Detroit gets its Fil (get it?)
Yay! I got re-signed!
Are you taking notes, Cliff Fletcher? This is how smart teams spend their money.
Detroit re-upped promising 24-year-old winger Valtteri Filppula to a five-year, $15 million extension today.
“We’re really excited about locking in a player this young and this good that keeps him off the market as an unrestricted free agent for a couple of years,” Holland said. “He’s the kind of player we can build around in the years to come.”
Filppula had career highs with 19 goals and 36 points last season. Then despite a groin injury, he played in all 22 playoff games and scored in the Stanley Cup-clinching win over the Pittsburgh Penguins last month for his fifth goal and 11th point of the championship run.
Having seen Filppula play live a few times (and that goal he scored in St. Louis coming off the wall two seasons ago still strikes me as a beauty, one of the prettiest I’ve seen live), it’s pretty obvious that this is an insanely good deal for the Red Wings. Is $3 million a year a little steep for a 19-goal, 36-point guy that’s defensively responsible? Sure. But in three years, when he’s popping in 30 and getting 60 points no problem — and still being very solid in his own end — it’s going to look like a great contract.
His 19 goals were the result of his only getting 16ish minutes of ice time and a very limited power play role, and his linemates were Jiri Hudler and Mikael Samuelsson (not exactly Zetterberg and Datsyuk).
Curiously, though, the move puts Detroit perilously close to the salary cap with a few free agents still unsigned. Makes you wonder if this is it for the ageless Chris Chelios.
For the record, Filppula still makes less money than Jeff Finger.
