Today marks Open Season on the Free Agents, and the crop is relatively thin. With the salary cap increasing by a miniscule amount for the 2009-10 season and the uncertainty of next year’s cap, how will it affect the offers dished out. Shorter contracts? Less money? Here are the top 2o most intriguing UFA’s:

Forwards

For the second straight year, Marian Hossa could be the biggest prize in the free agent pool.
Others worth a look: Martin Havlat, Marian Gaborik, the Sedin twins, Mike Knuble, Brian Gionta, Alex Kovalev, Saku Koivu, Alex Tanguay, Nik Antropov and Mike Cammalleri.

Defense

Jay Bouwmeester was supposed to be the biggest fish in the NHL trade deadline pool last season. He has since signed for 5 years @ $6.6M.
If you can’t get him, Scott Niedermayer, Sergei Zubov, Rob Blake or Mattias Ohlund are up for grabs.

Goalies

Nikolai Khabibulin’s great athleticism, focus and big-game experience means he will be a prize acquisition in net.

Two other starting goalies on the market: Martin Biron and Dwayne Roloson.

Unrestricted Blackhawks this off season are Havlat, Khabibulin and Pahlsson. Restricted Free Agents from the Hawks are Barker, Niemi, Brouwer, Crawford, Eager, Fraser and Versteeg.

The Hawks will need to be cautious with the checkbook this offseason. Key contracts to Toews, Kane and Keith at the end of next season will force Dale to be conservative (or creative) in accepting and moving salaries. What do the Hawks do in goal? Any chance Khabi returns? And what about Havlat? Do you pay Havlat or find another, more durable option? If the Hawks chose to let Havlat and Khabi walk, they do free up $13M in cap space. The wait won’t be long.  July 1 @ Noon ET, the frenzy begins.