The Red Wings and forward Henrik Zetterberg (above) have agreed to a 12-year, $72 million contract extension. The deal will have a salary cap hit of $6 million per season. Zetterberg won the Conn Smythe Award last season as the MVP of the playoffs and led Detroit to the Stanley Cup.
EN Says: Wow. That's a huge deal. Especially given the current economic troubles in the world which the NHL is not immune from. Depending on league revenues, the salary cap can actually fall.
That said, getting an elite all-world talent like Zetterberg for "only" $6 million per season is a steal. He could easily command $10 based on the free agent mark this past off season.
While Zetterberg's probably a pretty happy camper today, you have to wonder what former Penguins forward Marian Hossa is thinking. He took a relatively small deal with Detroit with the hopes of winning a championship and had expressed a desire to sign a long-term deal with the Red Wings. Even at a fairly cap-friendly number, Zetterberg's deal doesn't exactly bode well for Hossa's hopes to stay in Motown. The same applies to Johan Franzen who is an unrestricted free agent after this season. You don't know of any teams which could use a scoring winger or two do you?
But if anyone could find a way to hang on to Hossa, it's Detroit general manager Ken Holland. He's found a way to "brainwash" players into taking lesser contracts in order to win in Detroit. In all seriousness, Holland and company have created a winning atmosphere which players from all around the league are willing to sacrifice a bit in order to be a part of. Zetterberg's deal is the perfect example of that.
Last Game against the Penguins:3-0 road loss, Jan. 18. Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves for the Penguins while Petr Sykora had a goal and an assist.
Rangers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Gomez, he has four points (two goals, two assists) in his last two games.
Ex-Penguins on the Rangers: Markus Naslund, LW; Michal Roszival (right), D; Glen Sather general manager; Rick Kehoe, professional scout..
Ex-Rangers on the Penguins: Pascal Dupuis, RW; Petr Sykora, RW; Kevin Stevens, professional scout.
Useless Rangers Trivia: Rozsival, a fourth-round pick in 1996, is the only member of the Penguins' draft class that year to have played the equivalent of one full NHL season during his career. He has appeared in 523 games. Eric Meloche (74 games), Boyd Kane (28) and Pavel Skrbek (12) were the only others to have even appeared in a game. Craig Hiller, the team's first-round pick, Boris Protsenko, Peter Bergman and Timo Seikkula never set one skate on an NHL rink.
Best Rangers YouTube Video We Could Find: Mark Messier - As classy as they ever came:
Notes:
-Marc-Andre Fleury (15-12-2, 2.81 GAA, .910 SV%) and Henrik Lundqvist (24-13-3, 2.53 GAA, .914 SV%) are expected to start in net.
-The game of the night was between the Eastern Conference's two best teams. David Krejci's goal off Shaone Morrisonn gave the Bruins a 3-2 win against the Capitals. Washington forward Alex Ovechkin had a scary collision into the boards during the second period and left the momentarily with a stinger. He eventually returned fortunately.
-A hat trick by Drew Stafford (right) led the visiting Sabres to a 10-2 rout of the Oilers. Tim Connolly had two goals and an assist while teammates Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek each added a goal and two assists. The home loss was the worst in Edmonton's history.
-If you were doing some scoreboard watching on behalf of the Penguins, you were rooting for the Flyers last night. Leave it to them to fail. Michael Frolik had a goal and two assists for the Panthers in a 3-2 win against the Flyers. The win pushed the Panthers into eighth place in the Eastern Conference and two points ahead of the Penguins. Teammate Keith Ballard added two assists.
-Florida defenseman is apparently not a fan of Flyers forward Scott Upshall and his attitudes on puppy drowning:
-When did the Lightning get good? Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis each had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay in a 5-3 win against the Canadiens. Teammate and former Penguin Ryan Malone added a goal. Fire Ray Shero. The Lightning have won six of its last eight games.
-Pierre-Marc Bouchard had two goals and an assist for the Wild which blasted the Maple Leafs, 6-1. Teammate Andrew Brunette and Owen Nolan each had a goal and an assist.
-The Avalanche activated forward Ian Laperriere from injured reserve recalled defenseman Kyle Cuminskey from from Lake Erie of the AHL.
-Evgeni Nabokov made 31 saves and led the Sharks to a 3-0 shutout win at Colorado. Milan Michalek led San Jose's offense with two goals.
-Marty Turco made 25 saves and recorded his 35th career shutout for the Stars in a 2-0 defeat of the Thrashers. Steve Ott had a goal and an assist.
-Corey Perry and Chris Kunitz each scored two goals and led the Ducks to a 7-3 win at Phoenix. Teammate Bobby Ryan (right) added a goal and an assist. Shane Doan led the Coyotes with two goals.
Here's one of these scoring wingers we hear so much about. His name is Bobby Ryan. He plays for the Ducks. He had a hat trick last night against the rival Kings and one of his goals came off this ridiculous move:
-Marc Savard's 700th career game saw him collect a goal and two assists for the Bruins in a 6-4 defeat of the Senators. Teammates Chuck Kobasew, David Krejci and Michael Ryder each had a goal and an assist. Chris Kelly and Antoine Vermette each had a goal and an assist for Ottawa.
-Boston's Shawn Thornton had a pretty good tilt with Ottawa's Chris Neil last night:
-Andrei Kostitsyn had a goal and two assists for the Canadiens in a 6-2 rout of the rival Maple Leafs. Patrice Brisebois had three assists while teammates Maxim Lapierre and former Penguin Alex Kovalev each added a goal and an assist. Fire Craig Patrick.
-Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski had an absolute meltdown last night that resulted in him shoving an official:
-It's nice to see Toronto's new goon Brad May is already taking cheap shots at opponents:
-Kari Lehtonen made 29 saves and led the Thrashers to a 4-0 shutout win at New Jersey. Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and an assist while former Penguin Colby Armstrong added a goal. Fire Ray Shero.
-David Booth had a goal and an assist and led the Panthers to a 4-2 win against the Hurricanes. Tomas Vokoun made 31 saves for Florida. Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason suffered a leg injury.
-Niklas Kronwall had three assists while teammates Dan Cleary, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and former Penguin Marian Hossa each added a goal and an assist for the Red Wings in a 6-1 rout of the Stars. Chris Osgood made 22 saves for Detroit.
-Check out this hit by Niklas Kronwall on Dallas' Mike Ribeiro:
-The Blue Jackets put goaltender Pascal Leclaire on injured reserve due to a bum ankle. Goaltender Dan LaCosta was recalled from Syracuse of the AHL.
Northwest Division
-Ryan Smyth and Wojtek Wolski each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche which edged the Blackhawks, 2-1. Andrew Raycroft made a career-high 43 saves for Colorado.
-Daymond Langkow had a goal and two assists while teammates Rene Bourque and Mike Cammalleri each added a goal and an assist for the Flames in a 5-2 win against the Islanders. Adrian Aucoin recorded two assists against his former team while Miikka Kiprusoff made 24 saves in the win.
-Shane Doan and Steven Reinprecht each had two assists for the Coyotes who edged the Lightning, 3-2. Ilya Bryzgalov made 22 saves in the win. Jeff Halpern lead Tampa Bay with a goal and an assist.
-Dustin Brown, Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist and led the Kings to a 4-3 win against the rival Ducks. An earthquake actually occured during the game but there was no damage.
