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Filppula Will Be A Wing
by Paul on 07/05/08 at 08:37 PM ET
Comments (20)
from George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press,
The NHL Players Association announced Saturday that 15 players had elected to have salary arbitration, and Filppula, 24, was the only one for the Wings. Filppula could have signed an offer sheet with another NHL club, but that threat has been eliminated by him filing for arbitration. A Vancouver radio station had reported that the Canucks were preparing to send an offer sheet, but that never happened.
NHL.com has a list of the players who filed for salary arbitration today.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Valtteri+Filppula,
Comments
I’m sorry.
I always thought arbitration was a bad thing.
Not true?
I see that this keeps him from getting offer sheeted ... but what else does it mean?
Posted by ColdWar on 07/05/08 at 08:19 PM ET
Great news!
Way to go, Wally!
Posted by w2j2 on 07/05/08 at 08:53 PM ET
still not sure what happens if they don’t agree before arbitration, and if arbitration values him at $3.5 Million that will blow up the Wings cap b/c they still have several others they have to sign (chelios, mccarty and/or downey).
$3.5 is the ballpark for other RFAs signed last week for his age and similar numbers.
Posted by RWBill from jabbing a six inch sewing needle into my eye. on 07/05/08 at 10:17 PM ET
If I were an agent, I’d present Jeff Finger’s contract of $3.5 million and argue that Wideman is therefore worth $7 million and Bouwmeester $10 million.
(I’m sorry, but we should be able to get good jokes out of this contract for years.
Posted by Muero from Ohio on 07/05/08 at 11:03 PM ET
Where are you PuckHound?
He’s sitting at his computer trying to figure out what to do. His prediction was that Gillis would submit an offer sheet on Fil by 10:00 pm. Oh, wait, it’s now 12:13 am. What could have possibly gone wrong? 
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 07/05/08 at 11:13 PM ET
If the arbitrator awards Filppula a one-year contract that management doesn’t like, they can choose to walk away from it, in which case Fil becomes a free agent. If Fil is awarded a two-year contract, the team can choose to not offer two years, in which case they enter into a one-year agreement after which Fil is free agent.
Posted by BobTheZee on 07/05/08 at 11:30 PM ET
Too bad for us Canuck fans :(
We’re so desperate at this point, I think we were all clinging to hope that we could pry this talented young gun from the clutches of Hockey Town!!! Canucks are in deep skunk poop! Good for the Red Wings I guess. I am SO not looking forward to the next 5 years watching my pathetic Canuckleheads go down the sewer pipe!
Could we maybe pry away some of Detroit’s scouting staff? (what kind of offer sheet would that take?) 
Posted by redbacon from Kelowna, BC on 07/05/08 at 11:54 PM ET
What Bob said, and the Wings can also match any contract offered by another team to Filppula, up to 80% of the arbitrator’s awarded salary, if they walk away from the award.
The Canucks need a veteran, top-six forward who can put points on the board, stabilize the roster, and . Al Muir’s probably doing a little dance given that his SI column incited a firestorm, but sometimes an interesting idea doesn’t equal a good fit.
Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 07/06/08 at 01:25 AM ET
I think the only fans in the Western conference who so far feel at all confident about their team’s chances next year are fans of Detroit, San Jose, Dallas, and Chicago. The other teams can’t all be that horrible.
Maybe Vancouver will surprise everyone and be better than many people think. You can certainly never count out a team with a goaltender as good as Roberto Luongo.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/06/08 at 06:02 AM ET
Baroque:
I also think Nashville will be solid, Columbus will be improved, Calgary will be tough and Phoenix will surprise us all.
Another story line will be the ascendance of the Central division.
Posted by w2j2 on 07/06/08 at 06:51 AM ET
Ahem, there’s also a team out there in southern California that isn’t terrible…
Posted by Larry Aurie #6 from New York, NY on 07/06/08 at 07:00 AM ET
Where are you PuckHound?
Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
Posted by monkey from Waiting for the lambs to stop screaming on 07/06/08 at 07:18 AM ET
Could we maybe pry away some of Detroit’s scouting staff? (what kind of offer sheet would that take?)
When Scotty Bowman was considering taking over the Leafs (which he decided not to because, as he said, “Why would I want to leave Detroit?") he offered Håkan Andersson, Director of European Scouting, a potential job, told him he’d double his salary. Andersson said no.
The one thing that strikes me most whenever I read stories about the Red Wings is how often so many various people describe it as a “family” and say things like “there are no big egos”. Everyone loves what they do and they’re good at it. When you find a work environment like that it’s not very easy to leave.
Posted by monkey from Waiting for the lambs to stop screaming on 07/06/08 at 07:24 AM ET
Ahem, there’s also a team out there in southern California that isn’t terrible…
Yeah, the Kings do have a lot of young talent…
Posted by monkey from Waiting for the lambs to stop screaming on 07/06/08 at 07:39 AM ET
I think a lot more teams will be decent than their fans think right now. Just a lot of fans seem to be pretty depressed at the moment.
I guess when you are close to one team, you see all the warts and flaws and a lot less of the good points - especially compared to other teams with which you are less familiar.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/06/08 at 08:05 AM ET
Even they’re bad, they’ll be playing equally bad teams and should have a good shot at winning on any given night.
What? I’m trying to be positive here.
*snickers into Fil’s jersey*
Posted by Osrt on 07/06/08 at 08:40 AM ET
Glad to see Flip’s elected to remain in the fold. Can’t wait for the reaction to TWO Lines of Pain this coming season- I have a feeling the “Hossa-Filpula- Franzen” line will be getting its fair share of ink next season (along with MB’sFC, of course)…
Posted by mudshark from Divetown, Colorado on 07/06/08 at 09:35 AM ET
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