Leino is signed, sealed and delivered

Ville Leino has re-signed with the Wings today for roughly $800,000 a year. I had speculated before that this would be the amount and it makes sense. He actually earned more last year but this contract probably has assurances in it that he will be on the team for the whole year. Last year, he scored 13 points and earned some valuable experience in the NHL finals. He played on the fourth line a lot with Draper and Maltby and I would expect him to see a lot of time on that line to provide a viable scoring punch.

In a lot of ways, his game reminds me of Jiri Hudler. I don't think he will reach what Hudler has done so far in his career, but I could see Leino being a consistent 45-50 point producer on the 3rd and 4th lines with some time on the power play unit. He is not a great skater and I was not terribly impressed with him defensively, but for a 3rd or 4th line player who could play spot minutes on the top 2 lines, this is an outstanding deal and again shows why the Wings have the best front office in hockey.

The article also talks about Hudler filing for arbitration and I know a lot of fans are worried about that because he would command a deal between $3.5 and $4.5 million. Frankly, I am not worried. Maybe I am just blindly loyal to Holland and believe everything that has been said about Hudler loving it as a Wing, but I think a deal gets settled before the arbitration date for roughly $2.5 million a year for 2-3 years. Book it.