Zetterberg signs 12 year deal

[RiSeOnFiRe 0]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=264864&amp...s=headlines_nhl

Not sure how much room this gives the wings, or who else they have to sign... but seems to be a hometown discount seeing as he could get much more on the market.

[interpathway 9]

Wow. Way to lock Z up long and good.

[-knowlzey- 0]

6 mill a year is a good deal, but will it be when he is 40?

[mrusse01 0]

Wow, seems like a good deal for the Wings.

[lee92 2]

6 mill a year is a good deal, but will it be when he is 40?

TSN reported that the contract is front-end loaded, so he'll probably be getting paid like 7-8 mil in the first bit of the contract, and then 4-5 in the final years. Either way, for a total cap hit of 6.5 a season, it's a steal for one of the best two-way players in the league.

[_HSB_b345t 0]

Di Pietro?

Yashin?

Bueller.. Bueller?

[habsfan87 0]

geez with the economy in the shape that it is I didn't forsee teams inking these long term contracts for a while. Good for detroit tho, helluva deal in my opinion

[jds 20]

I guess Hossa is gone next year.

[hockeyallstarz19 0]

whata deal for the wings by far best player on there team

[jarret_g 5]

I guess Hossa is gone next year.

Hossa gone? this means hossa is most definatly staying, and probably Franzen too. Hossa's agent released a statement about his optimism on the subject http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2009/01/ho...in_on_zett.html. I expect Rafalski to get traded before the end of the year, and the Wings bringing up prospect Jonathan Ericson from Grand Rapids. This is a great deal, especially towards the end where Z will only get paid around 1-2mil....if he keeps putting up any numbers when he's 40, he'll be worth it at that price.

As a Wings fan, i'm elated. My favorite player will be a wing for life and left plenty of room to keep building the team.

[jds 20]

Geez, I'm no expert on this but I took it from that article that Hossa might be too expensive to keep if they keep Franzen and Hudler. Either way, I'm a big Hank fan and glad he will be in Detroit for good.

[lee92 2]

I'd much rather have both Franzen, Hudler, and Rafalski together than sacrifice one or two for Hossa. At the beginning of the season, Hossa wasn't factored into staying after the season ended. I think Detroit needs the cap room from Hossa to sign Franzen and Hudler, but also to have some spare change in case they need a 'tender or to resign Conklin.

[kosydar 0]

I think its a good deal for the Wings. Even if his production falls off towards the end of his career, he'll still be solid defensively and a solid leader (see Yzerman). I doubt Hossa signs next year, but I never thought that was the plan. If the Wings wanted Hossa long term, I think it would have made more sense to sign him to a longer deal this past off season. The impression I got with Hossa was that he wanted to use this year as a chance to win a Cup, and parlaying this season into a longer deal elsewhere this summer. I doubt Franzen and Hudler go, especially Franzen. It would be retarded of the Wings to trade Rafalski at the deadline. I see absolutely no point in trading the defenseman with the 2nd most points in the NHL so that an unheralded prospect can replace him (especially on the Cup favorites).

[bryanfainer 0]

i think this is good and bad what happens when the guy is broken down

[dsjunior1388 81]

After Vinny got 9 million a year, Ovechkin got 12? million a year, and hossa was getting offers for 9 a year, Zetterberg at 7 is a great deal

[interpathway 9]

Ovechkin is not getting 12 million a year. Try under 10.

Good read on the Red Wings' possible financial future after signing Zetterberg....

http://thehockeynews.com/articles/22821-TH...ford-Hossa.html

[JohnnyCanuck 0]

I don't care about how much money he is going to make, it just boggles the mind that any GM in the NHL would give anyone a contract longer than 4 years... So much can change and no matter how good a player is, in my humble opinion even Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin et all, nobody is worth hitching your financial wagon to for that long....too much can change.

Just look at the devil of a time Tampa is having tradin Lecavalier at the moment.

[kosydar 0]

I don't think Tampa is actively shopping Lecavalier. If they wanted to move him he'd have been gone by now.

[JohnnyCanuck 0]

ummmm no.

Lecavalier being traded is no easy task, how many NHL teams want to bring on that albatross of a contract?

[mrusse01 0]

I don't care about how much money he is going to make, it just boggles the mind that any GM in the NHL would give anyone a contract longer than 4 years... So much can change and no matter how good a player is, in my humble opinion even Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin et all, nobody is worth hitching your financial wagon to for that long....too much can change.

Just look at the devil of a time Tampa is having tradin Lecavalier at the moment.

I don't know about that...locking up young players to long long term deals is basically the norm across all 4 major north american sport leagues right now. Look at what guys like Longoria and Braun signed for in MLB? Hell, I've been doing the same thing in Madden now for years.

It's not a revolutionary concept, the price of everything tends to go up over time, so a team can gain a pretty big advantage if they pick the right guy and get him into a long term deal. The NHL and the current economic 'crisis' make it a big more of a risky proposition, but I'm guessing in 5 or 6 years guys like Ovechkin and Crosby will be wildly underpaid at their current rates. I'd actually be worried about guys getting pissed off over it and demanding a new contract, as you often see in the NFL.

[JohnnyCanuck 0]

wrong. Players escrow is going to go to 25%... it's no fun seeing 1/4 of your cheques go to fund teams that have no business being in the NHL like Sunrise Fl, Nashville, Atlanta, and Phoenix where they cannot give seats away.

The difference in MLB with your comparison is that MLB has a soft cap with a tax, and the NHL has a hard cap that moves with revenues, also, they have very good National TV deals that are going nowehere, the NHL has a precarious, at best, National TV Deal in the USA that pays little to nothing.

If the cap drops to the mid to low 40 million dollar range the Wings are handcuffed. make no bones about it.

[Rustpot 1]

If the cap drops to the mid to low 40 million dollar range the Wings are handcuffed. make no bones about it.

If the cap drops that low a LOT of teams will be boned. Contracts can be renegotiated as well, and you can bet the average salary figure is going to dump if teams get $10-17 million less to spend.

[jrhky36 1]

I guess Hossa is gone next year.

Hossa gone? this means hossa is most definatly staying, and probably Franzen too. Hossa's agent released a statement about his optimism on the subject http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2009/01/ho...in_on_zett.html. I expect Rafalski to get traded before the end of the year, and the Wings bringing up prospect Jonathan Ericson from Grand Rapids. This is a great deal, especially towards the end where Z will only get paid around 1-2mil....if he keeps putting up any numbers when he's 40, he'll be worth it at that price.

As a Wings fan, i'm elated. My favorite player will be a wing for life and left plenty of room to keep building the team.

i don't think so. he and lidstrom play so well together. he's the partner that lidstrom has been looking for since murphy retired. if anything i hope they get rid of chelios and lijla to make room for erickson. the biggest problem the yhave is that too many young players are ready to play now and the veterns aren't leaving. heck derek meech has had to play wing for a few games just to get ice time.