Why Marian Hossa, Henrik Zetterberg, and Johan Franzen Will Stay Wings Next Year

When the Detroit Red Wings announced they had signed Marian Hossa to a one year contract last offseason, a couple of things happened.

Hossa's sanity was called into question for rejecting what surely would have been a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract from another team and league wide hatred for the Red Wings grew ten-fold.

The masterful GM Ken Holland had done it yet again.

The Hossa signing turned out to be gold because he is currently averaging exactly a point per game with the Red Wings so far this year.

However, the honeymoon period is over and fans (as fans often do) are already looking to next season and what will surely be a tumultuous offseason.

Hossa, Henrik Zetterberg, and Johan Franzen are all heading for unrestricted free agency. For those not in the know, those three players make up about 60 percent of the core of the team. The other 40 percent is Pavel Datsyuk and Nick Lidstrom.

At the time of Hossa's signing, the common consensus was that Detroit would likely be able to lock up Zetterberg without much of a problem but would have to say goodbye to either Franzen or Hossa. It would be impossible to keep both.

Most would agree with that sentiment. After all, just look at the current payroll.

Marian Hossa is making $7.45 million this year and that's considered a discount for him!

Pavel Datsyuk makes $6.7 million a year.

Let's assume for equality's sake that Zetterberg earns the same amount as Datsyuk. You would then have $20.85 million or roughly 38 percent of the team's payroll tied up in three players.

Now, being realistic and knowing that salaries always increase over time, let's assume that Zetterberg commands $7 million. The total for those three players increases.

Now, let's look at Franzen. Near the end of the 2007-08 season and into the playoffs, Franzen went on an unreal tear of a scoring streak to finish with 27 goals.

Nearly halfway through this season, he has 21 goals which means he's on pace for a 40 goal season. That's with injuries causing him to miss a few games.

Franzen currently makes $941,667. If he scores 40 goals, he could easily quadruple his current salary and would in fact be taking a discount by doing so.

40 goal scorers on the open market make big-time money—we've seen it. 

So what does Detroit do?

Simply put, deciding between 40-goal scoring power forward Franzen or 90-point flash-and-dazzle finesse forward Hossa is almost an impossible decision.

Ken Holland is going to be tested again, and this time, he will come under more scrutiny than he ever has at any time in his career.

All of Holland's extraordinary success at managing the salary cap and wheeling and dealing has given him legendary status among Detroit fans and with that comes heavy, perhaps unrealistic, expectations.

Bottom line, Detroit fans want all three of their upcoming UFA players to remain with the team.

Is it possible? I think it is and here's why.

Detroit doesn't let players they want to keep get away. That's it.

Is it logical—maybe not? But was it logical for Hossa to defer big-time money to take a one year contract in Detroit in the first place?

Hossa showed hockey fans that he cares about winning more than money—at least to a point.

Brett Hull and Luc Robitalle once did the same when they each took massive pay cuts to join an extraordinary gathering of hockey talent on the Red Wings for the 2001-02 season. That was pre-lockout.

This organization makes players do crazy things in order to stay, and in recent history, the Wings haven't let anyone they want to keep get away.

Could Franzen earn $6 Million on the open market this offseason? Yes. Will he test the waters? I'd say the likelihood of Steve Yzerman winning the comeback player of the year award in 2010 is greater.

What's an extra $2 Million when you can play with so many of your fellow countrymen and win on a rock-solid consistent basis?

It's never been all on Holland's shoulders either. The players on this team feel so strongly and passionate about playing for Detroit that they take it on themselves to recruit players to the team.

As legend has it, it was guys like Lidstrom, Zetterberg, and Datsyuk who really helped Hossa make the decision to sign with Detroit. Ken Holland just worked out the specifics.

And once you're part of the Wings family, they usually ask you to stay a while.

Reports indicate that Zetterberg is close to signing a long-term deal, perhaps as long as 10 years. Holland has indicated that he wants to get the Zetterberg deal done by the March trade deadline so that he can quickly move on to Franzen and Hossa before the start of the playoffs. 

It's going to happen folks. Don't ask me how yet. I don't have the ability of a Ken Holland, but I've watched him work his magic since 1997. I know enough to know he gets what he wants. He wants Zetterberg, Hossa, and Franzen to remain Red Wings. It's going to happen.

My apologies are extended to the other 29 teams in this league.

Signed,

A smiling Detroit fan.