The summer of 2009 will be a tough time to be a free agent. The global economic downturn is hitting the sports world hard, whether or not player agents want to believe it.

The Blues are face huge business challenges. The organization has spent carefully on talent — preferring to rebuild with youth – and it has worked overtime to market the sport.

Still, lots of empty seats remain. Monday’s “crowd” for the Predators-Blues game at Scottrade was pretty depressing.

At least Blues executives were in good company at the Board of Governors meeting. The NHL presented a sobering look at today’s economy and where it is headed next year.

Next summer, when franchises are trying to sell season tickets and sponsorship packages, the economic recovery may not be under way. Executives in most markets need to plan for difficult times ahead.

Few NHL franchise can really afford to spend to the current salary cap limit of $56.7 million. In Buffalo, fans are fretting over reports that the team could be for sale.

Fact is, many NHL teams could be had RIGHT NOW if the right buyers came along. The NHL said it isn’t planning to lay off workers at the league offices, as the NFL and NBA had, but many franchises have reduced staffing.

“We don’t think any industry and certainly no team is recession-proof,” new Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke told the Toronto Globe and Mail. “It’s that simple. Our fan base and our corporate base are facing the same challenges as everyone else. You see what’s happening in NASCAR. You can’t argue that it’s not having an effect on professional sports.”

The economic downturn has had an impact overseas, where plunging oil prices has dried up some of the cash flowing through Russian’s Kontinental Hockey League – which has pried top-end players like Jaromir Jagr and Alexander Radulov away from the NHL.

LIGHTNING DOESN’T STRIKE

Tampa Bay keeps racking up losses, to the consternation of the new ownership and management team. When guys walk away from $9 million contracts, as Radim Vrbata recently did, you know the atmosphere is not good.

Here was goaltender Mike Smith’s take after the most recent loss: “I don’t know if we’re a dumb team, if we just don’t get it or we don’t deserve to be in this league, I don’t know, but we are making the same mistakes we talk about game in and game out.”

New coach Rick Tocchet hasn’t done much good since replacing for Barry Melrose. The Angry Gray Mullet is not surprised.

“I had guys in Tampa who wanted to run the team and I wouldn’t let them,” he told Toronto’s Fan 590 radio. “I was hired to coach and I coached,” Melrose told the Fan 590.  “I wasn’t playing the right guys.  I was playing certain guys too much, I wasn’t playing other guys enough.  Every day was a constant battle.

“Finally the guys in charge decided they wanted to coach and they got rid of me.  That’s what it comes down to.  It obviously wasn’t a hockey decision, because it’s not like they’ve set the world on fire since they got rid of me . . . Now they’ve got guys in charge that let them do what they want and obviously that isn’t working out very well either.”

CAM JANSSEN, ACTION HERO

This was an excellent bout from last Friday. Enjoy!

AROUND THE RINKS: Old friend Pavol Demitra is feeling some heat in Vancouver, where he has just three assists and no goals during the last seven games. The constant Canucks line shuffling doesn’t help. “My biggest thing is how I feel on the ice,” he told the Vancouver Province. “Are my legs going? Am I getting scoring chances? And I am. Obviously, I want to score. I want the numbers every single game but it’s not always going to happen, especially on the road.” . . . The Blackhawks are capped out, but the team still made a pitch to free-agent center Mats Sundin. General manager Dale Tallon would have to make big changes to find room for the long-time Maple Leaf. “If our kids keep improving, we might and we might not,” Tallon said of the potential moves. “It doesn’t make sense to upset the progress here. We’re looking forward to getting better and better. Are we ready to challenge yet? That’s yet to be seen. But we have a plan in place and you don’t want to disrupt that plan. We want to make sure we stay on course here too. Bringing in a player like that, at that time of the season, what does it do to the psyche of a young team that’s doing well? So we’re cautiously looking into it.”