Khan has an update as well:

Wings general manager Ken Holland said Dominik Hasek’s agent, Ritch Winter, told him he wanted to wait a day or two after July 1 before signing, but there’s no cause for alarm.

“We’re close in a lot of areas ... I’m hoping to finish this off in a day or two,’’ Holland said. “We’ve made progress. We have the nuts and bolts of something in place. They told me there’s no reason to be concerned. They just want to sit for a day or two.’‘

Todd Bertuzzi is also exploring the market, looking for a long-term deal. The Wings are only offering short-term.

Holland said the Wings have about $8 million to spend on Hasek, a forward and a depth defenseman, whom he might not sign for another month. Holland said Danny Markov and his agent turned down an offer last week at the draft in Columbus.

The Wings made Mathieu Schneider another offer shortly before noon, but Holland said it was for much less than he received from Anaheim. He said Schneider’s agent, Mike Gillis, asked the Wings if they were prepared to go to a certain number, which they weren’t, and then he signed with the Ducks, who said Scott Niedermayer told them on Sunday he’s leaning toward retirement.

Holland said he has no qualms about the money and the length of deal given to Rafalski, because that’s the marketplace. The Wings’ priority was to sign Schneider or Rafalski. He said they didn’t enter the bidding for any of the top forwards, like Ryan Smyth, Scott Gomez, Daniel Briere or Chris Drury.

The Wings are looking for a second-tier free-agent forward, but are in no rush to sign one, he said.

My “gut” still says that Bertuzzi comes back to the Wings, but I do wonder what’s going to happen with Lilja and/or Meech if the Wings are still looking for a physical 5/6 guy.

Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 07/01/07 at 06:42 PM ET

The Rafalski deal gives them some stability on the blueline if and when Nick decides to leave. I like his game a lot, and I think he’ll thrive even more under a Babcock-esque system where he can join the rush a bit more. I suspect that Bert will be back for somewhere around the $3-mil range, Dom for $2.5-mil and and another defenseman somewhere below $2-mil. With the emergence of Flip and Cleary last year, and Sammy and Franzen as solid wingers, the makeup of the team will be really good.

Posted by Jeremy from Bowling Green/Oregon, OH on 07/01/07 at 08:36 PM ET