Bob Duff

Looking ahead to Sunday’s launch of the free-agent period in the National Hockey League, Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland shuddered.

"It’s going to be crazy," Holland said.

You got that right.

Crazy. And hauntingly familiar.

The rich got richer. The poor got poorer.

Say, wasn’t the lockout supposed to solve all that?

Isn’t that the reason the powers-that-be gave us to justify shutting down the league for an entire year and allowing the fans to miss out on an entire season?

The NHL’s ridiculous salary structure required correction. That was the catchphrase NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and the league’s 30 owners kept spinning at the general public.

The future of the game depended on it.

So much for the correction, or did you miss the laundry list of signings since the July 1 opening of free-agent season:

• Ryan Smyth to the Colorado Avalanche, five years, $31.25 million
• Paul Kariya to the St. Louis Blues, three years, $18 million
• Scott Gomez to the New York Rangers, seven years, $51.5 million
• Jason Blake to the Toronto Maple Leafs, four years, $20 million
• Chris Drury to the Rangers, five years, $35.25 million
• Scott Hannan to the Avalanche, four years, $18 million
• Brian Rafalski to the Detroit Red Wings, five years, $30 million
• Mathieu Schneider to the Anaheim Ducks, two years, $11.25 million
• Cory Sarich to the Calgary Flames, five years, $18 million
• Daniel Briere to the Philadelphia Flyers, eight years, $52 million

And those are just the highlights.

All told, NHL teams spent more than $338 million on the first day of free agency.

Fiscal restraint? What fiscal restraint?

Welcome to the new NHL, which if we’re not mistaken, looks remarkably similar to the old NHL.

Just look at the names at the top of the big spenders list: Detroit; Colorado; the Rangers; Philadelphia.

Now look at who lost the most on Day 1 of free agency: Buffalo; Edmonton; Nashville; the Islanders.

Looks a lot like the pre-lockout NHL, doesn’t it?

The big-market teams scooped up all the A-list talent and the small-market clubs watched as their dreams and all their hard work went up in smoke.

The Sabres were a Presidents' Trophy-winning team last season, but minus Drury and Briere, their top two centers, there’s no guarantee Buffalo will be a playoff team in 2007-08.

Nasvhille, another up-and-coming squad that nearly won the Central Division title, but facing potential ownership change and possible relocation, was forced to clean house, trading away goalie Tomas Vokoun, forward Scott Hartnell and defenseman Kimmo Timonen, the team captain and watching helplessly as Kariya, seeing the ship sinking, jumped overboard.

"A lot of teams might be devastated if they were to lose the number of free agents that we did, but we're still in pretty good shape," Predators coach Barry Trotz said.

Keep the faith, Barry. At least faith can’t leave. It isn’t a free agent.

Outside Edmonton’s Rexall Centre on Sunday morning, two diehard Oilers fans carrying placards embarked on a forlorn sojourn outside the rink.

Their signs carried a simple message: Sign Ryan Smyth.

Simple, yet impossible. The Oilers couldn’t possibly afford to get Smyth, their most popular player who was traded away at last season’s deadline when it became apparent he wouldn’t re-sign with the team, back in the fold.

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Instead, the Oilers, playoff outsiders in 2006-07 but only a year removed from a Stanley Cup finals appearance, signed defensemen Dick Tarnstrom and Denis Grebeshkov, former NHLers returning from Europe.

Yeah, that should spark season-ticket sales.

Likewise, the Columbus Blue Jackets added minor-league defenseman Sheldon Brookbank, announcing in a press release that he was an all-star and voted the top defenseman in the American Hockey League this past season.

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Hey, when’s the Stanley Cup parade, C-bus?

Is it time to finally place the New Jersey Devils in this lesser group? The Devils, who always seemed to find a way to keep their players in the old NHL, couldn’t hang on to Gomez or Rafalski and now might not hang on to their perennial playoff position.

Naturally, the big-market clubs weren’t shedding any tears for their weaker sisters.

"That’s the nature of the beast," said Rangers GM Glen Sather after spending $86.3 million on Drury and Gomez.

When the NHL salary cap was bumped up to a maximum of $50.3 million the week before free agency, it was obvious that the feeding frenzy was on again.

"It’s a big cap number, but that’s the marketplace," Holland said.

Yes, but is it money spent wisely?