Yesterday's stars stuck looking at dim free-agent market

It's a tough economy out there these days, even within the realm of millionaire hockey players. Especially for the older ones, a number of whom are still out of work with training camps about to begin.

For some, like super Swedes Mats Sundin and Peter Forsberg, it is a matter of deciding whether they want to or still feel that they can play. For many others, their fates are beyond their controls.

Here's a look at look at 10 prominent players in that situation.

Selanne scored 12 goals in only 26 regular-season games played last season. (Getty Images)

1. Teemu Selanne: Selanne wants to come back to Anaheim and the Ducks want him back, they just don't have the cap space right now to sign him. Anaheim is more than $3 million over the limit, a problem they could solve by moving defenseman Mathieu Schneider and his $5 million salary. Problem is trading a 38-year-old with that kind of contract isn't easy these days. Anaheim has until opening night to get to the limit -- whether it involves Schneider or other players -- so they'll have to make some kind of move. In the meantime, Selanne is back in town after spending the summer at home in Finland, and waiting.

2. Brendan Shanahan: The future Hall of Famer is coming off a respectable season with the Rangers that earned him $5 million, but he's 39 and no longer an impact player. Shanahan wants to return to New York, even if it means taking a substantial pay cut, but the Rangers have had other priorities over the summer. The veteran has had other suitors, notably the St. Louis Blues who would pay him more than New York would, but so far Shanahan seems to be clinging to the hope he can still work out something with the Rangers.

3. Mark Parrish: The Minnesota Wild signed native son Parrish to a five-year deal when he was a free agent in 2006 because he averaged nearly 25 goals in each of his first seven NHL seasons. But Parrish dropped to 19 goals in his first season with the Wild and to just 16 last season. So Minnesota, needing to open some cap space, bought him out of his final three years in July. Parrish is 31 and will be paid two-thirds of the remaining $8.35 million on his contract by Minnesota over the next three years.

4. Glen Murray: Boston actually beat Minnesota to the punch in terms of the buyout process by cutting ties with the 35-year-old Murray a few days before the Wild dumped Parrish. The move helped the Bruins get under the cap limit by shedding some of the $4.15 million the veteran would have earned this season. Murray had hip flexor problems last season and had his least productive season in a decade as a result with only 17 goals.

5. Bret Hedican: A lot has changed in Carolina since Hedican's speed and puck moving ability from the back end played a key role in the Hurricanes 2006 Stanley Cup win. The team hasn't made the playoffs since and has been focusing on more of a youth movement as a result, which meant they had no more room for a defenseman who just turned 38 and made $2.4 million last season. Hedican, however, did play more than 19 minutes a game and was a plus-17 on a team that was 25th in overall defense.

6. Bryan Smolinski: Smolinski was a decent value as a role player who earned just $2 million with Montreal last season, but didn't figure into the plans of an organization that has been pushing a lot of young talent through the development pipeline for the last several years. Smolinski is a versatile veteran who is one of the better faceoff men around, but he'll be 37 by mid-season.

7. Martin Lapointe: Not much went right for the Ottawa Senators last season, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that their trade deadline acquisition of Lapointe didn't really pan out. Lapointe, who earned $2.4 million last season unfairly became the poster boy for illogical free-agent deals when he signed a massive contract from the Boston Bruins in 2001 usually reserved for high-end scorers. But when the Senators brought the 35-year-old over from Chicago last February, they had hoped his grit and tenacity would provide an ingredient they had missed in previous playoffs. It didn't.

8. Jassen Cullimore: Florida signed Cullimore about a month into last season for just over the minimum wage, and the 35-year-old veteran turned into one of the few pleasant surprises for the team. Cullimore was a steady stay-at-home presence along the Panthers blue line and led the team with a plus-21 rating, one of only six regulars to have a positive mark in that category. But he turned out to be just a stop gap for Florida, which has added three prominent newcomers to what is a much-improved back end for this season.

9. Martin Gelinas: He's been on four different teams that have been to the Stanley Cup Finals, but his main claim to fame is being part of the trade package that brought Wayne Gretzky to Los Angeles. Still, at 38 Gelinas remains a serviceable player who skates well, does little things like kill penalties, forechecks and brings it every night. But he had a knee injury that kept him out of the Nashville Predators lineup for the final 19 games of last season and the playoffs. Gelinas earned $1.25 million last season.

10. Keith Carney: Carney is the type of defenseman who will fit in with a team looking to fill a third-unit gap with a big, tough veteran who still has some savvy and leadership left in him at age 38. But Carney will probably have to take far less than the $2.1 million he made with Minnesota last season.