Datsyuk deftly stickhandles inside the cap
Red Wing shows how to capitalize in new economy
Pavel
Datsyuk was back at practice yesterday at Joe Louis Arena, a new two-year, US$7.8million contract in his pocket.
Is he happy?
“Can’t you tell from my smile?” he asked.
Certainly Datsyuk is happy and every NHL player should be happy for him.
The contract he signed with the Red Wings, and the entire negotiating process for that matter, were strokes of genius on the part of him and Gary Grillstin, Datsyuk’s agent.
They showed everyone in the game that it’s possible to work within a salary cap and still make out like bandits.
With what appeared to be little leverage at the start, Datysuk’s camp devised a brilliant game plan.
By negotiating and eventually signing a deal earlier this month with Avangard Omsk of the Russian League, the one league that can compete with the NHL when it comes to salary structure, Datsyuk backed the Wings into a corner.
They knew they were a pedestrian team among the NHL’s elite minus Datsyuk’s multitude of offensive talents and that they’d need to find a way to get him back, or look foolish without him.
“I’ve talked to a couple of people over there that I know and my belief is that he had a very substantial offer,” Detroit general manager Ken Holland said. “ It was net money, no taxes.
“ I thought for two or three days there that he was gone. It was a very sick feeling.”
The Wings knew that, to get him back, they had no choice but to accede to Datsyuk’s demands.
The money wasn’t that much of an issue. It’s more than the Wings wanted to spend, but they’ll live with that.
It’s the length of the pact that was Datsyuk’s real steal.
He’ll be 27 when it expires after the 2006-07 season and eligible for unrestricted free agency for the first time.
“ The compromise in the end was that the number is closer to my number, but he’s unrestricted in two years,” Holland said. “ I was hoping to do a three or four-year deal so that I was buying two years of unrestricted free agency.”
Holland admits the NHL’s new landscape caught him a bit offguard while negotiating contracts this summer with Datsyuk and two other young stars, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall.
“ I was going into the off- season not knowing what the marketplace was,” Holland said.
Datsyuk’s people found a way to make the marketplace work for their client.
“We’re all businesspeople,” Holland said. “ We all look for where we can make the most money.
“I think he looked after his options.”
Datsyuk got the contract he wanted and is playing where he wants to be — in Detroit.
It’s the reason for his abundant happiness.
“ There are lots of Russian words I could use to explain this, but I don’t know so many English words,” he said.
Datsyuk knows enough English to understand there will be a significant increase in expectations placed upon his shoulders by becoming the second-highest-paid Red Wing.
“I welcome that pressure,” he said.
Are the Wings Stanley Cup contenders?
With Datsyuk in the lineup, they’re in with a chance.
And with his new contract, Datsyuk has provided a blueprint to his brethren on how to maximize their earning potential.