Is Schneider pricing himself out of Detroit?
Is Mathieu Schneider preparing to follow Robert Lang out of Detroit?
Ansar Khan from MLIVE has a couple stories on how the escalating price to sign a couple unrestricted free agents could limit the number of players Detroit brings back next season.
Wings general manager Ken Holland said he’s not close to signing any of the team’s free agents because their salary demands are too high. He’s talked to the agents for goaltender Dominik Hasek, defensemen Mathieu Schneider and Danny Markov and forward Todd Bertuzzi in the last couple of days and said he’ll have to make some “hard decisions.”
“It appears one or two are not going to be in Detroit,” Holland said. “I got to figure out which direction we’re going to go.”
With that being the case Holland is obviously going to have to have to set a pecking order for his efforts to sign these players. Dominik Hasek is obviously his top priority so hopefully he can get Dom signed within the next week. It was believed that Schneider was his next priority, and the Wings were committed to signing him to the point that the Detroit sports media suggested Danny Markov had no shot at coming back to the Red Wings.
The interesting thing to follow will be whether Markov becomes more likely to sign due to Schneider’s salary demands. With Philadelphia signing Kimmo Timonen to a deal worth $6.3 million per year you can reasonably expect Schneider and his agent to push for a contract in excess of $5 million per year. Ken Holland said as much when he opined that Schneider becomes difficult to resign if his demands push $5.25 million per year.
One thing in Detroit’s favor is the salary cap is expected to rise to right around $50 million. Here is what Khan reports after speaking with general manager Ken Holland:
Holland said he has about $10 million in salary cap space, though the official cap number (expected to be about $50 million, up from $44 million last season) won’t be established until next week.
“We need a goalie, a defenseman or two and would like another forward,” Holland said. “Some of that might be a luxury now. We might have to go internally, go with some of our kids.”
The comment about going with some of the kids likely means bringing up a defensemen or two like Jakub Kindl or Kyle Quincey. Kindl reportedly nearly made the team last year and would be the eventual replacement for Schneider as an offensive defenseman. On the downside he’s 20 years old, so he’d probably struggle a little early on. But the plusses are numerous: he’s got great size at 6′3″, he projects as a top 4 dman with loads of offensive potential, and he will only cost a very small fraction of what it will likely cost to resign Schneider.
Here is how the defensive pairings look right now.
Lidstrom - Markov or replacement
Kronwall - Schneider or replacement
Chelios - Lebda
Lilja
If Detroit cannot afford to resign Schneider hopefully they can at least sign Markov as he was solid with Nick Lidstrom last year. The two were on the ice together for only a total of three of Anaheim’s goals in the Western Conference Finals [2 goals in Game 2 by Rob Niedermayer and Travis Moen, and 1 goal by Teemu Selanne in Game 4]. They would provide Detroit with an excellent top pairing. If the team can sign Markov this is how the pairings might look:
Lidstrom - Markov
Kronwall - Lilja
Chelios - Lebda
Kindl
If Detroit has $10 million left beneath the cap they should be able to sign Hasek and Markov. Andreas Lilja played well in the playoffs so he might be able to start off as Kronner’s defensive partner. Hopefully as the season progresses Kindl would work his way up into a top 4 spot.
The Red Wings are likely out of the running for the big-time top 6 forwards like Scott Gomez and Ryan Smyth. Todd Bertuzzi might be affordable as it wouldn’t seem likely someone would throw an offer at him anywhere near $5 million per year. But we are talking about NHL general managers so who really knows.
Danny Markov Domink Hasek Mathieu Schneider Red Wings Todd Bertuzzi1 Comment(s)
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[…] Here’s an excerpt from an article from June 23, 2007: Wings general manager Ken Holland said he’s not close to signing any of the team’s free agents because their salary demands are too high. He’s talked to the agents for goaltender Dominik Hasek, defensemen Mathieu Schneider and Danny Markov and forward Todd Bertuzzi in the last couple of days and said he’ll have to make some “hard decisions.” […]