Pavel's back

Apparently, we can say it now with certainty: Pavel Datsyuk will play for the Detroit Red Wings this season, after all. Ken Holland confirmed the signing yesterday, telling the Detroit Free Press, "It's official. Between Saturday and Monday, he should be in Detroit." The deal is for $7.6 million over two years, which makes him one of the highest paid players on the team. Only Nick Lidstrom, who will earn $7.6 million this year, makes more. To put it in perspective, Robert Lang, a much more proven forward with a much longer NHL career, also will make $3.8 million this season. Next on the pay scale is another veteran, defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who will earn $3.3 million this season. The Wings are banking on Pavel's considerable potential and it may or may not pay off. The signing will put Stanley Cup hopes back in the minds of Wings fans and will make the Wings that much more exciting to watch this season. It also means they are done adding players since their payroll is now about $37.4 million. That leaves a $1.6 million buffer zone under the $39 million cap for the team to use if and when they really need to (ie. if they have injury problems as they did in 03-04) as well as for players who win jobs at the end of the pre-season. The Wings are paying a steep price for a guy who has done very little in the playoffs in his career but they certainly couldn't afford to let him go. They've staked too much of their long-term planning on Pavel to just let him go. Unfortunately, they only have him for two years and after that they'll have to go through this all over again. I don't look forward to that but at least we'll have those two seasons. (Think positive!) I'm glad he's back but I hope he's ready to go to work and earn that salary. Six points in the playoffs is not acceptable, Pavel, and neither is your getting outplayed by an injured Robert Lang (as impressive as Lang's playing with a broken hand was). Let's get it done.