For two teams traditionally known for making big waves in the UFA pool, the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers have been very quiet thus far.

The Flyers of course have limited cap space this summer and are only seeking affordable signings, preferably on their blueline.

GM Paul Holmgren appears to find such an affordable d-man in Ossi Vaananen, who spent last season playing in Sweden after failing to land a contract in last summer’s UFA market.

Holmgren wanted a puck-moving defenseman but that’ s not Vaananen’s game, as he plays a more physical “stay-at-home” style, which should make him a welcome addition for the Flyers but still leaves Holmgren seeking an affordable offensive blueliner.

The Rangers are believed in the market for some of this summer’s big UFA fish like Mats Sundin and Marian Hossa but have kicked off July 1st with two minor signings, adding checking line forwards Patrick Rissmiller and Aaron Voros.

The NHL’s salary cap and its current player transfer agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation resulted in a growing exodus since the past summer of players signing with European teams.

While the NHL and the IIHF will be re-opening the agreement in January aimed at better compensation for European teams and improved player development, no changes will be made regarding the salary cap.

That still means players who might have had jobs with NHL teams in the past will be faced with playing in Europe if they hope to keep their playing careers alive.

That’s led some observers to suggest this weakens the NHL talent base whilst bolstering the European leagues, especially with recent speculation of Russian billionaire Alex Medvedev forming a rival European league.

A close examination of the caliber of the talent bolting for Europe since July 2007, however, indicates no weakening of the NHL talent base.

The most notable of those players include Alexei Yashin, Petr Nedved, Aleksey Morozov, Oleg Saprykin, Jan Bulis, Anson Carter, Dmitri Afanasenkov, Jamie Lundmark, Ville Nieminen, Ossi Vaananen, Danny Markov, and Ed Belfour.

Not to be cruel, but this list consists of has-beens and never-weres. Of this list, only Markov and Vaananen would still have value today to NHL teams.

Most of the former NHL’ers who headed overseas since the summer made little significant contribution to their respective NHL teams last season, hence the reason they were unable to land new contracts.

Some, like the LA Kings’ Oleg Tverdovsky, NY Rangers’ Darius Kasparaitis, Boston Bruins’ Stanislav Chistov and Columbus Blue Jackets Alex Svitov, broke existing NHL contracts to play in the Russian Super League. Russia is currently not part of the NHL-IIHF player transfer agreement.

Those players did so either to avoid toiling in the minors or to earn more money and playing time back in Russia, but only the Blue Jackets were upset over losing their player. The departures of Tverdovsky, Kasparaitis and Chistov were greeted almost with silence by their respective NHL teams. The Rangers actually encourage Kasparaitis to return to Russia.

The reason is quite clear: they were no longer good enough to be NHL players, and their respective NHL teams were pleased to be free of their remaining contractual obligations.

It’s their inability to play well enough to merit NHL contracts that kept most of the aforementioned players out of the league, not the salary cap.

If Yashin, Tverdovsky, Nedved, and Kasparaitis were still in their playing prime it would be a worthwhile concern that their absence hurts the NHL talent. Nobody misses them now, and if the European leagues want them, they’re welcome to them.

If impending free agents like Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Lidstrom, Marian Hossa, Corey Perry or Dion Phaneuf were signed by European teams next summer it would merit concern.  However, the NHL is the showcase of the best talent in professional hockey and there’s no European team or league that can competitively bid for the NHL’s best talent.

That’s why some of this concern about a European “super league” challenging the NHL’s supremacy is baseless.

Any new “super league” would either have to convince the top teams in the currently established European leagues to join them or would have to create new teams in those countries.

Don’t expect either prospect to be successful. Many of the current European leagues have rich legacies and aren’t about to tear themselves apart to join a new “super league”. Fans of those respective established leagues won’t transfer their loyalties from their current teams any more than most NHL fans did when the World Hockey Association was in its heyday in the 1970s.

Furthermore, many of the European teams lack NHL-style facilities to pack in the kind of audiences required to drum up the revenue required for NHL-style payrolls, and it remains to be seen if European hockey fans would warm to the prospect of paying much higher ticket prices.

Even the richest teams in the Russian Super League having payrolls less than half of those of the top NHL teams. It takes big bucks to entice the top NHL talent to Europe and that kind of money just isn’t there.

Ultimately, the level of talent heading to Europe won’t make European leagues significantly stronger and aren’t a direct challenge to the NHL’s superiority.  

There's not a heckuva lot of talent remaining in this year's NHL UFA pool, which isn't unusual two weeks after the free agent frenzy began, although it wasn't a particularly deep pool this season. 

James Mirtle has been keeping track of the remaining UFAs, and as you can see, there really isn't much to choose from.

Still, there's a few gems still available, perhaps for bargain prices the longer they remain on the market.

For scoring forwards, only Peter Forsberg, Teemu Selanne and Alexei Yashin remain. The first two could retire while Yashin is apparently miffed over supposed "low ball" offers and could play in Russia next season.

The best checking center would be Mike Peca, provided he can avoid the injuries that have plagued him in recent years. 

Martin Gelinas and Mike Johnson appear to be the best checking wingers still available.

There's still a few good defensemen remaining, with Danny Markov, Andy Sutton and Ossi Vaananen likely to attract interest in the coming days from teams seeking blueline depth.

Not a lot of depth in goaltending, but Ed Belfour, Curtis Joseph, Alex Auld and Robert Esche could attract some interest.