Konnan511 1,736 Report post Posted December 26, 2008 (edited) Teh Linkzor "Has Hudler's stock with Babcock finally risen? I have this fear that given a choice between Samuelsson and Hudler for next year, Detroit would go with Samuelsson based on Babcock's love for Sammy and Hudler constantly being in his doghouse. Hudler is out-producing Datsyuk at their respective ages. Be a shame to lose him." "Chris: What's the latest news you know of in regards to Zetterberg's contract? Khan: Holland met with his agent recently and made good progress. Unlike Datsyuk's deal, which didn't get finalized until close to the end of the season in 2006-07, I think Zetterberg's contract will be done much sooner. No doubt it will be least as long as Datsyuk (seven years), and maybe as long as 10 years. This would enable them to front-load it heavily, so he gets more money early and the team's salary cap hit stays manageable, as his pay decreases towards the end of the deal. I don't have a good read on whether it will be worth more than Lidstrom's $7.45 million annual salary. My guess is it will be worth more, as I don't think Lidstrom will get bent out of shape if Zetterberg earns a little more." "Chris: Any chance the league will instill a luxury tax so that teams can go over the cap in order to re-sign their own players? Khan: Interesting concept. NBA teams can go over the cap to sign their own free agents. However, I don't think we'll see this in the NHL, which went to great lengths coming out of the lockout to implement a hard cap, closing every potential loop hole. I'm sure the Wings, Rangers and other big-spending clubs would approve, but most of the teams probably wouldn't go for it." Edited December 26, 2008 by Konnan511 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites