Dr. eVille is back, baby!  Good signing.  Sorry Chicago, this one is ours.

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 07/06/09 at 11:36 AM ET

A little more than I thought, or wait, nevermind, it is only .8 per year!  Niiiiiicccce.

Posted by moore00 from Columbus, OH/Grand Rapids, MI on 07/06/09 at 12:17 PM ET

So he was making $850K last year - he signed a 2 year deal for $50K less per year on average?

Unless his deal last year was a 2-way deal (pay him less in the minors) and this is a 1-way deal.

Posted by CJBear71 on 07/06/09 at 12:23 PM ET

Unless his deal last year was a 2-way deal (pay him less in the minors) and this is a 1-way deal.

That’s what I’m thinking…  Either way, good on him and good for the Wings!

Posted by Garth on 07/06/09 at 12:37 PM ET

Leino impressed the Wings last year when he came up from Grand Rapid, and had 9 pts (5G, 4A) in 13 games (.692 scoring average).  Now that’s a very small sample size - too small to assume that he will play at that level in all.  However, if he could hold that pace in the NHL, he would end up with 31 goals and 25 assists - 56 pts in all.  However, that may be a statistical aberration since in his career he’s generally played center and had more assists than goals.

Most players who come up from the AHL level actually drop to about 1/2 or 2/3rds of their AHL production in their first full NHL season, except for some very elite players.  In the AHL, Leino scored 46 points in 57 games (.807 scoring average).  Assuming Leino plays mostly with the top 6 play-making forwards (Z, Dats, Cleary, Franzen, Fil, Hudler) I expect him to stay around 2/3rds of that scoring average (.538 scoring average).  That would equate to about 45 points in his first season, baring injury.

Hopefully, that would be our expectation - we have 70pts+ to make up from Hossa being gone.  If Leino can pick up 45pts + of that, we are well on our way to staying on top of the division.

Posted by CJBear71 on 07/06/09 at 12:46 PM ET

Who needs Hossa? Leino should make up for about half of the goals we lost. More key time for Filppula and Hudler should cover the remainder.

Posted by Nate A from Detroit-ish on 07/06/09 at 12:48 PM ET

A 1 way deal would make a lot sense, since I’ve seen him quoted as saying he’s not interested in playing another year in the minors.  Still, surprised they got him to take less money than he made last year.

Posted by Nick on 07/06/09 at 01:09 PM ET

Also, I think we can reasonably expect a lot more production out of Fil and Hudler (if he stays), now that someone will be eating up Hossa’s 18 min a night.  Hudler had a very high pts/minute played average last year.

Posted by Nick on 07/06/09 at 01:11 PM ET

Leino-Meano Fighting Machino

okay, that was bad.

Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste Marie on 07/06/09 at 01:19 PM ET

And we’re still going to try to get Jiri Hudler done and you can add in a significant number for him,” said Holland, who hopes to settle on an agreement with Hudler before the forward’s salary arbitration case.

I like the fact that Kenny is saying that it’ll take a “significant number” in order to sign Happy. At least they don’t appear to be trying to low-ball him…which would probably be the surest way to lose him.

But I still don’t see how the numbers can work, especially if they have to (and should) pay Happy about $2.5M. Here are the numbers I generated from CapGeek.com with Happy in at $2.5 and Lilja out. You still end up with only 21 guys and you have less than $500k in cap space.

FORWARDS
Pavel Datsyuk: 6,700,000
Henrik Zetterberg: 6,083,333
Johan Franzen: 3,954,545
Valtteri Filppula: 3,000,000
Daniel Cleary: 2,800,000
Jiri Hudler: 2,500,000
Tomas Holmstrom: 2,250,000
Kris Draper: 1,583,333
Kirk Maltby: 883,333
Justin Abdelkader: 850,000
Ville Leino: 800,000
Darren Helm: 599,444

DEFENSEMEN
Nicklas Lidstrom: 7,450,000
Brian Rafalaski: 6,000,000
Brad Stuart: 3,750,000
Niklas Kronwall: 3,000,000
Jonathan Ericssonv900,000
Brett Lebda: 650,000
Derek Meech: 483,333

GOALTENDERS
Chris Osgood: 1,416,666
Jimmy Howard: 716,666

ROSTER SIZE: 21
SALARY CAP: 56,800,000
PAYROLL: 56,370,653
BONUS MONEY (ESTIMATED):  110,000
CAP ROOM: 429,347

And like others, I’m shocked that Leino signed for less than he made last year (which was actually $875k). The kid (if you can call a 25-year-old a kid) must really want to prove that he has what it takes. That’s a very good sign.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 07/06/09 at 01:28 PM ET

OTC - If you take Abby out and have him start the year in GR, we could probably sign a couple of bargain forwards to round out our forward corps.

Also, who’s getting the bonus money?

Posted by DetCapC19 from Vancouver, BC on 07/06/09 at 01:41 PM ET

Nevermind, Abby would get it if he played out the year and hit his requirements.  So, again, if he starts the year in GR, that’s anoter $110K we have to spend.

Posted by DetCapC19 from Vancouver, BC on 07/06/09 at 01:46 PM ET

According to NHLNumbers.com, DetCap, the bonus money is included in the $850k listed at CapGeek.com (it’s a base of $710k + $140 in bonus money). So I think the $110k that CapGeek.com automatically adds in is money owed Chelios from last year (which always counts against the next year’s cap).

With Abbi’s $850k out, you still only have $1.23M with which to fill two spots. And even if you get them both at $500k, you’re left with only $230k in cap space…and that means you can’t call anyone up from GR unless someone goes on IR. One reason I think Meech stays this year (besides his small salary) is his ability to play at forward as well as defense.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 07/06/09 at 02:02 PM ET

Excellent work, Tick Tock.  Nice to see Filppula’s other linemate getting on board.

Posted by SYF from a "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on 07/06/09 at 02:06 PM ET

BTW, the bonus money in OTC’s list is Abdelkader’s.  With him on the roster, the bonus money is $110K but ff you redo the roster and take him out, there’s $0 in bonuses.  Now, that number conflicts with nhlnumbers.com’s bonus, but that’s another story…

Posted by Garth on 07/06/09 at 02:24 PM ET

It looks like CapGeek simply places the bonus money between the Payroll and Cap Space figures. It’s not an additional subtraction from the payroll. So that is, indeed, the bonus portion of the salary that they’ve listed for Abbi.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 07/06/09 at 02:39 PM ET

Offficial dollars is $1.55M over two years.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 07/06/09 at 03:32 PM ET

This is great news.  I can’t get this image out of my head:

I’m still not confident we’ll be able to keep Huds.

Posted by Hippy Dave from Portland by way of Detroit on 07/06/09 at 03:42 PM ET