Have you seen my contract?

By my calendar, it is now July 3rd. Bryan Murray's quest to add a forward has hereto now gone unfulfilled and a quick glance over the remaining UFAs shows a dwindling list of antsy forwards. Here's who is left:

Mats Sundin: The Sun printed something about him coming to Ottawa. It would be neat to have him and Alfie play together and a small FU to the Leafs, but we ain't a contender and we ain't throwing a lot of money at him. Not sure why he'd choose us.

Alex Tanguay: Probably the best forward out there. If Gionta got $5M and Antropov got over $4M, then Tanguay will get at least 5M from somewhere, probably putting him out of our range. He was one of the five forwards on our list earlier in this process as a good setup guy. I don't see us being able to afford him.

Mike Comrie: I'm pretty biased here and flat out want this guy back. I know he's small, doesn't kill penalties or veer much into the corners, but I'm chalking that up to the bum hip last year. I defend this guy a lot and take a lot of flack for it because he finished so poorly. Give him $2M and a full season and see if he can put up 50pts again. Would you pay $2M for 50pts?

Robert Lang: Is this guy still around? Not sure what it would cost to get him and he's coming off major surgery, but he might be a Plan B. I'd rather we get someone younger that can be around for a while and Lang is a 1-year guy at this point. Someone desperate will throw him 3M and I hope it isn't us.

Maxim Afinogenov: Afino was also on our list earlier as a total castaway. Insanely fast and offensively gifted, yet one of the laziest guys out there. Lindy Ruff, as much as we hate him, knows heart and he knows that Afino doesn't have it. Ring, ring, "Hello? Yes, I'll sign in the KHL..."

Ales Kotalik: Great slap shot, not much else. He could be a guy that could be on the point on the powerplay, but I don't think he brings enough to the table on a consistent basis.

Todd Bertuzzi: Why not? This is Muckler's dream player and he can still bang his way to 40-50pts and knows that the money days are over. With the slim pickings out there, why not throw this guy a contract for a year and let him and Fisher bang it out. If the Edmonton deal had gone through, you could Penner on there and let them hit a few people.

Mikael Samuelsson: Update: 12:45 7/3/09 - just signed for three years in Vancouver, $2.5M per year.

There are a few others like Mike Grier, Brendan Morrison, PJ Axelsson, etc., that are third liners that we dont' need. Then there's Koivu and Kovalev that we just don't want. In terms of players that are on the radar, I think this is it, folks. Anything decent in there? I still hope it's Comrie.