It's a little bit terrifying for a Vancouver Canuck fan when you look at the list of free agents who are slated to come available to the rest of the NHL on July 1.

Granted there's still a couple of weeks to go before the free-for-all begins but the list of available Vancouver players right now looks pretty significant, particularly if they should all happen to find other places to play right off the hop.

Granted, this is a new era and good players are going to be more available than ever if you have cap space, but when your departing list includes Mattias Ohlund, Taylor Pyatt, the Sedin twins, Jason LaBarbera, Curtis Sanford, Mats Sundin, Ossi Vaananen, Rob Davison, Jeff Cowan, Nolan Baumgartner and Jason Krog, you have the potential of losing both depth and quality.

And then there's Shane O'Brien, Kyle Wellwood and Jannik Hansen who are restricted free agents, the latter entirely likely to get a nuisance offer from the Leafs, forcing Vancouver to either match a higher number than he's proven he's worth or hand him over to Toronto for a draft pick, something the Canucks might actually opt for if push comes to shove.

Obviously the Canucks are trying to sign Hansen, O'Brien, Wellwood and the Sedin twins from that list and they may well be the only ones, although they'll need another goaltender in the organization for next year, for sure.

If LaBarbera is willing to play for the same money or perhaps a little less, he could be back as well.

So could Sundin if he's willing to play for a lot less per game. At this stage of his career, that's a longshot.

But the Sedins have a decision to make and that will go a long way toward how the Canucks will look, as will contract renewal talks with Roberto Luongo which the team will likely initiate after the first couple of weeks in July. Those talks will be linked to the Sedin twins and/or their replacements.

If Luongo happens to agree to an extension, they might consider moving Cory Schneider for a young defenceman in another organization. That would be best-case scenario. If Luongo does not agree to re-sign, they could keep him and keep trying, ask him to waive his no-trade clause and make a deal, or simply hold him until his deal runs out and be happy with the $6.75-million cap space liberated.

Re-signing him is a no-brainer, but if you go too haywire with him and the Sedins you're in a situation where three players are making close to $20 million, an untenable situation even if the salary cap doesn't come down.

Mike Gillis, like every GM in the league on a team that wants to be competitive, is walking a financial tightrope.

Luongo has already indicated he plans to wait and see through the '09-'10 season. Money, though important, is not really the biggest consideration in his mind.

If he makes good on that indication by wanting to wait, he may have to pay a price of sorts, not out of vindictiveness but as a practical matter. Surely the Canucks, facing the prospect of having Luongo leave one way or another, would have to bring Schneider up and play him at the NHL level to see if he can handle such a position, at least on a backup basis.

Remember, he wasn't terribly impressive in his eight appearances this past season. That role this season would have to include way more games than previous backups got, something not likely to sit well with Luongo, who is used to making up coach Alain Vigneault's mind on who plays goal.

The back end will have the top four of Kevin Bieksa, Sami Salo, Willie Mitchell and Alex Edler in place, with O'Brien back as well, and Ohlund needing to be replaced either by the trade route or free agency, as well as the depth positions determined.

After the meltdown in the last games of the Chicago series, the Canucks' back end has a lot to prove. Having a body like Jay Bouwmeester's back there would go a good way toward picking up this group, as well as encouraging Luongo to get out his pen and autograph an extension.

Francois Beauchemin wouldn't be a bad consolation prize, either, although he wouldn't bring the speed component this group needs.

Up front, everything is pretty much on hold until the Sedins make their decision, one of the most crucial in the 39-year history of this team.

T. Gall's on the web

Is there an offseason for hockey? Hmmm, we think not. In the latest edition of Tony Gallagher's "Tony Talk" podcast, which you can tune into anytime after noon today at

theprovince.com/whitetowel, he predicts the winner of each of tonight's major categories at the NHL Awards -- and names some players who were passed over for consideration. All this and much more at our White Towel blog.