The Volts have enjoyed a period of stability in recent seasons, with just one or two players flying the coop each year.
Left-arm seamer Bradley Scott transferred to Northern Districts last season, and the summer before that experienced wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins signed with Auckland.
Aside from those two, the core of the side has remained together and as a consequence the team has had success in limited-overs cricket, winning the twenty/20 title this season and the one-day tournament the previous summer.
There do not appear to be any major defections this season, and with three Otago cricketers earning national contracts - up one from last year - Otago has an extra contract to assign.
Classy wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum has retained his New Zealand contract and Otago all-rounder Ian Butler has also earned one, while Neil Broom has effectively picked up Otago team-mate Aaron Redmond's contract.
The way the provincial contract system works is: the six major associations rank their top 16 players in both limited-overs and four-day cricket.
Four-day cricket carries a heavier weighting, with the points multiplied by 1.25.
The top 12 players are rewarded with provincial contracts for the next season, ranging in value from $36,500 to $19,500.
Otago skipper Craig Cumming, all-rounder Nathan McCullum, seamers Warren McSkimming and Neil Wagner, and top-order batsmen Greg Todd and Redmond should fill the top six Otago spots, with wicketkeeper Derek de Boorder and strike bowlers James McMillan and Mathew Harvie likely to be ranked 7 to 9.
The remaining three spots will be contested by five or six players.
Left-arm seamer Craig Smith had an injured-plagued season and may have slipped down the rankings, with the likes of University-Grange medium-pacer Anthony Bullick and Albion left-arm spinner Nick Beard leapfrogging him.
Bullick has had limited opportunities for Otago but Beard is an exciting young prospect.
The former New Zealand under-19 player made his debut for Otago in Queenstown last summer and had a harsh introduction to first-class cricket, taking one for 133.
But those in the know rate the 19-year-old highly enough to include him in a New Zealand emerging side.
Whether there is room for him in the 12 or not may depend on the mix of the squad, but he is likely to get game time in the four-dayers.
Another youngster who made an impression was Hamish Rutherford.
The 20-year-old made a big impact in the twenty/20 tournament, in which his high-risk batting at the top of the order paid dividends.
He scored 220 runs at 31.42 and, with Redmond, provided some terrific platforms from which the likes of Nathan McCullum and England international Dimitri Mascarenhas were able to launch during the later overs.
Rutherford could be squeezed out by punishing middle-order batsman Shaun Haig, who made some useful contributions for Otago.
In four-day cricket he played eight games and scored 353 runs at 29.41, including a century.
He played poorly in the semifinal and final of the one-day tournament but until then had gone quite nicely and is probably a more rounded cricketer than Rutherford at this stage.
At a pinch he can also take the gloves.
Leighton Morgan was probably about to wave goodbye to his contract but got an opportunity to impress late in the season when both Cumming and Redmond were unavailable.
In three matches the specialist opener scored 142 runs at 35.50 and may have saved his summer job.
Cumming and Redmond are the established opening pair for the Volts but injury or national selection would leave Otago exposed at the top.
Rutherford is not considered an opener in the longer form of the game and Morgan shapes as the best of the back-up options.
The Otago Daily Times understands the Volts are determined to re-sign Mascarenhas for the forthcoming season.
Mascarenhas was a key member of the squad which won the domestic twenty/20 title and he also performed well during the one-day competition, although his ponderous innings in the final attracted criticism.
As an import player Mascarenhas does not qualify for one of the 12 available provincial contracts.
