According to Helene St. James, the Wings have Leino signed to a two-year contract very soon, possibly today. That’s great news if it pans out. The team needs Leino to stick around, obviously, and he needs the Wings to keep him since they probably offer his best chance at regular NHL ice time right now.
The Hudler news is a mix of good and bad: he’s apparently filing for arbitration this weekend. As George Malik points out, that means teams can no longer tender him offer sheets, which is a definite good thing. The downside, of course, is that the arbitrator can award Hudler a salary higher than the Wings might like to pay.
They could trade his rights at that point if they wanted to, but as long as it’s not too high, they’d probably bite the bullet and keep him. It just could be the difference between signing a veteran forward or bringing up a not-quite-ready Abdelkader.
Also, most of us would consider this good news: it looks like Samuelsson’s priced himself out of returning.
All in all, this is comparatively great news after the pretty crappy events of the first day of free agency (even though I wasn’t a fan of keeping him, losing Hossa to Chicago wasn’t exactly a highlight of the off-season). The summer could have gone even further south had Hudler and Leino played the Wings tougher in negotiations, but it looks like things are headed to a good conclusion.
Meg and I will be on the road in Metro Detroit and away from the computer today, so if the Leino signing happens, I won’t be around to post on it.
Brief thoughts on Hossa:
… I didn’t really want him to re-sign, so I’m not disappointed in that way. I am, however, disappointed in his choice of destination. Chicago is probably the only team in the League that I would have found offensive, and now I’m finding it hard not to be pissed at the guy. It’s hypocritical, I know, but I maintain that a decades-old rivalry trumps the hatred generated by losing to a team once in the Finals.
Again, any other team, I would have been fine, and that includes Anaheim. Chicago, though? Not so much. This has far too direct an effect on the Wings’ to just let it float.
… Not sure how this works for Chicago going forward. Kane and/or Toews just got infinitely harder to re-sign, unless Tallon has their unofficial assurance that they won’t demand big bucks. If I were a Chicago fan, I’d be a mix of happy and completely incensed. Great to have Hossa, sucks to have the team’s future tossed out the window.
… Hossa’s a fool if he thinks Chicago offers a better shot at winning than the Wings. This was about the money. $20 million is a big difference, but so is the Cup. Unless Chicago pulls off a miracle cap-wise, the Hawks will be hard-pressed to beat smarter teams for the Cup, even in the next 12 years.
… Thanks for a good year, Marian. Good luck in Chicago. Hope you like it. You’ll be there for a while, whether you enjoy it or not.
Update (01. Jul, 2:16 PM): Staggering, mind-blowing deal: 12-years, $62.4 million with Chicago. Wow. More to come after work. - Matt
Sportsnet, via Winging It In Motown:
Sportsnet has learned Marion Hossa has turned down a contract offer from the Red Wings that would have kept the all-star with the Red Wings for the next 10 years.
A source compared the length of the deal to the deals Johan Franzen and Henrik Zetterberg signed. It’s believed the deal-breaker was the average salary which fell between $3.75 million and $4 million.
That report would have a little more credibility with me if it spelled “Marion’s” name right, but the basic facts are probably correct. Holland has effectively confirmed the rejection by telling Ted Kulfan, “It certainly appears [he'll test the market].” There’s just about zero chance he’ll resign after market opens tomorrow.
What I don’t get is the so-called sticking point. If the deal is structured so that he gets $6+ million a year for a few years, with compensation progressively decreasing over the latter years, what exactly is so bad about it? Who cares if the average salary is $3.75 to $5 $4 million? To me, it just proves he’s caring about the money this year, not winning.
Thanks for your time here, Hossa, and good luck wherever you land. Hope the money’s worth it.
One interesting bit of Khan’s piece that I didn’t mention in my last: the Wings won’t offer Conklin a contract, which means Howard’s all but assured the back-up spot next season. Only way he loses it is if he is terrible in camp and Larsson isn’t. Not likely to happen.
That means Howard is the guy the Wings are stuck with if Osgood gets injured. Makes me a little nervous.
Ansar Khan has the latest on the Hossa “negotiations” here. It doesn’t sound like he’ll be back, as Holland himself is not optimistic and is even talking about possibly shopping his rights as early as Monday.
When I read that the Hossa camp is seeking a deal averaging $6 million a year, I have to think he’s going to move on. That’s not the sound of a guy looking to take a discount to win any more. A $4 million cap hit, front-loaded deal could get him $6 million a year for a span, so I’m not sure what the problem is if it’s not that he wants out, or to be paid big bucks for the rest of his career rather than just a few more years.
At this point, I’m leaning toward hoping the Wings leave the cap space and look to the future, when the cap may fall a few million and make stocking the ‘10-’11 roster more difficult, even with the likely reduction in Lidstrom’s pay to a sunset discount.
I’m no good with prospects, so I’m deferring to Kyle on this. He’s got a review of the Wings’ draft choices here. Sounds like the Wings did pretty well, all things considered.
We’ve known this day would come for long time: Steve Yzerman is part of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s class of 2009. Joining one of the greatest leaders in sports history in entering the Hall this year will be former Red Wings Brett Hull and Luc Robataille, as well as Brian Leetch.
Congrats to all, but especially The Captain.
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