This Much Is Certain in NHL: Free Agents

There are pickings like never before in the NHL, as more than half the league’s players became unrestricted free agents late Wednesday night.

But that makes it a buyer’s market, and general managers, the buyers, are saying they will tighten their financial belts to prepare for an anticipated salary cap when a new collective bargaining agreement is in place. The current agreement expires Sept. 15, and league officials have threatened a lockout.

The possibility of a salary cap put 415 of the 756 NHL players on the street as unrestricted free agents Thursday. Of those, 159 were players teams chose not to give qualifying offers -- either matching their contracts or giving them 10% raises if they made less than the NHL average of $1.83 million.

“It will be business as usual, with restraint,” King General Manager Dave Taylor said. “I expect there will be more waiting and seeing. You will always see some signings, but I think it will be slower than in the past.”

The list of unrestricted free agents includes some hefty names, among them Detroit’s Brendan Shanahan, Brett Hull, Chris Chelios and Steve Yzerman; Dallas’ Teppo Numminen, the Kings’ Ziggy Palffy, Ottawa’s Peter Bondra, St. Louis’ Pavel Demitra, Colorado’s Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne, Boston’s Glen Murray, Montreal’s Alex Kovalev, San Jose’s Vincent Damphousse and Philadelphia’s Alexei Zhamnov.

Some of those players are past their prime, but the sheer number of players available is an indication that general managers are being cautious. In previous summers, almost all the top unrestricted free agents were signed within a few days after July 1.

“You’re going to have to survey the marketplace,” Detroit General Manager Ken Holland said. “If you can get a player that will have an impact for your team going forward, then maybe you sign the guy. Otherwise, all you can do is stay in touch for when, or if, there is a new,” collective bargaining agreement.

There figure to be a lot of let’s-stay-in-touch conversations this month.

With owners believed to be seeking a salary cap of about $35 million, general managers are reluctant to spend. At the same time, teams have to prepare for a season.

“Any time the CBA is about to expire, there are uncertainties, whether it’s an up market or a down market,” agent Pat Brisson said. “We just don’t know what kind of ground we’re on.”

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The first player to change teams on the first day of free agency was longtime King defenseman Jaroslav Modry, who signed a three-year, $6.8-million contract with the Atlanta Thrashers.

An unrestricted free agent, Modry, 33, made $950,000 last season, his eighth with the Kings. He had five goals and 27 assists last season but slumped toward the end and was a healthy scratch in two of the Kings’ final five games.

Modry, who had 34 goals and 116 assists in 374 career games with the Kings, became the second defenseman acquired by the Thrashers in the last week. The Thrashers traded for former Mighty Duck defenseman Niclas Havelid on Saturday.

“We’re trying to upgrade our defense,” Thrasher General Manager Don Waddell said. “That’s where we fell short last year. We really made a conscious effort to go after a couple of defensemen this year.”

Elsewhere: Free-agent forwards John Madden and Jay Pandolfo re-signed with New Jersey, center Kris Draper re-signed with Detroit, goaltender Brent Johnson re-signed with Phoenix and defenseman Glen Wesley re-signed with Carolina.

Selanne and Kariya, the former Mighty Duck stars, spent one season as teammates in Colorado.

Selanne had a decent start last season, with nine goals and 10 assists in his first 26 games, but tailed off after that. He went 19 games without a point and finished with 16 goals and 32 points, both career lows.

Kariya sat out 31 of the first 38 games because of a sprained wrist and was able to play in only one playoff game after spraining his ankle in Colorado’s season finale. In 51 regular-season games, Kariya had a career-low 11 goals and 36 points.

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Times staff writer Mike Bresnahan and Associated Press contributed to this report.