The NHL's salary cap for next season is expected to remain close to last season's cap limit of $56.7 million, which could seriously handicap the off-season plans of several clubs that have already committed a lot of coin toward next season's payroll.

Speculation suggests the following teams could attempt to move some high-salaried players to free up that valuable cap space:

-The Ottawa Senators weren't planning on shopping winger Dany Heatley until about a week ago when his trade request forced management now to peddle him and his expensive salary. Heatley, who has a no-movement clause which he's willing to waive, is due to receive $7.5 million per season until 2013-14.

-The Philadelphia Flyers are currently sitting just under $50 million for next season and are rumored shopping Daniel Briere, who has a no-movement clause, an injury history, and a cap hit of $6.5 million per season until the end of the 2014-15 season.

-The Chicago Blackhawks have been rumored (mainly coming from rumor blogs so take with a grain of salt) to be unhappy with defenseman Brian Campbell's performance and would like to move him, his limited no-trade clause and his $7.145 million per season until 2015-16 off their books.

-The Edmonton Oilers are rumored willing to part with defensemen Lubomir Visnovsky ($5.6 million per season against the cap until 2012-13) or Sheldon Souray (cap hit of $5.4 million per season until 2011-12) in hopes of landing offensive depth.

-The NY Rangers are supposedly shopping either Scott Gomez ($7.357 million against the cap until 2013-14) or Chris Drury (cap hit of $7.050 million per season until 2011-12).

- The Tampa Bay Lightning are apparently desperately trying to move Vincent Lecavalier prior to his 11-year, $7.27 million per season contract takes effect on July 1st.

So, say you're the general manager of a team seeking either scoring depth at forward or puck-moving defensemen, and the general managers of those teams came calling offering those players.

With the salary cap expected to stagnate next season and potentially decline for the 2010-11 season, would you really want to take the risk of tying up your valuable cap space on any of these guys? Not just for next season but over the course of several?

Common sense would suggest "no" but as we've seen over the years that quality tends to fly out the window at certain times of the year, which explains how the aforementioned got their whopping big contracts in the first place.

Will any of these guys be moved? Well, Heatley likely will for sure. Lecavalier, maybe, but the rest would be a tough sell during the best of times. Moving them during a summer with a stagnant cap and with fear of a cap decline in the future makes it even tougher.