Datsyuk signs contract extension
The Red Wings announced in a press conference today at 1pm that they signed forward Pavel Datsyuk to a seven year contract extension valued at $46.9 million. TSN.ca is reporting that it will be between $6-7 million per year. $6.7 million per year will count against the salary cap. It is the longest contract given to a player in franchise history. In 78 games this season, Datsyuk scored 27 goals and notched 60 assists. He has been especially impressive over the last 18 games while missing his partner in crime, Henrik Zetterberg. The Wings have heavily relied on him for offense with Hank’s absence. Last year, he led the team in scoring with 28 goals and 59 assists.
“Obviously the seven-year commitment shows we believe in him,” general manager Ken Holland said.
“He’s one of the top 10 centermen in the game. At the age of 28, why can’t he take it to another level?”
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”Everyone in the organization wanted him to stay with us,” said team owner Mike Ilitch.
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“If Pavel just plays the way he can play, like he has lately, he plays in all areas of the game and the production will come as a result of him doing all the little things he can do,” said Steve Yzerman, the Wings’ senior-vice president.
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”This contract was extremely important to me,” Datsyuk said. ”Especially since I have been a Red Wing since 2001.”
According to the Detroit Free Press article, Yzerman spoke a lot at the conference about how much they wanted to have Datsyuk return and his belief that Datsyuk will play well in the playoffs. He also called Datsyuk’s previous playoff numbers an “an aberration.”
What are my thoughts on the deal? I’m a bit surprised that GM Ken Holland would sign Datsyuk to such a long term deal before the playoffs after his poor performances in the postseason of late (admittedly, he did play injured last season). I honestly expected Datsyuk to be signed after the playoffs even though Ansar Khan MLive.com had reported that Holland was close to a deal with Datsyuk.
Khan explains today in his blog why the Wings chose to sign Datsyuk today.
Why sign Pavel Datsyuk now instead of waiting to see how he performs in the playoffs? Because the Red Wings have always been committed to keeping the dynamic 28-year-old center and didn’t want to risk having him hit the free-agent market on July 1. His playoff performance wouldn’t have made a difference in their desire to keep him. Maybe it would have cost them slightly less, but it probably would have cost them more had they waited. And the chances of him signing elsewhere would also have increased.
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Now, Datsyuk will be under even more pressure to deliver in the playoffs. He has gone 26 games without a goal in the playoffs, dating back to Game 7 of the 2002 Western Conference finals. My guess is he’s too good of a player to keep struggling in the postseason. He is bound to break out.
Overall, I’m not unhappy with this signing. We get a great player longterm and between Kronwall and Datsyuk, we have a some great building blocks for our future. Unfortunately, it also means we have to sign Zetterberg to an equal deal (at least) when the time comes to resign him. Will the Wings have money for that? Plus, Datsyuk hasn’t proven himself as a playoff player and that it is a big and expensive contract.
IwoCPO @ Abel to Yzerman has his thoughts on the deal:
When you’ve got a guy who is so instrumental to the team, yet so invisible come playoff time; you have to wonder why Ken Holland would be so eager to sign him before the playoffs. Holland told Khan(!) this morning that he believes Datsyuk is “just coming into his prime.”
If the second half of this season is any indication he’s right on the money with that assessment. Datsyuk has legitimately carried this team the last twenty games, and led the team since January.
Great.
But just as he’s proven himself a top-tiered regular season player, he’s fallen so flat in his playoff career that the wondering must start there. Pavel Datsyuk is the epitome of this team. Flashy and brilliant from October to mid-April, then tight and disappointing from that point forward.
Ken Holland’s going to look silly or brilliant in a very short, or hopefully a bit longer, period of time.
Dave at Gorilla Crouch reflects on the signing as well:
The price will be the big question mark. If Datsyuk tears it up in the postseason this will be seen as a great move. If he struggles there is sure to be lots of criticism directed at Red Wings general manager Ken Holland. As far as my opinion, I think it was a good signing. It’s actually at the high end of what I speculated when Christy asked me about this topic in her Behind the Blog series. But it isn’t completely out of line, especially given that it is a long-term contract.
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April 6th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
[…] Update (4:45 PM): Christy has posted a reaction to the signing here and Dave has posted his here. Here is IwoCPO’s again, in case you haven’t seen it. - Matt Update (4:10 PM): TSN reports the contract is for $46.9 million. If it’s divided evenly, that means $6.7 million a season, which jives with the reports that it’s between $6 and $7 million. Of course, it could be some kind of tiered thing rather than the same number for each year, so all we can say at the moment is that it’s $6.7 on average. - Matt […]
April 7th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
[…] Off the list: Wings sign Datsyuk to seven-year deal [ESPN] Datsyuk signs contract extension [Behind the Jersey] […]