Red Wings’ Ken Holland addresses the departure of Pavel Datsyuk
By @StefanKubus and @MichaelCaples –
DETROIT – Two hours after Pavel Datsyuk formally announced that he would be leaving the Red Wings in West Bloomfield, Ken Holland addressed the media at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
The Red Wings’ general manager said he is “not overly optimistic” about moving Datsyuk’s $7.5 million contract, which the club has to retain in terms of salary cap space despite No. 13’s departure.
Holland, first off, wanted to thank Datsyuk for his contributions to the Red Wings for 14 seasons.
“First thing I’d like to say is that I’d like to thank Pav for 14 great seasons, 950 games and a little over 900 points,” Holland said. “Helped us win the Stanley Cup in ’02 and ’08, brought people out of their seats, one of the best two-way players in the league during his time. Great leader, great role model – certainly, Pav was a wonderful player for a long time. I would like to thank Pav for his time in a Red Wing uniform.”
The Red Wings’ GM then took reporters through the conversations surrounding Datysuk’s current contract.
“How we got here today is, when we started to negotiate this current three-year deal, Gary Greenstein, his agent at the time, we sat down and Gary told me Pav wanted to retire a Red Wing. He wanted to do a five-year deal, I was uncomfortable with a five-year deal, we sort of went back and forth a little bit. I ended up meeting with Pav, Pav wanted to know what term I felt was fair, I said a three-year deal, Pav agreed. Pav called Gary Greenstein, within a day or two we did the deal we had gotten done. In the first year of that deal, about September or October, Pav told me that was his last year in the NHL, he wanted to go home, for all the reasons you heard today.
Perhaps the most surprising part was that Datsyuk actually wanted to return home last summer, prior to the 2015-16 season.
“I spent the rest of the 2014-15 season explaining to Pav, he dropped Gary Greenstein and hired Dan Milstein, explaining to them that the current CBA and the difficult position we were going to be in, and that went into last summer. We lost to Tampa Bay in seven games, I spent a number of meetings with Dan Milstein and Pavel Datsyuk, my concern was with Pavel either going to retire and leave us in a difficult situation with two years left to go in his contract or that he would try to go back to the KHL anyways, and we would have to try to do everything we could to stop it. I reached out to Dan Milstein, said I’ll work with you, I’ll give you the best deal that I can, you honor the ‘15-16 season, and if you decide you want to go home for the ‘16-17 season, we’ll deal with the situation. That’s where we are today.”
The Red Wings’ GM is also confident that there won’t be a Dominik Hasek-like scenario where Datsyuk returns to the NHL in 2017-18 or beyond.
“Pav understands he has to sign the voluntary retirement papers. Pav understands that a year ago we met and negotiated – we being ownership and management – the best settlement that we could given that Pav’s heart wasn’t here anymore, that Pav didn’t want to be here anymore.
“I don’t think Pav is looking back.”
Moving the contract
Holland said that, while he will continue contacting teams, the asking price for a trade to get rid of Datsyuk’s contract has been too high.
“Lastly, to your question, I’ve talked to some teamsh ere in the last couple days, and we’ll see if I can move the contract. I’m not overly optimistic. Teams obviously are looking for lots of future assets, and we understand, I understand there’s a price to be paid to try to free up the cap space, but if it’s going to be one of our top young players or a high draft pick, I don’t know if it makes a whole lot of sense.”
Should Holland be unable to move the contract by July 1, the beginning of the offseason free agency period, he believes there’s virtually “zero” chance the Wings make any kind of big splash in the market.
“Realistically, if we don’t trade him between now and July 1… the very best free agents, whoever they might be on July 1, they’re probably gonna be gone by July 2, July 3 at the long end. So if this doesn’t happen by the end of June, free agency only begins on the morning of July 1… If we get to July 5, 6, 7, it’s not gonna make any sense. I’ll deal with it at that point in time, but it makes the most sense that, if there is gonna be a deal made, it’s gotta be made between now and the end of June.
“If there’s not a taker, if the price is what I would call significant in the sense of, I’ve got to trade a player that’s going to play in the NHL for 7, 8, 9, 10 years for a one-year window of opportunity and you might get to July 1 and all of a sudden, between now and July 1, lots of these players that are potentially free agents, they’re gonna re-sign with their teams. That’s historically what happens.”
Holland also addressed the possibility of buying out a current contract, saying it’s “doubtful” that happens, but that all options are on the table.
Above all, Holland said he doesn’t hold any grudges or hard feelings for the way things played out.
“I had an idea a year ago that this was going to happen. I was hoping Pav would have fun and decide, ‘You know what, I’m going to play the ’16-17 season.’ But I knew if Pav had decided to go home, that we were gonna wish him well, thank him for 950 great games, 14 great seasons and try to manage this the very best that I can over the course of the summer.”