T-minus 48 hours on Wally World
So Valtteri “Wally” Filppula is set to go to arbitration on Friday, August 1st. The reports indicate both sides have a two-year deal in their hip pocket that is all but signed, sealed and delivered. But they’d like to work out a longer-term deal so they have used the time up until the arbitration hearing to try and work out a deal with more term.
The hold-up? Both sides have reasons to negotiate hard. For Red Wings general manager Ken Holland the concern is overpaying for a young player who has been an excellent defensive forward but has lacked a bit in goal scoring and in generating helpers. Filppula got off to a great start early on, scoring 13 of his 19 goals over a two-month period from October 26 through December 27. But he only scored six more goals over a little more than the final three months of the regular season. Does he build on that production and become more consistent as he gets stronger and becomes better suited to dealing with the long, hard slog that is the 82 game season plus 20 or so [if you’re lucky] playoff games?
For Filppula’s side all they need to do is look at the long-term contracts Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall signed, both of which grossly underpaid those players based on their production this past season. If Filppula can become a consistent 30+ goal scorer over the next two seasons then he’ll be worth much more than he can negotiate right now coming off a 19 goal campaign.
The basic premise is you accept less than you can get on the open market to stay in Detroit. The devil is in determining what Filppula’s true potential will be over the next 4-5 seasons. So we’ll likely hear within 24 or so hours what the two sides were able to agree upon. If it’s a two-year deal that obviously means they couldn’t agree on Fil’s long-term value. If it is in the 4-6 year range then it’s clear they were able to reach a compromise.
I think the young Fin is poised to have a breakout campaign. Filppula could actually benefit in two ways: first off by getting a deal done, but also by playing alongside Pavel Datsyuk if Mike Babcock splits up Pavs and Hank and has each of them center a scoring line. When the coach has done that or when Hank has been out of the lineup due to an injury Babcock’s typically played Filppula on Datsyuk’s wing. If that happens Fil is pretty much guaranteed to break the 20 goal threshold and has an outside shot [read: slim but possible] at potting 30 goals next season.
arbitration Ken Holland Red Wings Valterri FilppulaNo Comments
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