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The Detroit Red Wings avoided arbitration Wednesday with goaltender Petr Mrazek, hammering out a new two-year deal with their netminder and his agent Don Meehan just before their hearing was slated to begin, but now the Wings have a new dilemma to deal with.
They’ve got too much salary on the books.
Mrazek’s camp agreed to a two-year deal at $3.85 million and $4.15 million over the two seasons of the pact – more than the Wings wanted to pay ($2.75 million/$3.15 million) – but less than Mrazek was seeking (two years at $5 million per season).
“I texted Donnie Meehan last night after dinner and asked him if he wanted to meet in the morning before the hearing to see if we could renew our conversations to find a solution and he said, ‘Yeah,’” Detroit general manager Ken Holland said, explaining how the deal came to be. “We met at 8 a.m., probably until 8:45.
“I moved some, we got upstairs to the room and then we kind of went at it again. The arbitration hearing never started and probably around 10ish, or shortly thereafter, we agreed to the deal that we did.
“I’m happy we were able to negotiate a settlement rather than having the arbitration.”
Holland’s next move will be to figure out how to get under the NHL’s $77,867,042 salary cap.
According to generalfanager.com, the Wings are $4,867,042 over that limit, though Holland disputes that number.
“I would say that’s not correct,” Holland said, pointing to the contracts on the books of forwards Johan Franzen ($3,954,545) and Joe Vitale ($1,116,666), both of whom are destined for long-term injured reserve and therefore are pacts that wouldn’t be counted against the cap.
“Certainly we have no expectations that Franzen and Vitale are playing hockey this year,” Holland said. “I talked to Vitale after we traded (with the Arizona Coyotes to acquire) him. He’s having on-going issues with concussion. He’s certainly not expecting to be in camp. I’m not expecting to see Johan Franzen (concussion) on the ice.
That’s $5,071,211 which would be cleared from the books, but the calculation doesn’t include defenseman Xavier Ouellet ($715,000), out of minor-league options and expected to begin the season with the Wings, who must also still get restricted free agent defenseman Ryan Sproul’s name on a new contract, so they are likely to be fighting to get to the cap come their Oct. 13 season opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I think realistically, when it’s all said and done, we’re probably a little over the cap,” Holland said. “What’s a little? Probably a million dollars or just a little bit less over the cap if you don’t count Vitale and Franzen.”
There’s also the possibility that forward Teemu Pulkkinen ($812,500) could begin the season on LTIR until he fully recovers from off-season shoulder surgery, providing more salary cap relief, albeit briefly.
An easy solution could be found if the Wings were able to move the $5,291,666 contract owed back-up goalie Jimmy Howard but that isn’t going to happen. Holland desperately sought takers for Howard prior to the NHL entry draft and found no team to be interested.
This isn’t a new problem for the franchise and there’s a reason why they continue to endure cap difficulties. It all stems from brand loyalty.
The team is far too quick to grant long-term deals to veteran players and this summer alone, locked in $28.3 million on bottom-six forwards, extending Luke Glendening for four years at $1.8 million per season, and re-signing unrestricted free agents Drew Miller (one year, $1.025 million) and Darren Helm (five years at 3.85 million per season), as well as adding UFA Steve Ott from the St. Louis Blues on a one-year pact at $800,000.
That’s a hefty amount to spend on players in the bottom half of the roster and these developments certainly place in jeopardy second-year forward Andreas Athanasiou’s spot with the team and make it unlikely that 2014 first-round draft pick Anthony Mantha can earn a place in Detroit.
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