from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

There will be no tag days for the unemployed Ray Whitney, Marty Brodeur, Derek Morris, Saku Koivu or Todd Bertuzzi, who have been handsomely compensated in their careers–from $40 million to over $80 million–but they love playing so they are not ready to live large, in retirement.

The unrestricted free-agents all have shoes older than Nate MacKinnon but they want to keep playing. At present, nobody is offering work, however. So Whitney ($41.9 million in earnings), Brodeur ($81.9 mil), Morris ($39.8 mil), Koivu ($53.3 mil) and Bertuzzi ($47 mil) are waiting by their phones, or at least waiting for a text from their agents.

They all have strong to great resumes, but no job with camps opening in two weeks. If they don’t get one, they could easily say goodbye and say it’s been a terrific ride through a couple of decades, with Brodeur in likely the thorniest position. The winningest goalie of them all, Brodeur (668), still has game (he played 38 games last year in New Jersey, 2,52 avg, three shutouts) but there’s only 60 NHL tender spots and it’s pretty much a closed-shop. He may have to wait until, say, November as Ilya Bryzgalov did last year when the Edmonton Oilers brought him in to tag-team Devan Dubnyk.

It’s that time of year when UFA’s who haven’t signed in July when the marketplace opens, start to get a little anxious.

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