In an offseason where the Wings got arguably one of the top players in the game with the discounted signing of Marian Hossa, it looks like Ken Holland and company have seen lightning strike twice. Valtteri Filppula avoids arbitration with the team by signing a 5-year/$15 million deal to remain in Detroit through at least 2013.
Normally when a team wins a championship, players like Filppula head to struggling teams and cash in with huge deals. Mehmet Okur did this with Utah. Derek Lowe did the same with the Dodgers as did his teammate Kevin Millar with the Orioles. It’s a sad fact in sports these days when a playoff sparkplug finds themselves searching for greener pastures. Filppula has tons of upside and is a steady star in the making. By avoiding arbitration, he gets a valuable amount of financial security along with a tremendous amount of “championship” security. There’s no reason he won’t be lifting another Cup shortly.
The main key to this deal likely did not come from something Holland offered within this current contract. Instead, Holland helped wrap up this deal back in May with the signing of Ville Leino. Who is Leino you ask? When the Wings failed to land Swedish star Fabian Brunnstrom during their playoff run, they instead turned to Leino, a Finnish “f-enom” who set team records last season with 77 pts. in 55 games. Leino is a difference maker much like Filppula is and the two of them combined will add renewed fire power to an already stacked Wings squad.
