Detroit Red Wings

The AHL playoffs are over and your Grand Rapids Griffins have won the Calder Cup after defeating the favorite Syracuse Crunch 5-2 at the War Memorial Arena in New York on Tuesday. The Griffins jumped out to a 3-0 series lead with two wins in Syracuse and one in Grand Rapids before being taken to game six by back-to-back Crunch victories at the Van Andel Arena. After giving up the first goal of the game, the Griffins scored two unanswered goals to take the lead. Syracuse tied it in the third, but Brennan Evans gave the Griffins a lead they wouldn't relinquish before Tomas Tatar and Joakim Andersson added empty-netters. On their way to the Final, the Griffins defeated the Houston Aeros, the Toronto Marlies, and the Oklahoma City Barons. Each of those series went the maximum number of games. On the other side, Syracuse flew through the first three rounds only losing one game to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals. Tomas Tatar was named the AHL's playoff MVP. He scored 16 goals and was a force for the Griffins. Petr Mrazek also put up a slate of excellent performances, leading the AHL in shutouts during the playoffs. Other standout performances came from Nathan Paetsch, Brennan Evans, Joakim Andersson, Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Jurco, Jeff Hoggan, and Jan Mursak. Congratulations to the Griffins for their series victory.

Datsyuk Datsyuk Datsyuk Datsyuk Datsyuk Datsyuk Datsyuk. There, I feel better. I'd feel much better if by the end of the night, the Grand Rapids Griffins were lifting the Calder Cup as your 2013 AHL Champions. But, that hasn't happened yet. It could have happened on Friday. It should have happened on Saturday. The Griffins had two chances to close out the series on home ice and instead find themselves flying Red Bird III to Syracuse for a game 6 in a series where they lack any momentum. The defense has struggled; the goalie has struggled; the offense can't break through. Yikes. Do the Griffins need to take some pressure off themselves or what? You can watch tonight's game on AHLLive.com or also on FoxSportsDetroit.com's live stream. I honestly can't tell you if the FSD feed will be local guys or if they're just going to borrow the official feed. Aside from that, I also can't tell you what the expected delay between game time and stream time will be. It tends to run about 50 seconds, so if you're following along on Twitter, just always be ready to get the news of events before you see them. I'm calling for Nyquist to take this game over. Go Griffins!

General manager Ken Holland called it "a great day'' after agreeing to a three-year, $22.5 million contract extension with Pavel Datsyuk, which will keep the star center in Detroit through at least 2016-17.

Crunch Capitalize on GR Mistakes To Force Game SixTatar notches 14th in 5-2 loss...By Jason Kasiorekwww.griffinscentral.comJune 15th, 2013The Griffins threw everything they had at Syracuse netminder Cedric Desjardins but the veteran netminder made 40 stops to hand the Griffins a 5-2 loss on home ice. The Crunch did have some help as a series of costly mistakes helped stake them to an early 2-0 lead. Triston Grant tallied his 2nd, and Tomas Tatar added his league leading 14th to even things up early in the second. Syracuse scored three unanswered goals including an empty netter to put Grand Rapids away. Petr Mrazek made 17 saves in the loss. DeKeyser off for an over zealous hit at the line early in the period, but the penalty killers kept the score at zero. Tatar and Andersson buzzing around the net had a couple of good chances. Desjardins got caught behind the net by Sheahan, but he couldn't get the puck out front. Tatar working hard in the corner, worked free of his check and fed Andersson for a great chance in the slot. DeKeyser turned over the puck right in front of Mrazek, and Palat converted the gift into a goal to give Syracuse the lead. Callahan crashed the net, but was unable to shovel the puck past Desjardins. Pare picked off a clearing attempt and set up a great scoring chance. DeKeyser tried to move his man behind the net and took a bad holding penalty right in front of the official. Glendening and Mursak had a nice shorthanded 2-on-1 chance, but coming back down the ice Connelly snuck in and converted a pass over Mrazek for a 2-0 lead. Ferraro on the rush, walked around a defender and threw a shot on net from the circle. Triston Grant cruised in and banged it home to put the Griffins on the board. Shots on Goal: GR 13 - SYR 9. Tatar on the rush fired a hard shot that surprised Desjardins. Huge open ice hit by Evans, and Palat came over and took a couple of shots at him before heading to the box. Grand Rapids ended up with a 3-on-1 on the powerplay, Tatar and Nyquist worked the give and go and Tatar stroked it home from right in front. Jurco with a good chance drew a penalty putting GR back on the powerplay. The Griffins were really pressuring the net, putting on a shooting gallery, but Desjardins came up big. Johnson lost a stick in front and just started punching the puck carrier Tatar, with no call. Jurco got free for another great scoring opportunity. The Nyquist line kept the pressure up for most of the period. A crunch player knocked down Ferraro and then tripped over him on the way out if the zone, but somehow the penalty was assessed to Ferraro. Panik wristed a shot by Mrazek on the ensuing powerplay to regain the lead. Nice defensive play by DeKeyser to break up a breakaway. Shots on Goal: GR 20 - SYR 5. Three Griffins on the puck-carrier but he still managed to get it to Johnson behind the play. Johnson roofed it to extend the lead to 4-2. Lashoff is injured and down in the corner but play was allowed to continue with a nice Crunch scoring chance. Grant taken down, again no call. Hoggan tried to take the puck to the net but was knocked into Desjardins by a Syracuse blueliner and was sent to the box. Breakaway by Johnson and a huge stop by Mrazek who channeled the puck just wide. Mrazek to the bench late, but Syracuse potted an empty netter to seal the win. Grant went after Panik and a big scrum broke out. Callahan also had several pokes at him before being escorted to the box. Shots on Goal: GR 9 - SYR 8. For the Game: GR 28 - SYR 24. Lines:Tatar - Andersson - NyquistHoggan - Glendening - MursakJurco - Sheahan - PareGrant - Ferraro - CallahanPairings:Evans - BillinsDeKeyser - PaetschLashoff - SkinnerStarter: MrazekBackup: McCollumScratches:CoetzeeNestrasilRaedekeParkesAubryPulkkinenNicastroFournierJensenAlmquist - ConcussionPP:Nyquist - Andersson - TatarPaetsch - FerraroPare - Sheahan - JurcoSkinner - BillinsPK:Sheahan - FerraroDeKeyser/Evans - PaetschGlendening - MursakEvans - LashoffAndersson - FerraroOb

DETROIT – Pavel Datsyuk will be heading back to Russia in the next week or so. And one thing Wings general manager Ken Holland didn’t want floating around out there were rumors of Datsyuk’s future in Detroit. That’s why a deal was done before Datsyuk headed back to his native Russia, inking one of the league’s best two-way forwards to a three-year extension. “To have Pav go home all summer and have the uncertainty and all the rumors that goes along with Pav being back in Russia and going into the last year of his contract isn’t the way we want to do business,” Holland said in a phone interview Tuesday. The Wings and Datsyuk agreed in principal to a three-year extension worth $22.5 million. The deal can’t be registered with the league until July 5, which is the first day of free agency. “This agreement gives us the peace of mind that we have four more years of Pav, we’ve got more than four with Zetterberg, we have six with (Niklas) Kronwall and six with (Jimmy) Howard,” Holland said. “Z’s the captain, Pav is an assistant, Kronner’s an assistant and Howie is a goaltender who’s developed into a real important guy on and off the ice for us, a leader and a competitor and a guy that gives us a chance to win. The nucleus of our team is signed up through at least the next four years.” Datsyuk, who turns 35 on July 20, has one-year left on a deal worth $6.7 million a season. The extension, which has a salary-cap hit of $7.5 million, keeps Datsyuk in Detroit through at least the 2016-17 season and will make him the highest paid Wing. Henrik Zetterberg, 32, has a deal that runs until after the 2020-21 season making an average salary of $6,083,333 million. “Given how hard Pav works on his conditioning, day in and day out and Pav’s will and determination, I’m comfortable his game will continue to hold where it’s at for the term of the contract,” Holland said. “He’s a world class player. He’s in a small conversation of players that you would discuss being one of the best two-way players in the world.” Datsyuk will make $10 million in the first year of the deal and then make $7 million the next year and $5.5 million the final year of the extension. “We talked briefly when this deal is over he could keep doing one year deals like Nick Lidstrom, (Igor) Larionov and Yzerman,” Holland said. “I think from a security standpoint, Pav feels good about the security of a three-year deal and I think the Red Wings feel good about the security of a three-year deal. It’s nice to know we’re going to camp every year for the next four years and No. 13 is going to be out there on the ice. “And Pav helps you win,” Holland continued. “He gets goals. He gets assists. But he does so much more. He’s a great shutdown center-ice man and as his career plays out he’s like a (Chris) Chelios or a Larionov, you just don’t gage his impact strictly on goals and assists, even though he is more than a point a game guy. He plays hard. He plays physical. He’s on the penalty kill. He blocks shots. We start out the penalty kill with him and 50-percent of the time he wins the draw and we shoot the puck down the ice. He does so many things. He steals the puck and next thing you know we’ve got the puck and we’re heading up ice.” Datsyuk broke the signing himself on twitter, tweeting, “Signed 3 yr. extension. Detroit, glad to be here for 4 more yrs. Thanks to our fans, friends and Ilitch family.” Holland had a few conversations with Datsyuk’s agent Gary Greenstin during the season, but both sides agreed that it would be best to focus on winning games and making the playoffs. Holland met with Datsyuk a week ago and both felt comfortable doing a three-year extension. “I wanted to be fair to Pav, he’s Russian and there’s a big league back home and there’s a lot of interest to get him to go back and play in the KHL,” Holland said. “I knew I had to have a security of a term that he felt good at and we felt good at as well.” Greenstin flew into Detroit early Tuesday after finalized things

DETROIT – The Red Wings got the best off-season news that they could receive Tuesday when Pavel Datsyuk and his agent walked into Ken Holland’s office and agreed to terms on a new three-year contract extension that will keep the Russian star in De...

On top of the year remaining on his current contract. Pavel announced today that he and the team have come to an agreement on a three-year extension. He can’t put pen to paper until July 5th, but this is the next thing to officially official. It’s reportedly worth $22.5 million, $10 million of which would be his in the first year. At a team-high cap hit of $7.5 million, it is a vote of confidence in Datsyuk, who will be 38 when this deal runs out. But barring an injury that turns him into a shadow of himself, I wouldn’t expect his play to drop off so far in that span that it wouldn’t have been worth going with this deal in 2013. So, as far as gambles go, this is a good one, though there is certainly room for criticism. But I’m not personally worked up over it. While this is a higher-than-usual (likely) last contract, Pavel Datsyuk is not latter-days Steve Yzerman, where his value is measured mostly in legacy overhead and leadership rather than production. If he takes a completely unexpected nosedive or blows up his knee or something, we can all ream Ken Holland for not foreseeing the future of one of the league’s current best players. But that would be kind of ridiculous, because if everybody operated under that level of suspicion of the future, there would be no deals longer than a year in sports. All Holland can do is factor his age into the “Datsyuk = really freaking good” equation. It should surprise no-one who’s watched his career the outcome is “still likely to be.” Still, the future finance question is there. Which is why we can thank the owners for putting a cap-shaped shadow on what should be a day of unfettered celebration: the Wings have the core locked up through 2017. That’s not quite enough, as this year’s failed (yet valuable from an experience standpoint) run demonstrated, but it’s a very good start. Oh, and I wonder if any of the Griffins playing in the Calder Cup Finals will get to benefit from three additional years of Datsyuk.

The Magician has a few more tricks to perform in Hockeytown. As per MLive.com's Ansar Khan, Pavel Datsyuk has agreed to, and signed, a new 3-year contract extension that will see him don the Winged Wheel at least until the end of 2016-17. Datsyuk had recently hinted on Twitter that a deal was close, and he later confirmed it today on his timeline, stating: "Signed 3 yr. extension. Detroit, glad to be here for 4 more yrs.Thanks to our fans, friends and Ilitch family". Khan detailed the specifics of Datsyuk's extra three years in his report, stating that #13 will make a cool $10 Million in the first year of the extension, followed by a drop to $7.5 and finally $5.5 Million over the last two years of the deal, coming to a grand total of $23 Million over the extension's full term. How happy am I? Well... That is a pretty good indicator. The fact that we got our boy Dats back for $23 Million over three years is exceptional on both sides: management for swinging the deal, and Datsyuk for being a true Red Wing and not low-balling the team for more cash. Yes, I know $23M is lots of money, but I could easily see some teams paying him anywhere between $8-9 Million per season, and it wouldn't be overpaying. Pavel does so many good things on both ends of the ice, and players like him do not come around often. He's a proven winner, class act, and part of the heart and soul of this team. With the fresh talent coming up through the Grand Rapids Griffins, the next few years should be kind to Datsyuk, with lots of skilled players to make plays with and big bodies to do play the puck-retrieval game and give Dats room to maneuver--not that he needs much. The next few years could present one of the most talented Detroit lineups since the 2002 campaign. It is certainly speculation at this point, but the possibility is there. And so is Pavel Datsyuk.

Star center's extension ensures that he will be with the Red Wings through at least the 2016-17 season.

The question of whether or not Pavel Datsyuk would head to Russia after playing the final year of his contract has been answered by Pavel himself. Pav will be in Detroit for another 4 years after signing a 3 year extension. Well, that's not true. He can't officially sign until July 5, but he has agreed with the terms of an extension and that's good enough for now. According to Gary Greenstin, Pav's agent, the deal is worth $23 million. Cap hit is $7.5 million. A bargain, if you ask me. That money was either going to Pavel Datsyuk or it was going to sit around unspent. What are your thoughts on this news? For me this is up there with the summer of 2001. Painful playoff loss, then unexpected great news in the offseason.