Johan Franzen signs extension, 11 years

[VM1138 1,921]

Everyone is complaining about the length and saying that Franzen won't be any good later in the contract. Well, later in the contract he'll probably be making 1 million dollars, which seems perfectly reasonably to me.

Franzen is clutch. He's a scorer, is a physical forward. We don't have anyone like him at his skill level. I like this signing a lot. It's not too bloated and is no doubt insurance if Hossa won't resign.

People think we'll be losing all these players but don't seem to realize that we will also be finding other players. As someone mentinoed, next year is the only real cap issue year, and no doubt if a problem arises we can always find a cheap alternative to whoever we lose.

I have faith in Kenny.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

Well, later in the contract he'll probably be making 1 million dollars, which seems perfectly reasonably to me.

His cap hit, which is what's important, will remain the same until the contract expires.

[sibiriak 84]

His cap hit, which is what's important, will remain the same until the contract expires.

Very few forwards play after 38 years old. Even fewer power forwards. I think, Franzen will probably play out no more than 8 years of his contract. And once he retires, his cap hit comes off the books.

Edited April 11, 2009 by sibiriak

[vangvace 12]

Don't mind the cap hit, but I don't like the length. Nothing against Frazen, I just don't like having a player in a contact sport on the books for that long.

Oh and I still think Hossa is an one year rental.

[Barrie 900]

I'm ok with the move signing Franzen. I just hope that is it with the looooooong term deals for a while.

[VM1138 1,921]

I'm still not used to these long-term contracts though. Franzen will be with the time (barring retirement) until 2020. Zetterberg similarly. I can't even imagine what hockey will look like that far in the future. I'll be 34.

[Red Crazy 201]

I kinda like that Holland is now essentially forcing Hossa's hand.

You say you will sign for less? Well you'll have to to stay on this team, since we have already signed Zetterberg and Franzen. It will be no secret what the Wings can afford.

I'm not sure Hossa will take what is needed to stay, which is not the end of the world for the Wings.

I think it is also important to question whether Holland will go into yet another long term contract.

[therock48880 14]

I think it is also important to question whether Holland will go into yet another long term contract.

Why wouldn't he? He's obviously found a cba loophole that they can use until this cba expires. These guys will probably retire before the end of their contracts. Not to mention, the cap will rise over time. In 8 years, a 3.9 million dollar cap hit will not be nearly as big of a deal as it is right now.

[shoe 165]

Sweet been waiting for this deal to happen, now I'm going out to get a franzen jersey done up.

Mr franzen hope you reward this team with a goal scorers playoff run.

[Guest Four]

For 11 years? I'd have liked the figure to be less than 3.5M.. Not nearly 4 :/

[dallas27 7]

I was happy he got Franzen inked...untill I saw 11 years. At most, I see Franzen keeping this up for 4-5 years. You're crazy if you think he's going to be playing/scoring how is now when he is 40 years old.

I'm still trying to figure out how Mr. Holland could not get the cap number down to 3.0-3.5 over 11 years.

[spydrwebb 0]

I'm still trying to figure out how Mr. Holland could not get the cap number down to 3.0-3.5 over 11 years.

no offense but what makes you believe that franzen and his agent would accept your proposed cap hit?

i suspect kenny received his player for as little as he was willing to accept, just my opinion.

[Yzermania 156]

I'm happy with the deal, glad we've got the mule locked up for his whole career barring a trade in the later years of the contract. My ivestment in a Franzen jersey after the playoffs last season is now secure, very nice.

[Palooka Slapper 1]

If you like a 1-line team than the deal is bad. If you like long term stability and a power forward, than the deal is good. As always, the Red Wings have found a diamond in the rough and have polished and shined it, why sell it.

Ken Holland, you are brilliant and honest.

[kylee 727]

11 years sure is a longggg long time...especially for a power forward. Zetty deserved what he got, only time will tell with this contract.

[Dimaline312000 51]

I'm very pleased with this deal. I think this gives the Wings a better chance at signing Hossa to a multi-year deal as well. Let's get our big guns locked up and build a team around them. Holland already said that the Wings are going to lose some players next season so let's lock up Marian Hossa and then bring up some younger guys from GR and make moves where necessary.

[Palooka Slapper 1]

11 years sure is a longggg long time...especially for a power forward. Zetty deserved what he got, only time will tell with this contract.

Negative waves, always with the negatives waves maaaan!

Go Wings!!

[RedStormRising 7]

So I've been waiting for someone to crunch the numbers and tell us how this directly impacts Hossa signing...

What is the max the Wings could offer Hossa at this point now? or do we just have to wait and see for now...?

[MacK_Attack 108]

Very few forwards play after 38 years old. Even fewer power forwards. I think, Franzen will probably play out no more than 8 years of his contract. And once he retires, his cap hit comes off the books.

Why would he voluntarily retire in the midst of his contract and walk away from whatever money he would be owed?

[titanium2 867]

So I've been waiting for someone to crunch the numbers and tell us how this directly impacts Hossa signing...

What is the max the Wings could offer Hossa at this point now? or do we just have to wait and see for now...?

According to the LGW.com salary chart, the Wings had 9.051mil in cap space left before the Franzen deal (I subtracted Ericsson's salary and added Lilja's).

Minus the apparent 3.9 Franzen cap hit, the Wings now have 5.151 of cap space.

Let's just assume that Ericsson, Helm and Jimmy Howard will be full time next year. And so their cap hits (.900+.830+.733) total to 2.263 mil.

Subtract that from 5.151 and you have a grand total of 2.888 mil of cap space left for Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson, Tomas Kopecky, Chris Chelios, Ty Conklin, Darren Haydar, Darren McCarty, Aaron Downey as UFA and Jiri Hudler and Ville Leino as RFA.

A popular option recommended by these boards is to drop Filppula's salary to add Hossa, but I sincerely doubt Hossa is that generous. If they really want to re-sign Hossa, with no consideration for the other FAs they have to re-sign, they could drop Filppula-3 along with both Meech-.475 & Lebda-.650, which would bump their cap space up to a little over 7mil.

Just as a note: You could consider Abdelkader and Ritola as full time players next year as well, but then you have to add their cap hits (.660 + .500) that total 1.160.

Oh God... I don't know if any of s*** makes any sense. I would hate to be an accountant if I had to deal with depressing numbers like that all day.

[titanium2 867]

Here, this should help with those who really like to crunch numbers.

18 players signed

The Red Wings have 18 players signed for 2009-10 (those projected to make the team) at a cap figure of $49.5 million.

That includes eight forwards (Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Valtteri Filppula, Dan Cleary, Tomas Holmstrom, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby and Darren Helm), eight defensemen (Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart, Niklas Kronwall, Andreas Lilja, Jonathan Ericsson, Brett Lebda and Derek Meech) and two goaltenders (Chris Osgood and Jimmy Howard).

They need to sign four or five forwards -- and they don't have a lot of cap space. Jiri Hudler and Ville Leino are restricted free agents. Mikael Samuelsson and Tomas Kopecky are unrestricted, along with Hossa and Franzen.

By some accounts, next season's salary cap could rise slightly, from $56.7 million to around $58 million. Holland must also keep an eye on the future, as the cap is expected to decrease, perhaps considerably, in 2010-11.

"We're going to lose players,'' Holland said. "The only press conferences I'm going to have this summer are to announce which players are leaving. We're not having press conferences to say which (new) players are coming.''

If the Red Wings wait until late June to sign Hossa and/or Franzen, they will have a better indication of precisely how much money they can spend. Every $100,000 they save will impact other moves.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/20..._red_win_1.html

[spydrwebb 0]

freep.com breakdown

Here's the year-by-year salary of Johan Franzen's new deal:

2009-10: $5.5 Million

10-11: $5 Million

11-12: $5.25 Million

12-13: $5.25 Million

13-14: $5 Million

14-15: $5 Million

15-16: $5 Million

16-17: $3.5 Million

17-18: $2 Million

18-19: $1 Million

19-20: $1 Million

[MacK_Attack 108]

By some accounts, next season's salary cap could rise slightly, from $56.7 million to around $58 million. Holland must also keep an eye on the future, as the cap is expected to decrease, perhaps considerably, in 2010-11.

I think $58 million is a case of wishful thinking. Bettman said it will likely stay the same or go up or down by a few hundred thousand.

But, in 2010/11, the cap is expected to drop back into the 40s.

Edited April 12, 2009 by MacK_Attack

[titanium2 867]

This should make it more simple.

6.700------------Datsyuk

6.080------------Zetterberg

3.000------------Filppula

2.500------------Cleary

2.250------------Holmstrom

1.850------------Draper

_.950------------Maltby

_.630------------Helm

7.450------------Lidstrom

6.000------------Rafalski

3.750------------Stuart

3.000------------Kronwall

1.250------------Lilja

_.900------------Ericsson

_.650------------Lebda

_.475------------Meech

1.417------------Osgood

_.717------------Howard

3.954------------Franzen +

53.523

56.7-53.523=3.177 of cap space remaining.

58.0-53.523=4.477 (for those who are more optimistic)

If the cap stays the same, which it will in all likelihood, then you have barely over 3 million for the UFAs of Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson, Tomas Kopecky, Chris Chelios, Ty Conklin, Darren Haydar, Darren McCarty, Aaron Downey and the RFAs of Jiri Hudler and Ville Leino.

I'm pretty sure this is right. Add and subtract at your own pleasure.

Edited April 12, 2009 by titanium2

[VM1138 1,921]

This should make it more simple.

6.700------------Datsyuk

6.080------------Zetterberg

3.000------------Filppula

2.500------------Cleary

2.250------------Holmstrom

1.850------------Draper

_.950------------Maltby

_.630------------Helm

7.450------------Lidstrom

6.000------------Rafalski

3.750------------Stuart

3.000------------Kronwall

1.250------------Lilja

_.900------------Ericsson

_.650------------Lebda

_.475------------Meech

1.417------------Osgood

_.717------------Howard

3.954------------Franzen +

53.523

56.7-53.523=3.177 of cap space remaining.

58.0-53.523=4.477 (for those who are more optimistic)

If the cap stays the same, which it will in all likelihood, then you have barely over 3 million for the UFAs of Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson, Tomas Kopecky, Chris Chelios, Ty Conklin, Darren Haydar, Darren McCarty, Aaron Downey and the RFAs of Jiri Hudler and Ville Leino.

I'm pretty sure this is right. Add and subtract at your own pleasure.

Well, I figure a chunk of thsi team is on the way out, Hossa or no Hossa. Lebda, Howard, Maltby, Chelios, Kopecky, Samuelsson, Conklin, and Meech are all gone, I'm betting. Chelios could keep truckin' and if he decides to it wouldn't affect us much on the cap. I don't see the others returning, though. That frees up 2.792 million and drops 4 players.

Okay, so, keep following me here for the fun of it (I know it's not going to happen).

That leaves a roster of:

Forwards: (9)

Datsyuk

Zetterberg

Filpulla

Cleary

Franzen

Draper

Helm

Leino

Holmstrom

Defensemen: (6)

Lidstrom

Rafalski

Kronwall

Stuart

Lilja

Ericcson

Goalie: (1)

Osgood

So that leaves:

1 Goalie needed

1 Hossa needed

a few two-way contracts for AHL players, however they count against the cap.

So that's 2 players for sure needed for 5.969-7.269.

Resign Hossa and sign another small contract for a backup goalie and we got ourselves a general outline of a team.

So obviously this won't happen, but it goes to show that we're not completely out of options. Not to mention if Flip leaves that frees up some cash to sign his replacement.

Or we could always drop the pursuit of Hossa and sign another high-quality forward for less.