"We can't keep everybody."
Now, I heard that phrase escape Red Wings GM Ken Holland's lips about 56,874 times last season.
Facing the impossible task of extending Marian Hossa's one-year, $7.45 million contract, and also giving raises to guys like Mikael Samuelsson, Jiri Hudler, and Ty Conklin; Holland made it clear that fans should not expect to see all of these names back for the 2009-10 season.
Little did we (or Holland for that matter) know that none of these players would be back in 2009-10, but still, the mass exodus that was the Summer of 2009 in Detroit was simply the result of the Red Wings hitting their collective head against the salary cap.
This offseason, things are a bit different.
Instead of asserting that there are players they can't keep, Holland has made it clear that there are some they won't keep.
The Red Wings have roughly $14 million in salary coming off the books this summer and while much of this is earmarked for re-investment (most notably, Nicklas Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom and several restricted free-agents), Holland will have a significant amount of spending money between now and next ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Matt Hutter
Detroit Red Wings: Three Soon-to-Be Former Wings Face Uncertain Future
May 17th, 2010 by Matt Hutter Leave a reply »
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