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So, two days into the market, about $120-million in contracts for next season handed out (about half of which went to 10 players) and by my count another $150-million to go. Some teams, like the Bruins and Flyers, are essentially spent out, but there are quite a few clubs with money to burn.

With a big assist to capgeek.com (the net's newest and most excellent salary resource) and some guesstimating as to teams' budgets for 2009-10, here's my ranking of which teams have the most to spend in the coming days (including on restricted free agents):

I've estimated the budgets above by looking at last year's spending, reading media reports and using some common sense reasoning as to where teams are financially. These may be off by a couple million, which I'll let everyone debate in the comments. (Some teams like the Rangers have a ton of RFAs to sign, so keep that in mind when you look at their hefty "to burn" figure.)

The average NHL club has between three and four free agents to lock up still and about $5-million to do so, so we're likely looking at a lot of smaller moves. None of the players left as UFAs should expect huge paydays, however, as we'll get down to fighting for table scraps rather quickly.

For the real hockey business geeks in the audience: Based on the fact teams have spent $1.5-billion on salaries so far and potentially flat (or declining) revenues, I estimate that no more contracts can be signed without players having to pay out into escrow this season. That's obviously not going to happen, so if there is a revenue crunch — even a modest one — NHLers could be looking at forking out big time if salaries rise above the $1.65-billion figure I've forecasted.

And that's before we get into long-term injury exemptions and the like which are sure to push those salary figures even higher.

Escrow is being reported at 15.9 per cent for last season, and based on spending so far and projecting forward, I believe it will be rising to 20 per cent or more for 2009-10. Half the league appears on course to spend right to the $56.8-million salary cap this season, and the NHL would need revenues to jump to about 15 per cent to $3-billion to sustain the sort of payouts we're seeing without any escrow hit.

Marian Gaborik may have gotten a deal for $7.5-million a season this summer, but about $1.5-million of that is funny money which really isn't his. And the real cap, in terms of real dollars, is actually only about $45-million.

Larry Brooks reported that a lot of players voted against the cap escalator due to the hefty escrow hit this season, and you wonder if they'll do the same come next summer when the situation is even worse. There's now a situation where players on long-term deals are going to be at odds with pending free agents, as those locked up could watch their piece of the pie shrink as escrow rises.