"The Avalanche has a lot of disposable income going into today's NHL free-agent market. Who will the Avs have in their shopping cart when they hit the checkout stand? Fans will begin to learn after 10 a.m., when the bell sounds to open the market.

As of Thursday night, only two other NHL teams — Florida and Phoenix — had more room than the Avalanche to spend under the league's new $64.3 million salary cap. With a cap-averaged current payroll of $33,795,833, the Avs need to spend nearly another $15 million just to get to the league's mandated cap minimum of $48.3 million.

Goaltender is the Avs' biggest area of need. Colorado is without a veteran presence as a starter or backup in net, and there is at least one reliable veteran expected to be available. That would be Tomas Vokoun , who turns 35 on Saturday and had a cap hit of $5.7 million on his last contract with Florida.

Vokoun is worth a nice offer, even though his career record is 262-267-35-41 (wins, losses, ties, overtime losses) in 13 seasons with Montreal, Nashville and the Panthers.

In every season he has played beyond the one-game campaign with Montreal as a rookie, Vokoun has posted save percentages of .900 or better. He has been the classic "good goalie on a bad team" much of his career."