Red Wings Re-Sign Brad Stuart

[Thrillhouse]

Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland announced today that the club has re-signed defenseman Brad Stuart to a four-year contract.

“I got a pretty good taste of what it means to be on a winning team and I wanted to continue to be a part of that,” Stuart said by phone on Tuesday. “It was important to me to try as hard as I could to remain here.”

Stuart, 28, was originally acquired by the Wings in a February trade with the Los Angeles Kings for a second-round pick in this year’s draft and a fourth-round selection next year.

After nine NHL seasons, Stuart has compiled 59 goals and 170 assists in 579 games.

[Sugden Flu]

Brad fooled em' again! This guy is so overrated, its rediculous!

[BrianTheAdsFan]

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, look at the big brain on Brad!

[detroit4life]

You have got to be f*ckin kidding me. They are actually going to pay him more money than Kronwall?? What a joke. I am glad to have him back, but no way would I pay him more than $3M.

[drwdan19]

I agree with the rest of you. What the hell's with the pay increase Holland? He's was good, but not great. Couldn't even stay on his feet it seems in those last few finals games. Guess that hit on Crosby sealed his future.

[Redtown]

Originally Posted by BrianTheAdsFan

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, look at the big brain on Brad!

[Colt Seavers]

Well, I'm glad he's back. But, the salary is a bit higher than I ever would have guessed.

All this time, Holland was preaching that Stuart would have to take a pay cut-and have a salary similiar to Kronwalls-in order to sign him. At any rate, it looks like it was Stuey who was calling Hollands bluff!

Stuart would have probably received a even higher offer if he explored the open market. It's $500,000 per year more than Holland would have liked to pay, but he gets a rock-solid, physical #4 guy who's just coming into his prime for four years. Tremendous move.

[Isles4life]

Stuart fit in nicely on the Red Wings blueline. Yes, he's overpaid, but they managed to keep a very strong defense together. Not a bad move in my opinion.

[Viper207]

Sometimes players take the "hometown discount" and sometimes you've got to pay the "Stanley Cup bonus"... but I really like how it's for four years. Who the hell knows where the salaries for solid Dmen will be by then - 5, 6 million?

Guess I can go ahead and order that jersey now.

[E_S_A_D]

Good signing- Detroit's offense is once again best in the NHL for two more years solidified.

[E_S_A_D]

Originally Posted by E_S_A_D

Good signing- Detroit's offense is once again best in the NHL for two more years solidified.

Lidstrom Rafalski
Stuart Kronwall
Lebda Lilja
Meech Chelios
Quincy Ericsson

Find me a better top 3 in the League... can't do it.

[Isles4life]

Originally Posted by E_S_A_D

Good signing- Detroit's offense is once again best in the NHL for two more years solidified.

Psst. They signed a defenseman.

[Snipes19]

Originally Posted by E_S_A_D

Good signing- Detroit's offense is once again best in the NHL for two more years solidified.

How does this move have anything to do with offense? Stuart is a defenseman.

Anyways, they gave Brad a pretty laughable contract - 4 years for $3.75 million per year? Wow, that's pretty ridiculous IMO.

Detroit had enough d-men anyway so I'm not a fan of this move. Pretty stupid signing by Detroit IMO.

[canuckfan]

How this guy continues to make big money like this is beyond me. To me, Stuart is just as big a disappointment as Eric Brewer. Guys that have rounded out into solid NHLers, but so much more was expected of them. They're not even mentioned any more as possible candidates to play on Canada's 2010 team.

Regardless, Detroit's blue line looks pretty stacked now and hasn't changed one bit since they won the Cup. And thats a perfect recipe for a repeat. All the other previous Cup winners lost some major pieces of their defence corps the first summer after they won the Cup, all have come up woefully short since then. Good teams have strong goaltending and a great blue line. And Detroit has ensured their Cup winning blue line will be back and intact for the next few seasons.

Its a lot of $$$, but its a good signing by Detroit.