On the Wings

Well, the Wings may not be getting any closer to an agreement with Pavel Datsyuk, but they just locked up one of their many potential free agents. TSN reports that Niklas Kronwall has agreed to a 5-year, $15 million dollar contract extension. He would have been a restricted free agent this summer.

Kronwall, who has played just 63 games in the National Hockey League, will make $1.5 million in 07-08, $3 million in 08-09, $3.25 million in 09-10, $3.5 million in 2010-2011, and $3.75 million in 2011-2012, for a salary cap average of $3 million and a free agency value of closer to $3.5 million. Unquestionably, it’s a gamble for both the player and the team based on the length of the term.

Yes, a bit of a gamble given his injury history, however I think it will prove to be a good investment. He hasn’t exactly been astounding offensively this year, but who has on this team? He’s pretty sound defensively, won’t shy away from a hit and he’s only going to get better. With Lang, Datsyuk, Schneider, Markov, Maltby and Holmstrom (to name a few…) all up for free agency this summer, it’s nice to have one less guy to worry about. Now if we could just get him back in the lineup…