Holland hopes to re-sign Cleary, Lilja, & Babcock
GM Ken Holland hopes to re-sign forward Dan Cleary, defenseman Andreas Lilja, and head coach Mike Babcock. He would like to get Cleary and Lilja taken care of before the February 27th trade deadline so he knows how much cap room he’ll have next year and if he’d be willing to make a trade.
The Wings can’t afford to give Cleary that much of a raise over the $675,000 he is making this season; ideally, he’ll come in somewhere around $2 million.
“We need to figure out where we’re at with Dan Cleary, because it’s hard to just let players walk out the door,” Holland said. “I’d be uncomfortable to go out and get a potential unrestricted free agent (via trade) and then have all these players leave. Ideally, we’ll have a deal in place with Dan Cleary, and then I know what money I’ll have under the cap, and we can set our sights on other things. If we don’t have a deal, we’ve got some decisions to make.”
Lilja is currently making $1 million and would like to get a raise. The two sides aren’t too far apart, but the Wings aren’t willing to give him a large raise. He could possibly get something for $2.5 million over two seasons. Personally, he’d be the one Wing I’d be content to let go. We have quite a few top defensive prospects that I feel we can afford to “lose” him and save money by allowing a younger player to step in and fill his roster spot. He has been playing better this season, but I still feel like he’s one of the bigger liabilities on the team.
Head coach Mike Babcock’s contract could potentially expire this off-season if he elects not to renew his option year. It doesn’t sound like he will, but that’s because he and Holland will likely sign him to a longer term contract instead of just another option year.
“I basically have told Mike that I want him back next year,” Holland said. “I thought he was a good coach when we got him; I think he’s become an even better coach in his 2 1/2 years here.
“I don’t anticipate he’s going to exercise his option. We’ve talked briefly about that. For no real reason, we haven’t really sat down with him yet. But he’s done a great job for us, he’s been a real important factor in the success we’ve had in the 2 1/2 seasons he’s been here. I think it’s just a matter of him sitting down with us, and I don’t anticipate anything getting in the way of getting a deal done. We’d like to do one with some term, and I think Mike likes it in Detroit and wants that, too.”
Babcock seems content to stay and it’s just a matter of how long the Wings would like him to remain here in Detroit.
“This is what I can tell you,” he said. “Mike Babcock’s dream job is to coach the Red Wings. I’m going to be here as long as they want me to be here. I’ve worked now in this organization really for five years — two in the minors and three here. I would have never left Anaheim if they’d wanted me, and I won’t leave here if they want me. We’ll work stuff out. I’m not concerned about that one bit.”
Now that the team is finally Babcock’s and the players have fully bought into his system, we are reaping the benefits as fans. I am all for keeping Babcock around for another three years.
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