Wings sign Chelios and Franzen
Chelios will return to Detroit in a one year deal worth under $1 million.
“Chris signed a one-year deal for less than a million dollars,” GM Ken Holland told 1270AM Thursday afternoon. “We see him in the 10-15 minute range playing with the third pairing. Everybody knows his determination and he’s very excited to return.”Â
This season will be Chelios’ 22nd in the NHL and seventh with the Wings. “Chris brings a great deal of experience and passion to the rink every day,” said Holland. “He’s been a great Red Wing, he’s in excellent shape, and no matter what his age, you know he can play at a very high level.”
Between Schneider, Chelios, Lidstrom, and Fischer, Holland feels good with his defense. “With Mathieu and Chris, I feel very good about our defense for this season. Mathieu had a great year for us in 03-04 and we tried to sign him last summer. We’re happy to have him back in a Red Wings jersey,” Holland said.
The Wings also signed Johan Franzen, a 2003 draft selection, to a one year deal. Detroit picked Franzen in the third round, 97th overall. The 6′2″ forward weighing 210 pounds joins the Wings from Linkoping of the Swedish Elite league. In his 2003-2004 season, he had 30 points and topped the league with a plus-24. However in the 2004-2005 season, the addition of NHL veterans created less ice time for Franzen. He finished that season with seven goals and assists. He also was part of the Swedish National Team who finished fourth in the 2005 World Championship.
“We drafted Johan last summer in the third round and our scouts feel he is ready to play in the NHL,” said Holland. “He established himself in the Swedish Elite League and their national program and we felt it was time to bring him over.”Â
Schneider stays in Detroit
While the Wings lost Mathieu Dandenault to the Montreal Canadiens, Detroit was able to keep Mathieu Schneider. “Mathieu did a nice job for us,” Holland said. “He’s going back home. He got a real good offer from Montreal. He inked a four year deal worth $7 million. “With the development of Jiri Fischer, and having Nicklas Lidstrom, and we’re hoping to add another top-four defenseman, we didn’t envision Mathieu in our top four. And if he’s not in the top four, we couldn’t pay that type of money,” Holland said.
Last night, Schneider signed a two year contract valued at $6.6 million. After buying out Derian Hatcher last week, the Wings really needed to sign a strong defenseman. “We have to sign another goalie,” Holland said. “No doubt I’d like to sign a top-four defenseman, if possible. Not a guy that commands a lot of money, but one that can come in and play 20 minutes. With Nick Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, and Jiri Fischer, we feel we’ve got three guys who can play in the top four,” Holland said.
Detroit also offered Chris Chelios a one year contract. Chelios is expected to make a decision soon. “I made an offer to Chris Chelios, but if Chris comes back, I see his role in the third pair. We don’t want to wear him down,” Holland said.
Marc Levine, Henrik Zetterberg’s agent, believes it is unlikely Zetterberg will stay in native Sweden even though he won the Swedish scoring title playing for Timra IK. “At this point, his emphasis is to get back playing in the NHL,” Levine said. “He is an up-and-coming star. We’re continuing to talk with Detroit.” Zetterberg is looking for at least a 10 percent raise from the $675,000 he made in 2003-2004. Update: A source close to the Wings organization told a family member today that they believe Zetterberg will return to Detroit; it’s just a matter of hammering out the details and reaching a deal.
With only around $12 million left under the cap, Holland must focus his efforts on signing youthful stars like Datsyuk, Kronwall, Williams, and Zetterberg. It no longer looks like the Wings will sign Nikolai Khabibulin who is rumored to be heading to Chicago. This makes Chris Osgood’s return to Detroit much more likely.
“We have to pick and choose and be patient,” Holland said. “In the first wave, teams are signing players and signing those players to be core players. We’ve got those parts — I’m looking for the right complementary parts. I’ve got to get some good deals. We’ve got to wait for the market place to change, to become a cheaper market place, and then we’ll get busy on the market. It may take another week.”Â
Yzerman, Hatcher, & McCarty updates
Yzerman stays in Detroit for one more year
Steve Yzerman will remain as the Wings captain for his 19th year. He can’t rule out a 20th year, but most likely Yzerman will help link the Stanley Cup/lots of money/Hall of Famers era to the salary cap/youthful era. “I’m hesitant to say it’s my last year,” Yzerman said, chuckling, “but I have to be realistic.” While this may be his last year out on the ice, Yzerman sees himself in a management position down the road. “My goal is to one day run a hockey team, to be the guy responsible for putting everybody in place, for signing players to contracts,” Yzerman said.
While details of the contract haven’t been released, The Detroit News reports that Yzerman will earn $1.75 million with bonuses reaching $2 million.
“I spent a lot of time thinking about it, going back and forth, and in the end, I just felt if I didn’t come back, I’d be wondering if I could’ve played,” Yzerman said Tuesday from his Canada vacation home. “I wanted to give it my best shot. I’m not afraid of the challenge, and this year, there’s a lot to try and accomplish. I wanted to see if we could correct some areas and have better feelings than we had two years ago.”Â
The decision was a challenging one for Yzerman, who rented ice time Tuesday - his first time since March. He will participate in the Team Canada’s Olympic training camp on August 14th. “I went through periods when I thought, this is tough, I’m too old to do this stuff, maybe it is time to retire,” Yzerman said. “But then there were periods when I felt good and energetic. What it came down to was, Kenny and Jimmy D. expressed they really wanted me to be part of the team. If I felt they were jammed on the cap, I’d have moved on. Now I’m excited about playing again.”
While Yzerman understands that the landscape of the Wings will ultimately be different, he believes that the team will remain a Stanley Cup contender. “Our team is going to be good,” he said. “You add a couple of young guys like (Niklas) Kronwall and a few free agents and I expect us to be a strong team. I don’t know about favorites, because I think Tampa Bay and Philadelphia are real strong. But I expect the Red Wings to be Stanley Cup contenders.”
Yzerman has already talked to Babcock and his role on the team will be worked out over time. He believes that he’ll be playing more on the wing likely with Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby.
In the contract, there are clauses that would “reduce the cap impact if he misses games,” but he doesn’t expect to miss much. “My approach is, I’m not just trying to survive, I want to be a good player, but I’m prepared to accept any role,” Yzerman said. “I don’t expect any handouts. Sure, the fans may want to see familiar faces, but then they’re gonna want to see performance, and if the familiar faces aren’t performing, they won’t be happy.”
Hatcher to Philly
Derian Hatcher is leaving his hometown and heading to Philly where he will play there for four years while making $14 million. “He believed in me a long time ago,” Hatcher said. “I had five good years with Ken Hitchcock in Dallas. And the terms of the deal mattered, too. I have a family, and I didn’t want to be moving around every two years.” The Flyers also signed defensemen Chris Therien and Mike Rathje. “Derian’s a guy who plays big minutes and heavy minutes,” said coach Ken Hitchcock, also Hatcher’s coach in Dallas.
McCarty heads for Calgary
The Detroit Free Press reports:
McCarty joins Flames: Calgary signed unrestricted free agent forwards Darren McCarty and Tony Amonte, according to TSN.ca.Â
McCarty signed a two-year deal for $1.6 million Canadian ($800,000 per season). Amonte also signed a two-year contract at $1.85 million per season. McCarty’s contract was bought out by the Red Wings last week. Amonte’s contract was bought out by the Flyers.
Yzerman’s future still undecided
Early this morning, numerous sources reported that Steve Yzerman would meet with Detroit Red Wings officials sometime today to discuss the offer. Unfortunately, Ken Holland was too busy sorting out the free agency mess that the two sides were unable to meet Sunday or Monday. “Ken and Steve never connected today,” Wings PR executive John Hahn said Monday afternoon. “With the opening of free agency, Ken spent most of his time on the phone. He hopes to speak with Steve by Wednesday.”
The Detroit Free Press reports that:
A source close to the Detroit Red Wings said Monday it’s 95 percent certain captain Steve Yzerman will return for another season, but an official announcement may not come until Wednesday…Now the middle of this week may reveal the answer, which, according to the source, is that Yzerman will be back for a 22nd year. The source said Yzerman accepted how he fit into the fiscal picture under the new $39-million salary cap.Â
If Yzerman was to get $2 million for one year, that would leave the Wings with $12 million left under the cap with only 11 players. For Pavel Datsyuk to stay here in Detroit, the Wings will likely have to pay him around $2.5 million. Datsyuk’s agent, Gary Greenstin, said today that Datsyuk “would like to play in Detroit, but he also has to make decision that is right for Pavel. But right now, all signs point to Detroit Red Wings.”
The Wings are looking for a new starting goaltender to fill Curtis Joseph’s vacancy. Manny Legace is not seen as starting material here in Detroit so the search is under way. Rumors have it that Tampa Bay’s Nikolai Khabibulin has been interested in Detroit. However, he has two objectives. First of all, he wants a lot of money. Like the maximum of $7.8 million. Secondly, Khabibulin is going after a long term contract. Both of which don’t fit into Detroit’s scenario. Lets Go Wings’ rumor mill reports the following regarding the goaltending situation:
Rumors continue to run rampant that the Red Wings are going to make a hard push for free agent netminder Nikolai Khabibulin, with a Chicago paper going as far as to state the Wings may be willing to not only offer Khabibulin a long-term contract but also offer near the league maximum salary of $7.8M per season.Â
That, however, remains unlikely. The Tampa Bay Lightning, Khabibulin’s former team, reportedly offered the netminder a five-year contract worth $5-6M per season that was turned down.
Red Wings GM Ken Holland has regularly stated that a No. 1 netminder is the team’s top priority in this abbreviated off-season, and Khabibulin is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the goaltenders available. Forming Wing Chris Osgood is very likely Detroit’s secondary option.
Since Darren McCarty was bought out last week, rumors have been circling as to where McCarty is heading. The Detroit Free Press reports that a source close to McCarty believes he is close to a two year deal with the Calgary Flames. Both McCarty and his agent were unavailable for comments.
Another rumor floating around the league (and take these all with a grain of salt) is that the Bruins’ Joe Thornton will be traded for Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings. Matt at On The Wings keeps us all grounded with his explanations:
Also, rumors are floating around that the Wings are in trade negotiations with the Boston Bruins. The player reportedly involved from the Boston end is Joe Thornton and the player on the Detroit end is supposed to be Pavel Datsyuk. The merits of such a trade, at any time, are debatable, but the situation is such that I can’t really see it happening at this time. Thornton is a Group 6 UFA and is so is not signed by Boston. Pavel Datsyuk is a RFA and is not signed by the Wings. Instead, he is contemplating staying in Russia for next year. Given those facts, I find it unlikely that either team would risk losing their franchise players (current and prospective) to a trade when they could lose what they got to free agency. Besides, however much Pavel Datsyuk wants, it’s not likely to be the $4.5 to $5+ million Joe Thornton is likely to get on the free market. Despite Pavel’s age, they might be better served paying him that much if they are willing to pay Thornton it. Pavel’s upside is pretty big.Â