Wings’ GM Holland Gets to Work On Re-Signing Hossa, Franzen

Now that Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland has locked up Henrik Zetterberg for the rest of his hockey career he has zeroed in and set his sights on resigning two more of Detroit’s key players: Johan Franzen and Marian Hossa.

Holland has talked to both players’ agents and hopes to strike some kind of deal with at least one of them by the end of the season, but in order to do that the Wings will likely have to free up a little salary cap space by offloading someone else. Mikael Samuelsson, Tomas Kopecky and goaltender Ty Conklin will be unrestricted free agents at the end of this season, while Jiri Hudler will be a restricted free agent when the season comes to a close.

“We want to keep Marian and Johan; we’re looking to find the best hockey deals,” Holland said. “What I’m trying to do is get to a point where we have to make a decision and the player has to make a decision.”

Franzen, who would command somewhere in the neighborhood of $4 million a season, has hinted around that he would like to remain a Red Wing and not test the free agent market.

Hossa, who turned his back on more money last summer to sign with Detroit for one year at $7.45 million, will be a little harder to secure. He has made it clear that he’d love to stay in Detroit but at the same time he isn’t interested in another one-year contract.

“I definitely want to settle down in a long-term deal, too,” Hossa said. “Now Henrik is done and we’ll see what happens. It’s a great organization. There’s a great group of guys that definitely feel comfortable. It’s like a big family in here. Everyone is used to winning and they want to be part of it.”

While it would be nice to see both players return Holland will probably go with the one he can get at the best bargain price, but as we’ve seen numerous times before if there is anyone who can finagle a deal that will keep both players in Detroit on a long-term basis it’s him.

Only time will tell.

Posted by Paul Benvin on Jan 29 2009. Filed under Central, Detroit Red Wings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.