Red Wings Sit Tight on First Day of Free Agency, Modano Speaks to Holland

Not particularly surprising was Ken Holland's quiet Canada Day, which saw the better part of $300m worth of contracts signed. A few of the bigger names to find new homes include Paul Martin, Dan Hamhuis, Sergei Gonchar, Ray Whitney, Jordan Leopold and Zbynek Michalek. Perhaps more conspicuous however, was the inactivity of some of the bigger free agents on the market this season, namely Ilya Kovalchuk and Evgeni Nabokov -- two names Detroit almost certainly won't be in the running for.

Aside from the imminent pending agreements with Detroit's restricted free agents, Ken Holland also mentioned offering a deal of around $1m per year to Andreas Lilja -- a deal which obviously is yet to be accepted. With regards to fresh faces in Motown, it seems Wings' fans might need to be patient.

"When all the high-end guys (sign), we can look to the secondary market," Holland said. "We’d like to sign one more defenseman, but we don’t have to. We’re probably done up front, but if I can find a forward who gives us a different dimension we’ll look at it."

Mike Modano also admitted he'd spoken to the Red Wings regarding a return to his home city for maybe one last hurrah. While an agreement between the two parties is very possible, Modano would probably be looking at no more than $1m for one season for a 3rd- or 4th-line role.

Whatever the case, once the RFA's have been signed, the Red Wings have a pretty full roster and would only be looking at a 6/7 defenseman to add to the mix so don't expect too much free agency activity on the Red Wings blogosphere.