from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

You could start one heck of a rec hockey team these days with the big names sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring.

Brenden Morrow, Simon Gagne, Ilya Bryzgalov, Jose Theodore, Mike Knuble, Carlo Colaiacovo, Wade Redden and the list goes on among the veteran free agents who remain unsigned.

And that’s not even counting those players who had to swallow their pride and accept camp tryouts, the likes of Tim Thomas, Hal Gill, Mason Raymond, Brad Boyes, Ian White et al.

All because of a unique offseason in which the salary cap maximum dropped from $70.2 million last season to $64.3 million this year, squeezing roster space tightly.

When the music stopped in early July, you didn't want to be a free agent still standing without a job.

"It’s a difficult market this summer, to say the least," Morrow told ESPN.com Friday.

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