Ansar Khan has an update on the status of the Wings’ free agent situation.
In summary:
… Hasek should sign within a day or two, having told the Wings he’d rather wait until after the first day of free agency to make a deal
… Todd Bertuzzi is shopping himself around the market, looking for a longer-term deal than the Wings are willing to give him. So, his return may not be all that likely. The Wings are looking for a “second-tier free-agent forward,” to, I assume, replace Bertuzzi in the event he doesn’t re-sign.
… The Wings are looking to spend their remaining $8 million on “Hasek, a forward, and a depth defenseman.” Quite frankly, I don’t really understand the need for a depth defenseman when the team’s blueline corps now stands at Nick Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall, Andreas Lilja, Chris Chelios, Brett Lebda, and, likely, Derek Meech. Seems pretty solid to me.
… Danny Markov turned down the Wings’ last offer, so he’s looking less and less likely to re-sign. Not much of a surprise there.
… The Wings apparently didn’t offer Schneider the kind of money they offered Rafalski (as in up to $2 million less per year). So, it seems that all along they were more intent on pursuing the younger Rafalski than on keeping the older Schneider. That’s surprising, given how re-signing #23 was listed as a priority all along.
I hope Lilja can remember what made him play so well during these recent playoffs and carry it over to the regular season.
I mentioned the lack of right handed shooters on our blue line in the Rafalski post. Well, I would really like to see more right handers in our group of forwards as well. With Lang gone, I think the only right handers we have are Samuelsson and Maltby. Of course handedness isn’t a priority when looking at players to sign, but I hope whatever forward we get can add some diversity to our group as well as skill.