As the NHL free-agency period began yesterday, and players’ contracts expired allowing any team to sign deals with them, some pretty wacky numbers started to appear:

• $8.7 million/year for Evgeni Malkin
• $7.45 million for one year for Marian Hossa
• $7.1 million/year for Brian Campbell
• $4.1 million/year for Mark Streit
• $4.5 million/year for former Canadiens goaltender José Theodore
• $5 million/year for former Canadiens goaltender Cristobal Huet

And yet, someone is going to make more next year than all of these people put together: Rush Limbaugh. And that’s not even including his $100 million signing bonus.