Report: Ken Holland trying to move Datsyuk contract

Ken Holland already knows that he has a tall task this summer trying to put a competitive team on the ice next year. Rumors are swirling about every big name free agent. The prevailing thought is, before all of these moves, he needs to do something with Pavel Datsyuk and his contract. Does a team have the space and the necessary assets to make a deal with the Red Wings happen?

Darren Dreger on TSN this past Friday had this to say about Holland and his ongoing pursuit of a deal involving Datsyuk:

Dreger went on to say that part of the reason they want to move Datsyuk is because they want to pursue Steven Stamkos. Dreger also cited multiple younger players that were being mentioned in a possible package deal. Names like Tomas Jurco and Teemu Pulkkinen had come up.

The Red Wings won’t be dealing from a position of power in this situation, which is something that surely upsets Holland and Co. Having to give up on a young asset is against what the Red Wings do and they would almost need assurances that they get one of the few big names out on the market. Steven Stamkos is obviously one of those names but Alexander Radulov has been brought up many times as well. 

Needing to make a splash, Holland has some tough decisions to make and the situation continues to be unenviable. Do you want to commit to a free agent that you have very little info on or do you want to commit to a free agent that is coming off of a blood clot scare? Both aren’t desirable, yet the Red Wings will need to pick up one to make sure they keep up in the Atlantic Conference “arms race”.