

RESTRICTED
C Nicolas Blanchard, D Casey Borer, D Brett Carson, RW Nick Dodge, G Justin Peters, D Alexandre Picard, G Justin Pogge, D Bryan Rodney, RW Jerome Samson, C Jiri Tlusty

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

UNRESTRICTED
RW Danny Bois, D Nick Boynton, RW Adam Burish, RW Joey Crabb, C Mark Cullen, D Jassen Cullimore, LW Kyle Greentree, D Kim Johnsson, C John Madden, D Richard Petiot, D Danny Richmond

RESTRICTED
LW Bryan Bickell, D Mike Brennan, C Evan Brophey, C Nathan Davis, , D Jordan Hendry, D Niklas Hjalmarsson, C Adam Hobson, LW Andrew Ladd, G Antti Niemi, D Jean-Claude Sawyer, RW Jack Skille, G Hannu Toivonen

LOST
LW Ben Eager (trade, Atlanta), C Colin Fraser (trade, Edmonton)

COLORADO AVALANCHE

UNRESTRICTED
G Peter Budaj, D Brett Clark, C Philippe Dupuis, C Chris Durno, D Brian Fahey, G John Grahame, RW Darren Haydar, C Matt Hendricks, D David Koci, D Ruslan Salei, C Marty Sertich, D Brett Skinner, RW Marek Svatos, RW Darcy Tucker, G Tyler Weiman, RW Brian Willsie, C Stephane Yelle

RESTRICTED
C Codey Burki, D Ray Macias, RW Peter Mueller, D Wes O’Neill, D Derek Peltier, C Kevin Porter, D Kyle Quincey, RW Chris Stewart, C Julien Talbot, RW Brandon Yip

LOST
C T.J. Hensick (trade, St. Louis)

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

UNRESTRICTED
D Brendan Bell, C Trevor Frischmon, D David Liffiton, C Derek MacKenzie , RW Greg Moore, D Nathan Paetsch, C Raffaele Sannitz, C Alexander Svitov

RESTRICTED
RW Michael Blunden, RW Jared Boll, D Grant Clitsome, C Tomas Kana, C Chad Kolarik, G Dan LaCosta, G Kevin Lalande, D Andrey Plekhanov, LW Tom Sestito, D Anton Stralman

DALLAS STARS

UNRESTRICTED
RW Krys Barch, G Matt Climie, D Andrew Hutchinson, D Dan Jancevski, RW Jere Lehtinen, C Mike Modano, C Warren Peters, RW Tyler Shelast, D Garrett Stafford, G Marty Turco, LW Francis Wathier

RESTRICTED
LW Fabian Brunnstrom, D Maxime Fortunus, C Aaron Gagnon, D Nicklas Grossman, RW Perttu Lindgren, D Trevor Ludwig, LW James Neal, D Matt Niskanen, RW Raymond Sawada

SIGNED
G Brent Krahn (Dallas, 1 yr., NA)

DETROIT RED WINGS

UNRESTRICTED
RW Riley Armstrong, D Doug Janik, D Brett Lebda, D Andreas Lilja, LW Kirk Maltby, LW Brad May, C Ryan Oulahen, RW Jason Williams, C Jeremy Williams

RESTRICTED
LW Justin Abdelkader, RW Patrick Eaves, C Darren Helm, D Siarhei Kolasau, G Daniel Larsson, C Evan McGrath, D Derek Meech, LW Drew Miller, LW Johan Ryno, RW Jamie Tardif, D Ole-Kristian Tollefsen

SIGNED
D Nicklas Lidstrom (Det., 1 yr, $6.2m), LW Tomas Holmstrom (Det., 2 yrs, $3.75m), RW Todd Bertuzzi (Det., 2 yrs. NA)

EDMONTON OILERS

UNRESTRICTED
D Dean Arsene, C Mike Comrie, D Aaron Johnson, LW Charles Linglet, RW Colin McDonald, RW Alexei Mikhnov, LW Chris Minard, D Matt Nickerson, RW Fernando Pisani, LW Brock Radunske, C Ryan Stone, D Jason Strudwick

RESTRICTED
C Gilbert Brule, C Andrew Cogliano, G Jeff Deslauriers, G Devan Dubnyk, C Colin Fraser, C Sam Gagner, D Josef Hrabal, LW Jean-Francois Jacques, LW Bryan Lerg, C Ryan O’Marra, LW Geoff Paukovich, D Theo Peckham, C Ryan Potulny, C Marc Pouliot, LW Liam Reddox, LW Vyacheslav Trukhno

FLORIDA PANTHERS

UNRESTRICTED
G Chris Beckford-Tseu, C David Brine, D Rory Fitzpatrick, C Jamie Johnson, LW Steve MacIntyre, D Mathieu Roy, D Craig Weller

RESTRICTED
D Peter Aston, D Luke Beaverson, RW Dan Collins, LW Mike Duco, D Jason Garrison, D Jordan Henry, C Kamil Kreps, LW Kenndal McArdle, G Tyler Plante, LW Andrew Sweetland, C Nick Tarnasky

LOST
C Gregory Campbell (trade, Bruins)

LOS ANGELES KINGS

UNRESTRICTED
D Drew Bagnall, LW Alexander Frolov, C Gabe Gauthier, C Jeff Halpern, LW Raitis Ivanans, DRandy Jones

RESTRICTED
RW Marc-Andre Cliché, LW Richard Clune, C Corey Elkins, C Trevor Lewis, LW Fredrik Modin, D Sean O’Donnell, D Joe Piskula, C Brad Richardson

MINNESOTA WILD

UNRESTRICTED
LW Derek Boogaard, G Barry Brust, RW Jon DiSalvatore, G Wade Dubielewicz, LW Robbie Earl, C Andrew Ebbett, C Andy Hilbert, D Shane Hnidy, C Danny Irmen, D Ryan Lannon, RW Duncan Milroy, RW Owen Nolan, D Brandon Rogers, D John Scott

RESTRICTED
D Jamie Fraser, G Josh Harding, LW Matt Kassian, G Anton Khudobin, RW Guillaume Latendresse, C Morten Madsen, D Nate Prosser, D Jaime Sifers, C Nathan Smith, LW Roman Voloshenko

SIGNED
C James Sheppard (Minn. 1 yr. NA), D Brad Staubitz (2 yrs., $1.15m)

MONTREAL CANADIENS

UNRESTRICTED
D Shawn Belle, LW Andre Benoit, D Marc-Andre Bergeron, LW Mathieu Darche, C Mike Glumac, D Alex Henry, LW Janne Lahti, D Paul Mara, C Glen Metropolit, C Dominic Moore

RESTRICTED
D Michael Busto, D Mathieu Carle, C David Desharnais, G Cedrick Desjardins, C Mikael Johansson, C Maxim Lapierre, LW Benoit Pouliot, G Carey Price, C Tom Pyatt, C Ryan Russell, G Curtis Sanford, LW Gregory Stewart, C Brock Trotter, RW James Wyman

SIGNED
C Tomas Plekanec (Mtl., 6 yrs. NA)

LOST
G Jaroslav Halak (trade, St. Louis)

NASHVILLE PREDATORS

UNRESTRICTED
G Dan Ellis, LW Triston Grant, RW Ben Guite, RW Hugh Jessiman, RW Ryan Maki, C Dave Scatchard, D Nolan Yonkman

RESTRICTED
C Dustin Boyd, G Mark Dekanich, D Robert Dietrich, D Cody Franson, D Denis Grebeshkov, D Patrik Hersley, RW Patric Hornqvist, D Teemu Laakso, LW Peter Olvecky, D Ryan Parent, RW Alexander Radulov, C Mike Santorelli, RW Andreas Thuresson

SIGNED
D Francis Bouillon (Nashville, 2 years, $2.7m)

LOST
D Dan Hamhuis (trade, Pha.)

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

UNRESTRICTED
G Yann Danis, D Paul Martin, LW Dean McAmmond, D Mike Mottau, D Cory Murphy, C Rob Niedermayer, LW Ilya Kovalchuk, LW Tuomas Pihlman, RW Ilkka Pikkarainen, C Tim Sestito, D Martin Skoula, C Ben Walter

RESTRICTED
C David Clarkson, RW Patrick Davis, D Tyler Eckford, D Mark Fraser, D Oliver Magnan, C Rod Pelley, LW Brad Snetsinger, D Myles Stoesz

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

UNRESTRICTED
G Martin Biron, D Mark Flood, RW Tim Jackman, C Greg Mauldin, D Freddy Meyer, G Scott Munroe, RW Richard Park, LW Jeremy Reich, LW Jon Sim, LW Trevor Smith, C Doug Weight

RESTRICTED
LW Sean Bentivoglio, LW Sean Bergenheim, D Dustin Kohn, G Nathan Lawson, LW Matt Moulson, D Dylan Reese, C Rob Schremp, LW Jeff Tambellini

NEW YORK RANGERS

UNRESTRICTED
G Alex Auld, D Anders Eriksson, C Olli Jokinen, C Corey Locke, C Kris Newbury, LW P.A. Parenteau, D Corey Potter, C Vaclav Prospal, LW Jody Shelley, G Steve Valiquette

RESTRICTED
RW Andres Ambuhl, LW Dane Byers, C Erik Christensen, C Paul Crowder, C Brodie Dupont, D Daniel Girardi, D Ilkka Heikkinen, RW Enver Lisin, RW Brandon Prust, D Mike Sauer, D Marc Staal, G Matt Zaba

OTTAWA SENATORS

UNRESTRICTED
D Drew Bannister, G Andy Chiodo, C Matt Cullen, RW Shean Donovan, C Josh Hennessy, D Derek Smith, C Martin St. Pierre, D Andy Sutton, D Anton Volchenkov, C Jesse Winchester, RW Jeremy Yablonski

RESTRICTED
C Cody Bass, D Chris Campoli, LW Nick Foligno, D Geoff Kinrade, D Tomas Kudelka, C Peter Regin, C Ilya Zubov

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

UNRESTRICTED
RW Arron Asham, G Johan Backlund, G Sebastien Caron, D Sean Curry, C Ryan Dingle, G Ray Emery, D Dan Hamhuis , C Krys Kolanos, D Lukas Krajicek, G Michael Leighton, D Joey Mormina, C Mika Pyorala, D Mike Rathje, C Jared Ross, D Danny Syvret, RW Jason Ward

RESTRICTED
C Josh Beaulieu, RW Rob Bellamy, LW Daniel Carcillo, LW Matthew Clackson, D Braydon Coburn, G Jeremy Duchesne, RW David Laliberte, C Jonathan Matsumoto, LW Darroll Powe, G Michael Teslak

LOST
D Ryan Parent (trade, Nashville)

PHOENIX COYOTES

UNRESTRICTED
LW Jeff Hoggan, C Ryan Hollweg, C Robert Lang, RW Francis Lessard, C Matthew Lombardi, D Zbynek Michalek, G Al Montoya, D Derek Morris, C Joel Perrault, D Mathieu Schneider, LW David Spina, RW Lee Stempniak, D Sean Sullivan, G Josh Tordjman

RESTRICTED
C Martin Hanzal, D Shaun Heshka, D Sami Lepisto, LW Stefan Meyer, LW Alexandre Picard, D David Schlemko, G Miika Wiikman, LW Daniel Winnik, LW Wojtek Wolski

SIGNED
D Adrian Aucoin (Phoe., 2 yrs. NA), RW Scottie Upshall (Phoe., 1 yr. NA), LW Taylor Pyatt (Phoe. 2 yrs. NA)

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

UNRESTRICTED
D Mark Ardelan, LW Ryan Bayda, D Wade Brookbank, D Mark Eaton, LW Ruslan Fedotenko, D Sergei Gonchar, RW Bill Guerin, D Chris Lee, D Jordan Leopold, D Jay McKee, LW Alexei Ponikarovsky, C Wyatt Smith, D Steve Wagner

RESTRICTED
RW Aaron Boogaard, RW Chris Conner, D Jonathan D’Aversa, RW Nick Johnson, D Ben Lovejoy

SIGNED

LW Matt Cooke (Pitt., 3 yrs. NA)

SAN JOSE SHARKS

UNRESTRICTED
D Joe Callahan, G Frank Doyle, D Danny Groulx, C Dwight Helminen, C Manny Malhotra, G Evgeni Nabokov, C Scott Nichol, RW Jed Ortmeyer, D Jay Leach, LW Brett Sterling, RW Ryan Vesce, D Niclas Wallin, D Brett Westgarth

RESTRICTED
C Andrew Desjardins, RW Matt Jones, D Derek Joslin, G Henrik Karlsson, RW Cameron Macintyre, D Daniel Rahimi, RW Devin Setoguchi, D Mike Vernace, C Steven Zalewski

SIGNED
C Patrick Marleau (San Jose, 4 yrs. NA), C Joe Pavelski (San Jose, 4 yrs. NA)

LOST
D Rob Blake (retired), D Brad Staubitz (trade, Minn.)

ST. LOUIS BLUES

UNRESTRICTED
C Derek Armstrong, D Carlo Colaiacovo, D Justin Fletcher, D Nate Guenin, LW Paul Kariya, D Bryce Lampman, G Chris Mason, C Cam Paddock, C Pascal Pelletier, D Darryl Sydor, RW Barry Tallackson, D Mike Weaver, LW Brad Winchester

RESTRICTED
RW Matt D’Agostini, C Nicholas Drazenovic, G Joe Fallon, G Jaroslav Halak, C T.J. Hensick, D Alexander Hellstrom, RW Cam Janssen, D Erik Johnson, D Jonas Junland, RW D.J. King, LW Pierre-Cedric Labrie, LW David Perron, RW Ryan Reaves, RW Timofei Shishkanov, C Alexander Steen, D Tyson Strachan

LOST
LW Keith Tkachuk (retired), C Julien Talbot (trade, Colorado)

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

UNRESTRICTED
C Tim Brent, C Andre Deveaux, D Garnet Exelby, LW Alex Foster, D Jonas Frogren, LW Ryan Hamilton, C Jamie Lundmark, RW Ben Ondrus, C Wayne Primeau, D Mike Van Ryn, C Rickard Wallin, D Derrick Walser

RESTRICTED
C Christian Hanson, LW Nikolai Kulemin, C John Mitchell, D Phil Oreskovic, C Kyle Rogers

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

UNRESTRICTED
RW Pavol Demitra, C Ryan Johnson, D Brad Lukowich, D Nathan McIver, D Willie Mitchell, D Lawrence Nycholat, LW Matt Pettinger, G Andrew Raycroft, C Yan Stastny, C Kyle Wellwood

RESTRICTED
C Mario Bliznak, C Alexandre Bolduc, D Michael Funk, C Tanner Glass, RW Jannik Hansen, D Shane O’Brien, RW Matt Pope, LW Mason Raymond, G Cory Schneider, RW Eric Walsky, D Sean Zimmerman

SIGNED
D Aaron Rome (Van., 2 yr. $1.5m)

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

UNRESTRICTED
C Eric Belanger, D Joe Corvo, LW Alexandre Giroux, D Milan Jurcina, LW Boyd Kane, LW Quintin Laing, C Brendan Morrison, D Shaone Morrisonn, G Jose Theodore, RW Scott Walker, C Kyle Wilson

RESTRICTED
C Jay Beagle, LW Chris Bourque, RW Eric Fehr, C Tomas Fleischmann, RW Andrew Gordon, RW Boyd Gordon, D Patrick McNeill, D Zach Miskovic, D Jeff Schultz