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Derek Morris, who was acquired by the New York Rangers at the trading deadline, is an NHL defenceman without a contract almost three weeks into free agency.Brian Bahr

There is a seasonal element to NHL player movement that mirrors the ups and downs stock market - and nowhere is that more evident than in the case of Derek Morris and Mathieu Schneider, two useful players who are languishing on the unrestricted free-agent list, some 17 days and counting after the doors opened for business in the summer of 2009.

Not so long ago - or in the days and weeks leading up to the NHL trading deadline - Morris and Schneider were in-demand commodities whose value was high. The Montreal Canadiens needed help on the blue line so badly that they gave up a second-round draft choice to rent Schneider for two months from the Atlanta Thrashers. The New York Rangers gave up three players to the Phoenix Coyotes - Dmitri Kalinin, Petr Prucha and Nigel Dawes (since moved to the Calgary Flames) - so that Morris could bolster their blue line.

Schneider did his job relatively well, too, stabilizing the Canadiens on the power play. Seventeen points in 23 regular-season games was pretty good production for a 39-year-old playing out his contract (Schneider turned 40 last month). The Rangers thought enough of Morris to play him just under 20 minutes per night in the 18 regular-season games in which he appeared for them, and picked up eight assists along the way.

Alas, neither team accomplished much in the first round of the playoffs - and so, when the decision was made by both Montreal and New York to head in different off-season directions, players that had a fairly significant acquisition cost attached to them not so long ago suddenly have much less value, even though could be had for the cost of their contracts.

That's how the free-agent market has evolved these past couple of years. Values tend to rise nearer to the deadline, after the dollars have clicked off the contract. Values tend to fall in the summer, when every team needs to get its financial house back in order.

Halfway through July, the net result is that some relatively useful players remain available. The market generally slows to a crawl around now and then picks up again towards the end of August, leaving the players on pins and needles for the better part of the summer, not knowing where they might eventually land. And the competition for players from Russia - which was supposed to be a bigger option - becomes less so because their season starts months earlier than the NHL's.

As unsigned players start to get a little desperate and begin to drop their prices, this is alsowhen some of the best free-agent bargains tend to be found.

Five of the players caught up in Montreal's rebuilding process are still out there - Schneider, Alex Tanguay, Robert Lang, Patrice Brisebois and Francois Bouillon. Montreal went into the free-agency period with money to burn, but after dramatically remaking their team, they're effectively spent out with $52.43-million (all currency U.S.) committed to next season with restricted free agents Tomas Plekanec and Matt D'Agostini still to sign.

The Columbus Blue Jackets also have a number of their ex-players still up for grabs - Michael Peca, Manny Malhotra and Jason Williams. Essentially, Columbus went into the market and grabbed the ex-Duck, ex-Hawk Sami Pahlsson to do the job Peca was brought in for a couple of years ago - and anchor the checking line. Peca is still only 35, but the perception is that there's been a lot of wear and tear on his frame, even though he did get into 71 games for the Blue Jackets last season and averaging about 14 minutes per night. Malhotra occasionally played on the top line after an injury ended Derick Brassard's season.

The hope in Columbus is that Brassard and Antoine Vermette will be the team's two top centres with Pahlsson a solid third. Of the three, the versatile Williams is probably the only one of some interest to the team.

The fact that Tanguay remains available is marginally surprising given that Montreal gave up a first-rounder to get him from Calgary only a year before. But Tanguay's reputation - skilled, but soft - and the fact that he's recovering from off-season surgery suggests that any team interested in his services wants him for the short term to start, just to see if he's healthy and a fit with their team.

Weirdly, the financially stressed Tampa Bay Lightning keep making forays into the free-agent market, and if the plan going forward is to keep Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos together, someone like Tanguay might be a good fit on a line with Vincent Lecavalier. Realistically, can the Lightning add another warm body to a team that already has $50.62-million committed to salaries next year and financial issues aplenty to contend with?

One of Tampa's primary issues last season was signing too many players - 18 forwards on one-way contracts reported to training camp. However, there was a striking drop-off in scoring production after their first five players - 45-point Vaclav Prospal was at No. 5; from there it plunged to 19-point Lukas Krajicek at No. 6. Someone like Tanguay would help balance the top line with a proven NHL scorer - and given his willingness to pass the puck, might get Lecavalier back into the 50-goal range.

The Colorado Avalanche are also said to be interested, and there may be an appeal to Tanguay to return to his NHL roots. With Joe Sakic now retired and Ryan Smyth off to play for the Los Angeles Kings, the Avalanche have little in the way of natural scoring beyond Paul Stastny, Milan Hedjuk and Wojtek Wolski. Tanguay and Hedjuk had some chemistry before playing with Sakic; maybe they can find it again on a line with the younger Stastny.

As for Dawes, who this week went to Calgary on the waiver wire, Phoenix didn't hold onto him long, largely for financial reasons. Rather than go to arbitration with him next Wednesday, they placed him on waivers and the Flames were only too happy to put in a claim. General manager Darryl Sutter has long had his eyes on Dawes, a former Western Hockey League standout, who played for new Flames' coach Brent Sutter in the world junior tournament and for new assistant Ryan McGill during his junior days in Kelowna.

With Michael Cammalleri gone to Montreal and most of their off-season budget directed towards acquiring Jay Bouwmeester, the Flames have been filling out the bottom part of their roster with a select few low-budget buys - from Fredrik Sjostrom, who they know well because he played his junior hockey for the Hitmen, to Jason Jaffray, a former Canucks' farmhand, to ex-Senator Brian McGrattan, who replaces Andre Roy as their tough guy. They also bolstered their depth on defence by bringing in ex-Leaf farmhand Staffan Kronwall, who figures to make the team as a seventh defenceman.

There was a thought that the Flames would bring back Todd Bertuzzi for a second season if the price was right, but so far there hasn't been any movement there. Bertuzzi had an OK year in Calgary - 44 points in 66 games - but he was also their worst minus players (among players who spent the entire year with the Flames) and also took far too many bad penalties. If Dawes, Sjostrom, McGrattan and Jamie Lundmark all crack the roster and Wayne Primeau comes back from a foot injury, there may not be room for Bertuzzi.

The most puzzling player out there may be the Sabres' Maxim Afinogenov, who hasn't found work in Russia or the NHL. Surely someone is prepared to roll the dice on Afinogenov, even if he endured another horrible season with the Buffalo Sabres last year (20 points in 48 games, a healthy scratch many nights).

For that matter, even if the Ottawa Senators are knee-deep in players that work hard but can't score, wouldn't they be a tiny bit tempted by P.J. Axelsson, the longest-serving Bruin, who has played a ton of hockey internationally with Daniel Alfredsson? If the Senators truly want to balance out the top two lines, Alfredsson would surely welcome the chance to play with Axelsson and Jason Spezza, leaving Alexei Kovalev and whoever they get in a trade for Dany Heatley to make up a solid support line. If it turns out that Heatley can't be moved and starts the year in Ottawa, a trio of Kovalev, Heatley and Mike Fisher isn't terrible either.

Apart from Schneider and Morris, the most prominent available defencemen are Dennis Seidenberg, Martin Skoula and Sergei Zubov. Zubov is the biggest name but his age (he turns 39 this coming Wednesday) and the fact that he only played 10 games last season because of an injury, make him something of a gamble. Seidenberg, meanwhile, played top-four minutes for the Carolina Hurricanes in the playoffs last season and was an effective performer. His asking price must surely be the reason he hasn't found a home yet. Only Joni Pitkanen and Joe Corvo played more than Seidenberg for the Hurricanes last year.

In goal, the unemployment rolls include Martin Biron, Manny Fernandez, Kevin Weekes, Joey MacDonald and others. Biron won 29 games for the Philadelphia Flyers last season and his save percentage - of .915 - was just outside the top 10. But there isn't a team realistically looking for a No. 1 goalie, although one could make the case that Biron might be a good fit in Detroit, where the plan now is to Jimmy Howard a chance to play regularly at the NHL level behind Chris Osgood.

But if Jiri Hudler succeeds in his quest to play in Russia, suddenly the Wings may have a few dollars to spend - and if they can't spend them on a forward, maybe adding depth in goal would be the way to go.

SALARY ARBITRATION UPDATES: Back in July, a total of 20 NHL players filed for salary arbitration, with hearings to begin next Monday. Since then, as is the usual pattern, teams have tried to get their players signed, in order to avoid what can sometimes be a fractious process. Anaheim got James Wisniewski signed; as did Atlanta with Colby Armstrong. Some others still in the mix: Hudler, Plekanec, Tuomo Ruutu (Carolina), Denis Grebeshkov (Edmonton), Travis Zajac (New Jersey), Ryan Callahan and Nikolai Zherdev (New York) and Kyle Wellwood (Vancouver). Hearings, if they go forward, will be held in Toronto, beginning Monday and extending until Aug. 4.

ETC ETC: If the NHL does eventually expand or move to Las Vegas, Keith Primeau will get a heads-up learning the market. Primeau, the long-time NHLer who retired because of concussion woes, has been named director of player development for the Las Vegas Wranglers, Calgary's ECHL affiliate … With Chris Pronger joined the Flyers and stabilizing a defence that also includes Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen, the Flyers figured they could let go another giant, six-foot-five Andrew Alberts. Alberts signed a two-year deal with Carolina, presumably taking Seidenberg's spot on the roster. The Hurricanes also landed Tom Kostopolous, who didn't stay on in Montreal … Just a coincidence? On SI.com's free-agent page, the still-unemployed Miro Satan's number at the end of his personalized URL on their website is 666. It doesn't look as if either Satan or Petr Sykora will return to the Penguins next season. With Max Talbot scheduled to start the season on injured reserve because of off-season shoulder surgery, someone from the ranks of their depth players will get a chance to play with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Pittsburgh has a $2.33-million salary-cap cushion at the moment … A sad note from overseas: Ron Kennedy, who was born in North Battleford, Sask. and played most of his junior hockey for the New Westminster Bruins in the early 1970s, passed away in Klagenfurt, Austria, at the age of 56 earlier this month. For two years, Kennedy was head coach of the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers and was also an assistant on Lorne Henning's New York Islanders' staff in 1994-95 before having a successful coaching career in Europe, mostly in the DEL (German league) with Ingolstadt.

AND FINALLY: That's it for my weekly Friday notes columns for the 2008-09 season. Thanks to everyone for reading and for the always valuable feedback. See you in August for the Canadian men's Olympic orientation camp.

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