Report: Wings have tough contract decisions

In his latest article for Fanrag Sports, hockey writer Mike Murphy explores the potential contract scenarios for Detroit Red Wings forwards Andreas Athanasiou and Tomas Tatar. According to Murphy, the negotiations represent a pivotal moment in the transition of the organization and any fumbling of the deals could hurt the team for years to come.

It’s no secret that Wings general manager Ken Holland hasn’t had much success in contract negotiations lately. The Wings roster is riddled with bad contracts to players like Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Danny DeKeyser, Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson. Adding an albatross of a deal to that mix would not be a wise decision.

So, what sort of deal might the team’s two leading goal scorers get this offseason? Murphy argues that, in Tatar’s case, the number could be as high as $4 million annually, which has all the signs of a disaster for the Red Wings. While Tatar is a 25 goal scorer, he hasn’t provided the team with consistent enough point production to warrant such a high cap hit. Ditto for Athanasiou.

Whatever the two young forwards end up negotiating for themselves this offseason, Wings fans will watch in anticipation and pray that Holland avoids handcuffing the team any further.