Ken Holland talks about the Red Wings’ moves on the first day of free agency

 

By @MichaelCaples –

Ken Holland and new Red Wings forward Frans Nielsen spoke to the media today after a busy day for Hockeytown’s team in the free-agent market.

Prior to the 4 p.m. teleconference call, Holland had re-signed Darren Helm and Alexey Marchenko, and outside of the organization, he had signed Nielsen and Thomas Vanek.

Just after the call, the Wings announced another addition in forward Steve Ott; none of the following comments include Ott the commentary.

Holland started the call discussing the addition of Nielsen, a longtime New York Islanders center that Detroit had identified as being a possible addition in the absence of Pavel Datsyuk.

“Very excited to be able to add Frans to our team,” Holland said with his opening remark. “Over the last two or three weeks, with the loss of Pavel datysuk, who decided to go back to play in Russia, fortunate that we were able to trade his cap space last week at the draft to Arizona as we headed into free agency this week. Our number one priority was a center-iceman. Right after the draft last Saturday in Buffalo, our coach Jeff Blashill and I went to a suite and put a call in to Frans and his agent telling him that he was a top priority for us and getting a center was a top priority for us.

“We feel that Frans, he’s been with the New York Islanders as a top two line centerman obviously playing behind John Tavares, and he’s had a lot of responsibility offensively and defensively. We feel he’s a 200-foot player, he can play both specialty-team situations, he’s obviously been good in the shootout and very responsible player, so he fits the type of player that we looked for here in Detroit, and quality person and we did a lot of checking and talked to a lot of people and everything we got, on and off the ice, was top notch. We’re thrilled to be able to sign Frans to a contract and bring him to the Detroit Red Wings.”

Nielsen said he is excited to be joining the Wings, a team he has long admired.

“I was really honored for sure when they contacted me,” Nielsen said. “I think Detroit, when it comes to a hockey player, there’s something special about it. It’s hard not to listen. With the departure of Datsyuk, I saw a good fit here.”

The conversation shifted to the rest of the Red Wings’ roster moves when Holland was asked about the length of Nielsen’s contract – the 32-year-old forward has signed a six-year deal with the Wings.

“Obviously as you saw today, the competition for the unrestricted free agents, players who are 30 to 32 getting five and six-year contracts, players 28 and 29 getting six and seven-year contracts, so if you wanted to land a unrestricted free agent, you had to be prepared to step up or you were going to miss out,” Holland said. “We felt that Frans’ skating ability is going to allow him to be competitive or be able to contribute throughout the term of the deal. Nobody can see four and five and six years down the road, but certainly, Frans is a good skater but he’s also smart. I think the players that are smart as Father Time bangs away, they know how to cut corners and still be effective. Obviously as we go along, you’re always hoping as an organization that your young players are going to take bigger roles and take some of the responsibility away from the older players so they can still continue to be important contributors. That’s what Zetterberg and Datsyuk did for Steve Yzerman and some of the great players when they first came along, and as we go here over the next three, four years we’re hoping that the Athanasious and Larkins and Manthas and Sheahans are going to start to play a bigger role. It allows you to kind of have a changing of the guard. That’s the plan over the next five or six years.

Holland went on to talk about what the addition of Nielsen means in the short-term.

“The plan heading into ’16-17 season is to put the best team that we can on the ice. Our goal is to make the playoffs, our goal is to try to get in and find a way to win some playoff rounds and make some noise in the playoffs. That starts, obviously, I think today was a real good step for us getting Frans on the team, we re-signed Darren Helm, we added Thomas Vanek, we’ve added some guys up front that legitimate NHL forwards that give the coaching staff some different dimensions. You have to be good on special teams; we think Vanek can help our power play, we think Frans can help the power play and penalty kill, we think Helmer can help our penalty kill. We’ve got some people with some speed and some different looks and some different options available to our coaches.

“We’re excited about the team and the additions of Frans and the re-signing of Helm and the addition of Thomas Vanek and at the same time, we’re looking forward to getting to training camp and hoping that guys like Athanasiou and Mantha are going to push here for jobs. That’s the plan, that’s the only way we’re going to get better is that you need to have a push from underneath with your young people. I think we’ve got a good mix of veterans and younger kids, and I’m not concerned at all about signing Frans to a six-year deal at the age of 31 or 32. The plan isn’t at the end of the contract that he’s going to have the same impact that he does today, the plan is that during the term of the contract, some younger people are going to grow into bigger responsibilities if Frans is going to have as big of an impact on our team.”

 

Vanek brings potential scoring punch

Holland discussed the addition of Thomas Vanek at length, explaining his club’s decision to give the former star a try in Hockeytown. The 32-year-old – a former 40-goal scorer- was bought out by the Minnesota Wild after a disappointing two seasons in the state where he spent his college hockey days.

“I would say to you that you’re always looking for goals,” Holland said. “Thomas had 18 goals last year. Obviously getting bought out of a contract in Minnesota, we’re hoping that we’ve got a motivated athlete. Jeff Blashill talked to John Torchetti, our assistant coach who coached the last 20 games in Minnesota, and Blashill is really good friends with his coach from college. Risk and reward, obviously we’re taking a one-year contract on Thomas, and we’re hoping that it turns out to be a real reward for us. Obviously a one-year deal at 2.6 there’s always some risk, but I think you have to take some risk if you want to try to get some reward.

“I think we’re getting a real motivated athlete, he’s a big, heavy body, he shoots right., he’s a real good net-front presence on the power play, and the hope is that we’re going to get a guy in here that’s motivated to be one of those veteran players that we’re looking at long-term deals today – that he’s going to have a real good year for us and then parlay it into the second half of a contract. That’s the thinking on Thomas Vanek, he’s scored in the league, he shoots right, he can play on the power play, we need to get the power play better, you need to be good on special teams, so we’re hoping that Thomas can come in and kind of fit the bill here for us.”

 

On the team’s interest in Radulov

Holland said that he had been in communication with the handlers of Alexander Radulov, a polarizing player looking to make a return from Russia. The Montreal Canadiens ended up being the destination of choice for the former Nashville Predators prospect, who made headlines when he was suspended by the team during the postseason in 2011-12, after returning from Russia for said playoff run.

“After negotiation with a player that signed with another team, I don’t want to say a lot on Radulov,” Holland said. “We did have some interest. I had been in touch with their camp for a quite a long time, probably over the last month or so. Obviously he ended up making the decision to go elsewhere. We’re excited about the day we had, and we’re looking forward – can’t wait to get to training camp in September. We think we’re going to have some good competition, we’ve got good depth up front, and there’s a good push from young people. We’re looking forward to some real good competition for spots at training camp.”

 

Close to being done on roster moves

The Wings’ GM said that his main focus now will be signing restricted free agents like Danny DeKeyser and Petr Mrazek.

“Well I think we’re pretty close,” Holland said when asked if his roster was finalized. “As we sit here today, we’re probably a couple million dollars under the salary camp. That depends on what happens with some of these, I say a couple, on my mind, we’ve got Mrazek and DeKeyser signed, but we’re probably 10, 11 million dollars below the cap. I’ve got to get DeKeyser signed to a contract, I’ve got to get Mrazek signed to a contract. I’ll go to work that now here over the next week or two. Hopefully we’ll find a solution that works for both players and the club. We’re pretty close to being done.”