Today is the deadline for defenseman Mathieu Dandenault to decide whether he will accept the Wings’ offer, a 10% raise on the $1.26 million he earned last year, or if he will choose salary arbitration instead. The Wings want to sign him to a 4 year deal and he will be eligible for free agency in two years because he has earned less than the league average salary and he’s 27 (under 31, like our friend Kariya). Dandenault just provides depth to an already deep defense and will help the team. He started out poorly this last year but ended strongly. As long as he can play like that again, he’s worth bringing back and I hope he re-signs. He can play forward too and might have to this year.
Wings prospect Niklas Kronvall, defenseman and the Wings’ first-round draft choice in 2000, also faces a deadline. He must sign with the Wings today or he’ll have to play another season in Sweden. He would provide even more depth on an already stacked blue line, though he probably wouldn’t make the team in that case and would most likely play for Grand Rapids. I’ve heard some good things about Kronvall but I don’t know a whole lot about him. I don’t know if he’ll be another Bykov or not. Just have to wait and see.
Former Avs defenseman Greg de Vries has shortened the list of free agents possibly available to the Wings and signed with the New York Rangers. De Vries, 30, signed a four year, $30 million deal and, if the past is any indication, has sold his soul for the next four years. We probably won’t hear much from him for a while, though he went in to the Black Hole a little earlier than some players have. That’s just another player the Wings cannot go after and maybe another team Sergei cannot go to because they may be done spending. Anaheim has already reportedly been taken away from Feds because they are rumored to have signed Vaclav Prospal, another Wings’ possible.
Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch has called Fedorov and made a personal plea. Now it’s up to Sergei to make his decision. Hopefully it will be to come back and take one of four offers the Wings have on the table — for one, two, three, or four years. Apparently the talk didn’t go into the money aspect but Illitch told Sergei that there would be no hard feelings if he does come back, that he and the management like him. The Wings have taken a gamble on Sergei not getting $10 million on the market and they look to be right. Hopefully, they’ll be able to get him back for less than that amount because if they have to pay him $10 million and they get someone high-priced for Joseph, their payroll will really skyrocket
Some potentially bad news: Rich Winter was wrong, Patrick Roy can come out of retirement. Because Roy retired of his own free will and not because his team forced him to, he is able to come back next season, if he decides to, with the Avs. If he had been forced to retire because no team signed him (Remember what happened to Larry Murphy?), he would have to wait until the season after next to return to the league. It’s not very likely that Roy will come back, though, from what I’ve heard. I think he’s a little more decisive than Dom is. It will be very good for us if St. Patrick does stay retired.
UPDATE - 2:37 PM - I forgot to mention one little detail about this before. Patrick would need the written permission of the Avs to return, if he decided he wanted to do so. Now since the Avs will obviously not give him that, he’ll stay retired. Wait. What am I saying? I think the Avs would take him back in a second.
Apparently, the team most likely to sign Sergei is Anaheim. That doesn’t make much sense to me, however. I guess it doesn’t because why would a team that wouldn’t pay Kariya $10 million want to pay Sergei $10 million+ instead? The Ducks rumor is what everyone is saying, though, so maybe Fedorov will end up in Anaheim. If he does, he’ll be in for one big shock, as Manny Legace says here: “You know, he’s in for a rude awakening when he leaves this town and goes somewhere and it’s not hockey crazy and they don’t treat you like you’re a superstar. He doesn’t know how great he’s got it in this town — (the fans) are phenomenal about their hockey, the ownership is top notch.” I think Manny’s exactly right. Sergei doesn’t know how good he had it here. Go from front page to Page 8 really fast in that great hockey market in Orange County.
Something that shocked me: Sergei’s agent, Pat Brisson (I’m really beginning to dislike this guy) offered a deal in response to the Wings’ 4 year, $40 million offer that was for 5 years, $37.5 million with $18 million more being paid out over the next 20 years after the end of the contract. What, are the Wings supposed to pay your pension Fedorov? What a joke. Obviously the Wings didn’t go for that one. Wow. The four year, $32 million offer is still on the table. Take it Sergei, take it.
Some good news: CuJo will waive his no-trade clause and not put up a fight. Obviously, he has some conditions — a trade will have to be to a contender and that the area will have to be approved by his family. He would like the trade to take place quickly and is very disapointed (understandably) with the whole situation. Some possible teams are New York Rangers, Boston, St. Louis and Colorado. I very highly doubt the Wings will do any deal with Colorado and I hope Joseph doesn’t take a hard line on going there. It’s unlikely the Avs would want to deal with the Wings either. I’d like to see Doug Weight in a Wings sweater but it’s not very smart to trade a castaway goalie to a division rival, even if that rival cannot win in the playoffs to save their lives. I don’t know who’d I’d like to see come the other way from the Eastern teams, of the players that are realistically available. I’d obviously like to see Thornton play here but the Bruins management knows they’ll be hung from the downtown lamposts if they let him go. He’s their Steve Yzerman (wears No. 19 too). I do not want Eric Lindros, though maybe he would be rejuvinated with the Wings and with the number of guys protecting him. Holland wants a deal done before training camp starts and all of our big hopes are probably going to be crushed because other teams know the Wings have to trade Joseph and they won’t give much up for him. Just like when Ozzie needed to be traded. I’m sorry CuJo.
Sergei’s last chance
The latest on Sergei Fedorov is the Wings have left a 4 year, $32 million (that’s $8 million a year those who aren’t too good at math) deal on the table. It’s doubtful that he’ll take the offer but there is still a chance, especially since Dom is back. He may decide to come along for the ride after all instead of being his own show in Anaheim or some other team dumb enough to pay him $11 million. I think the Wings need Sergei back and I hope he takes the offer. He truly will be better off in Detroit than he will be any where else. Come back Sergei!
The Return
“I’m here to announce my return to hockey.”
- Dominik Hasek in today’s teleconference
The Dominator is back. I listened to the teleconference today (got most of it on tape) and he confirmed what everyone has believed for weeks. He sounded excited and ready to play. He was very sure of his ability to come back and play well and he committed to playing the whole season next year. He admitted that there are no guarantees that he’ll be sharp but there is a good chance that he will be. He knows he has to work hard to get back to where he was and with his record, I think he’ll be fine. This is great news for the Wings, in my opinion, though not so great for Joseph. I really feel bad about that guy. He can thank Dom for doing this because the Wings would have kept him and used him. There are no guarantees about Joseph being the one traded but Dom made it pretty sure he only wants to play for the Wings and it seemed like he wouldn’t consider any one else. The Wings just got better and they will be even tougher to score on now. Thanks Dom!
Hasek Update
According to TSN.ca, the Wings will hold a conference call with the media tomorrow morning at 10:30 ET. I’m not sure if they will broadcast it live or not. No matter what, things should become a lot clearer tomorrow morning.
Jiri Hudler signs and some good articles
Wings prospect Jiri Hudler, 19, has signed a three year contract with the Wings. As usual, the Wings did not announce the financial terms. Hudler, a center from the Czech Republic, was considered a steal when he was picked 58th overall in last year’s draft. From what I’ve heard, he isn’t exactly ready for the NHL because his defensive game is a little lacking. He isn’t automatically on the team though. This is just a chance for Detroit to bring him over hear and for him to try out. If he’s good enough, we’ll see him in a Wings sweater but chances are he’ll either play for the Griffins or go back to the Czech Republic for another year. It would be nice to have another rookie come up and take the place of Igor Grigorenko, the prospect that was supposed to come up this year. I hope he makes it. He just has to work on his defense.
Great article from The Sporting News from a couple days ago. The writer sees the Wings as making the better decision in signing Hatcher over the Avs signing Kariya and Selanne. He bases his opinion on what happened in the playoffs this year — defense wins championships. While the Avs’ defense has gotten weaker, the Wings’ has gotten stronger. With Hasek in net (hopefully), the Wings should be set to win the close games, while the Avs might find themselves playing catch up a lot. A generalization but still pretty accurate. The Avs aren’t done on the market though, they still have more deals coming, I’m sure. Either way, I think the Wings probably did the smarter thing. At least some pain from losing Kariya and Selanne is going away.
Another good article from The Sporting News. This one’s about the Wings/Avs rivalry and how they are going for the Cup now instead of letting the new CBA coming up scare them.
