panoo

Posted by Ansar Khan
August 01, 2007 20:31PM

Wings GM Ken Holland said yesterday that he spoke to the agent for defenseman Danny Markov a week ago but nothing is happening.

"He told me what he's looking for; we're not even close to that,'' Holland said. "Right now, we're satisfied with our defense. We'd like to have Danny back, but if he signs somewhere else, we're comfortable.''

He said he'd like to add some depth on defense, but only at the right price. He offered Markov a two-year deal at the draft in June, apparently at around the same $2.5 million-a-year salary he earned last season.

"He told me the salary range he's looking for. We don't have any interest in that salary range,'' Holland said.

Meanwhile, Holland made offers of one, two and three years to defenseman Derek Meech, a restricted free agent.

"We're close, but he's not done,'' Holland said.

It's interesting that the Wings were still courting a defenseman of Markov's caliber, considering they have six NHL defensemen signed (Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Chelios, Lebda, Lilja) and Meech will be No. 7. Holland said they'll only carry seven and Meech is out of options, so if they signed Markov, or someone of that caliber, they'd have to move somebody, barring a preseason injury.

The Wings don't want to just hand over a roster spot to Meech, they want him to earn it in training camp and the preseason. Holland didn't rule out the possibility of sending Meech back to Grand Rapids through waivers if he doesn't impress in the preseason. But he'd surely get claimed and the Wings would lose him for nothing, so that doesn't seem likely.

"Would we take that risk? It depends on how he plays in training camp and preseason games,'' Holland said.

Where does this leave Kyle Quincey? He can still be sent to Grand Rapids without waivers, and that's where he'll be at the start of the season unless there's a couple of injuries. It does him no good to be the No. 7 defenseman in Detroit. He needs to play.

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