"Say goodbye to forward Vern Fiddler and defenseman Greg Zanon.

Forwards Steve Sullivan and Joel Ward? The Predators are still holding out hope.

That's what things looked like Tuesday night, only hours before the NHL's unrestricted free agent market was set to open at 11 a.m. today.

Predators General Manager David Poile said Tuesday that Nashville was unlikely to re-sign either Fiddler or Zanon. Both players had spent the past three seasons with the Predators and both had hoped to return, but deals could not be struck.

"It's about the dollars they want,'' Poile said. "It's not for me to say that they're not going to get them. But right now … if we have an ability to sign anybody before 11, it will be Sullivan and/or Ward.''

Both Poile and Sullivan's agent described negotiations as ongoing, despite an unusual hiccup.

Poile apparently said during a Tuesday radio interview on WNSR 560-AM that Sullivan was looking for a deal for longer than two years. His comments found their way back to Sullivan and his agent, Stephen Bartlett, who clarified their stance with Poile.

"I believe what I said was that they'd asked for a multi-year deal, and were hoping to get three or four years,'' Poile said. "(But) in talking to Steve and his representative, if he could get the right deal money-wise, he would sign with the Predators for two years. That was clarified.''

Joel Ward's agent, Peter Cooney, said Tuesday afternoon that, despite conversations between the two sides, Ward would likely hit the unrestricted free-agent market today.

"I don't believe anything is going to change between now and (Wednesday at 11),'' Cooney said. "But if the phone rings and (David Poile) is on the line, we're interested in talking to him.

"We both have mutual respect for each other and we'd both like to do a deal. But we need to see what the number is on the open market. It's a business decision.''

Cooney said Ward remains very interested in playing for the Predators, even if he tests the market.

"Nashville by no stretch of the imagination has fallen off our 'A-team' grouping, if you want to call it that,'' Cooney said. "We certainly hold out opportunity that a deal could still be struck. But it's a lot more likely now that it will have to be struck after (11 a.m. Wednesday).''

But Poile said later the Predators and Ward were still talking."