Maybe there is hope that Stuart will re-up....

Posted by w2j2 on 06/27/08 at 07:22 AM ET

hands...shaking...must...breathe…

Please be over quick. We can’t handle anything long.

Posted by Osrt on 06/27/08 at 07:23 AM ET

I have my doubts about Stuart.  You’d think that if he was inclined to re-sign, he would have done so already.  Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing Meech or Ericsson filling that void.  Stuart played very well, but I understand Holland’s position wherein he simply refuses to pay Stuart any more than Kronwall earns (3.0 this season, 3.25 next, 3.5, then 3.75 in 10-11).

The tenor of KHAN(!)’s piece suggested to me that Holland was awfully non-chalant about extending Zetterberg’s contract—that is kind of scary to me.

Does anyone else find the absence of discussion on extending Mule’s contract equally freightening?  I thought, according to NHLnumbers.com, Mule was eligible to extend his contract July 1, just like Zetterberg.  Curious that no-one is talking about Mule?

Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Hockey Netherworld on 06/27/08 at 07:39 AM ET

He might be nonchalant because he knows that it’s going to happen, but such a long contract can’t be slammed together quickly.  It’ll take some time to negotiate, but there is not reason to think it won’t get done.

There might not be any talk abotu Franzen yet because Zetterberg is the higher priority - once that is taken care of, then Holland will have a better idea of how much he has available to spend on Franzen.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 06/27/08 at 07:51 AM ET

Don’t think there’s any concern about Mule or Z. My guess is Holland wants to wait till midway through the season to get serious about negotiations so he can hear the rumblings about the likely neighborhood of the cap in ‘09-’10 before hand.

If I were him I’d be apprehensive about expecting the cap to continue upward at the same clip, what with uncertainty in more than a few ownership groups in the league, and frankly, just the law of averages…

Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 06/27/08 at 08:24 AM ET

KH is doing what he does best--he’s compartmentalizing.  Right now, all that matters is either getting Stuart to “buy in” or determining whether there’s a suitable replacement out there on the open market. 

He’s got to look for somebody who can replace Dallas Drake that doesn’t lead with his “shoulder pad"-clad hands (please no Gary Roberts, maybe somebody under 40 this time?), he’s going to attempt to determine whether there’s a veteran back-up who doesn’t want to be paid more than Osgood makes to back him up, it’s entirely possible (although not probable) that somebody will float Filppula a $2 million-plus offer sheet, and what happens to Hossa and Malone will help determine how much he’ll have to pay Zetterberg and Franzen. 

Kenny’s busy.  He’ll get to locking up Downey and McCarty in due time, he’ll get Chelios to come down to the Joe and sign his contract soon, and he’ll deal with the fact that Andreas Lilja will spend the entire time he’s in Holland’s office signing his new deal repeating, “I’m the king of Novi!  Woo!”

He’s just taking it five things at a time instead of worrying about everything at once.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 06/27/08 at 09:45 AM ET

Rushing to sign extensions at the 7/1 opening would not be good business with the future of the CBA up in the air.  Kenny knows that and is being diplomatic, hoping other GM’s will make that mistake.

Posted by HockeyTownTodd from upset when blogs don’t live up to my expectations on 06/27/08 at 11:19 AM ET

I’d be surprised if Zetterberg took 7 mil per season, for two reasons.

1. Just won a conn smythe.

2. Detroit has enough long-term cap space and organizational depth that Zetterberg wouldn’t be hurting his team’s future prospects for success by asking for considerably more.

Then again, I don’t know the guy.

Posted by Steve on 06/27/08 at 04:37 PM ET