The top impending UFAs

Here is a list of the top unrestricted free agents available as of July 1, 2008:

• Teemu Selanne (Ducks) Age: 37
• Dmitri Kalinin (Sabres) Age: 26
• Kristian Huselius (Flames) Age: 28
• Daymond Langkow (Flames) Age: 30
• Ron Hainsey (Blue Jackets) Age: 26
• Andrew Brunette (Avalanche) Age: 33
• Adam Foote (Avalanche) Age: 35
• John-Michael Liles (Avalanche) Age: 26
• Jose Theodore (Avalanche) Age: 30
• Brad Stuart (Red Wings) Age: 27
• Ladislav Nagy (Kings) Age: 28
• Pavol Demitra (Wild) Age: 32
• Brian Rolston (Wild) Age: 34
• Michael Ryder (Habs) Age: 27
• Mark Streit (Habs) Age: 29
• Dan Ellis (Predators) Age: 27
• Miroslav Satan (Islanders) Age: 32
• Sean Avery (Rangers) Age: 27
• Jaromir Jagr (Rangers) Age: 35
• Michael Rozsival (Rangers) Age: 28
• Martin Straka (Rangers) Age: 34
• Mike Commodore (Senators) Age: 27
• Wade Redden (Senators) Age: 30
• Cory Stillman (Senators) Age: 33
• Vaclav Prospal (Flyers) Age: 32
• Jason Smith (Flyers) Age: 33
• Radim Vrbata (Coyotes) Age: 26
• Marian Hossa (Penguins) Age: 28
• Ryan Malone (Penguins) Age: 27
• Brooks Orpik (Penguins) Age: 26
• Jaarko Ruutu (Penguins) Age: 31
• Brian Campbell (Sharks) Age: 28
• Mats Sundin (Leafs) Age: 36
• Brendan Morrison (Canucks) Age: 31
• Markus Naslund (Canucks) Age: 33
• Matt Cooke (Capitals) Age: 28
• Cristobal Huet (Capitals) Age: 31
• Sergei Fedorov (Capitals) Age: 37

**Source of information: www.nhlnumbers.com**

Evaluation of the upcoming UFA crop:

You can see now, why teams are signing their young guns to long-term contracts. The upcoming UFA classes are not what they used to be. While players may be younger when they hit free agency, less impact players are going to be free agents without compensation. There aren't more than a handful of players up above that would change your team from a pretender to a contender. This underscores the importance of building through the draft, trades and even restricted free agent movement. The days of building with UFAs are most likely behind us.