Dominik Hasek wants to play another season for the Detroit Red Wings.
“We haven’t talked contract yet because the whole issue was whether Dom wanted to play or not,” general manager Ken Holland said Wednesday. “His agent told me Friday that he wanted to come back, but we agreed to let him take his vacation over the next few days to make sure that’s what he really wanted to do. When he returned, nothing changed.”
The 42-year-old Hasek is a six-time Vezina Trophy winner and two-time NHL MVP. He signed a one-year contract worth $750,000 and earned $900,000 in bonuses last year.
Flames: The Canadian Press reported that Calgary has hired Mike Keenan as its new head coach.
Current Flames coach Jim Playfair will remain with the organization.
Keenan won 569 in 1,014 games as an NHL head coach. He won the Jack Adams Trophy for the league’s top coach in 1985 after leading Philadelphia to the Stanley Cup Finals. He also took the Chicago Finals in 1988, and won the Cup with the Rangers in 1994.
Panthers: Florida traded center Chris Gratton to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a second-round pick in the 2007 or 2008 NHL draft.
That deal was announced a few hours after the Panthers re-signed defenseman Bryan Allen to a five-year contract worth nearly $15 million.
Gratton had 13 goals and 22 assists this season for Florida.
Predators: Representatives for Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie are meeting with Hamilton, Ontario, city officials over an exclusive agreement to move the team there as a contingency plan.
Balsillie has agreed to purchase the Predators, pending NHL approval, but the team’s lease in Nashville, Tenn., may be in jeopardy over poor attendance.
Blue Jackets: Columbus has agreed to terms with Edmonton assistant GM Scott Howson to make him its new GM.
Ducks: Coach Randy Carlyle signed a one-year extension through the 2008-09 season.
