Mike Brophy

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.

Ilya Kovalchuk.

Does the curious lack of activity during the NHL entry draft mean we’ll finally see some fiscal responsibility come July 1?

Although there were all kinds of trade rumours, we saw precious little activity as most teams decided to better themselves by building through the draft.

Who would have believed in a million years that defenceman Keith Ballard would be the ‘big name’ player moved on draft day?

It’s not as though big names weren’t out there. The Toronto Maple Leafs dangled defenceman Tomas Kaberle, but general manager Brian Burke didn’t get a suitable offer.

Ottawa attempted to accommodate centre Jason Spezza’s soft request to move, but it’s looking like he’ll remain a Senator for the foreseeable future and the Boston Bruins are trying to slash the budget by trading centre Marc Savard.

As for free agents, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see the type of ridiculous contracts handed out that we have seen in the past. That said, the Montreal Canadiens may be kicking themselves a year or two from now looking back on the contract they gave to centre Tomas Plekanec, a six-year, $30 million deal. He is a good player, to be sure, but not worth that kind of dough, particularly coming off a horrible playoffs.

The Canadiens didn’t make it to the Eastern Conference final because of Plekanec, but rather in spite of him. He finished the post-season with four goals and 11 points (he was minus-4) in 19 games and didn’t score in his team’s final 13 games.

Despite the fact the salary cap rose by five per cent and the NHL paints a rosy picture whenever Gary Bettman talks about the state of finances, many teams that have cap space and significant room to spend are adhering to self-imposed spending restrictions. So while we will surely see lots of players signed when the free agent season kicks off at noon on July 1, don’t expect to see contracts such as the six-year, $39 million deal that Wade Redden got from the New York Rangers or the nutty eight-year, $56 million the Chicago Blackhawks handed defenceman Brian Campbell.

How about the six-year, $33 million contract the Edmonton Oilers rewarded Shawn Horcoff with after he helped them to the Stanley Cup final in 2005-06. Think they wouldn’t mind a mulligan on that one?

It will be interesting to see what kind of money gets splashed around this year. The biggest name available is high-scoring winger Ilya Kovalchuk, but he didn’t do himself any favours by being only so-so after being traded to the New Jersey Devils by the Atlanta Thrashers after apparently turning down a monster contract extension that would have paid him in the neighborhood of $10 million a season.

For starters, what kind of a market is there for Kovalchuk, a player who has only been to the playoffs twice in eight years in the NHL? No one would ever deny his abundant skill, but the question remains: Can you win with him? A deal that would pay him $7 million or more per year could be crippling to an organization.

The Bruins gave Savard an extension of seven years at $28 million last summer and are trying to get rid of him already. Of course it didn’t help that the Bruins also rewarded goalie Tim Thomas with a four-year, $20 million extension after he won the Vezina Trophy two years ago.

There are some awfully good players who could be available Thursday if their teams don’t sign them to extensions in the meantime.

Ray Whitney has a lot of miles on him, but can still skate and offer a team solid secondary scoring. Dan Hamhuis will certainly get a lot of attention from teams that require a dependable, scoring defenceman. Sames goes for Paul Martin.

Andy Sutton and Anton Volchenkov are a couple of solid, stay-at-home defenders who are shot-blocking experts. Sergei Gonchar would give any team’s power play a boost with his big shot from the point.

Even Arron Asham, a grinder with decent hands, will get some attention.

My guess, however, is the days of overpaying to get a player to sign with your team are coming to an end.

That’s why so many of the best players in the league are already signed to long deals. They saw it coming.