from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

The NHL’s 2010 free-agent season opens Thursday and nobody – not even the principal players themselves – knows exactly what to expect from the auction this year.

Will it be the usual dizzying frenzy – too many teams throwing too much money at a handful of NHLers, creating the next generation of overpaid players? Or will sanity finally prevail, on the grounds that the free-agent crop is one of the weakest since the 2004-05 lockout ended, and thus, there are just fewer good options to throw cash at?

“I never know what to expect in free agency – will people blow their brains out, or be smart?” Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee said. “Because you get five desperate teams every year and they do desperate things. You’re almost always better off sitting back and being smart about it. Almost all of us have experienced that signing where you sign the guy and six months later, you’re going, ‘Why did we do that?’ So … I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

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added 10:28pm, from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal at the Montreal Gazette,

It would be a stretch to call the July 1 opening of National Hockey League free agency a “frenzy.”

Free-agent fizzle might be closer to reality, if you’re into truth in advertising.

“It’s not a bountiful harvest,” admitted veteran agent Steve Bartlett, who had 15 teams call on winger Brian Gionta last year before he signed with the Montreal Canadiens and more than that on forward Brian Rolston in 2009 before his client signed with the New Jersey Devils.

“There is less and less cap space with lots of teams . . . less buying. It’s supply and demand. There could still be a frenzy for some guys like (Dan) Hamhuis, but I suspect teams will be a lot more patient.”

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