Thursday, September 01, 2005

Datsyuk closer to signing with Wings

Yesterday John Niyo reported that the Wings and Pavel Datsyuk were far apart in negotiations. Apparently, something has changed over the past 24 hours as Niyo is now reporting that the two sides are closer to reaching a deal.
Finally, perhaps, there was a positive sign late Wednesday in the ongoing negotiations between the Red Wings and restricted free agent Pavel Datsyuk. A report in today's Soviet Sport newspaper in Russia indicated Datsyuk was a last-minute no-show as the Russian national team left Moscow Wednesday for today's EuroTour game against Sweden in St. Petersburg, Russia. Datsyuk had been practicing with the national team this past week. Datsyuk's agent, Gary Greenstin, last week told The Detroit News he wanted to have the framework for a new deal for Datsyuk in place by Sept. 1. He also said Datsyuk faced a Sept. 5 deadline for signing with Moscow Dynamo, the Russian SuperLeague team he played for last season during the NHL lockout. Last weekend, Datsyuk, 27, rejected multiple contract offers from the Wings, ranging from 1-5 years in length. Greenstin, who met with Datsyuk in Moscow earlier this week, is believed to have faxed the Wings a counteroffer either Tuesday or Wednesday -- a three-year deal appears to be the common ground -- but neither Greenstin nor Wings general manager Ken Holland could be reached for comment Wednesday.
UPDATE (Matt, 5:47 PM ET): Don't get too excited yet. The AP has another report that puts a bit of a damper on any hopes you might still have. They quote Holland as saying today:
"We're nowhere near a deal with either player. We've made a number of offers and they've made offers, but we still have a long way to go to reach deals."
The Wings have about $7 million left to spend and, according to the AP story, want to sign 4 or 5 more players (this doesn't fit with what I've heard, which is that they'd like to carry 21 players - they already have 19 players signed, all of whom are capable of playing on an NHL roster - that's 8 defensemen, 2 goalies and 9 forwards without Pavel and Hank). That obviously doesn't leave a whole lot of room for a couple young studs looking for significant raises. This is scary:
"I feel we've made fair offers and there's not a lot more we can do under the salary cap. I'm not concerned, but the closer we get to Sept. 12, I will be."
How enouraging. I hope Kenny has a real reason not to be concerned because that just sounds arrogant. The Wings do not have the draw they used to apparently and that means Holland will have to work that much harder to get players to both come here and stay here. If he's not concerned at this stage, something's wrong. UPDATE (Matt, 5:20 AM ET, 02. Sep 05): Note that the headline to Niyo's "brief" is misleading. He does not actually say anywhere that the two sides are close to a deal, he just points out a bit of progress that was made (agreement the length of the contract). This doesn't contradict what the AP said and what Niyo said earlier this week.

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