Datsyuk signs 7-year pact with Detroit...

Pavel Datsyuk will be a Red Wing for a long time.
How long you ask?

Oh, just seven years.

According to TSN, At 1:00 PM today, Red Wings GM Ken Holland announced the deal, which will pay the young Russian star $6-7 million anually, for a total of $46.9 million in that span.

He's making $3.9 million this season and it's paying off; the 28-year old forward has 27 goals and 60 assists to lead the Wings this season and is poised for greatness in the years to come.

He would have been a highly-sought player on the free-agent market, but instead, he decided to remain in Hockeytown for the next 7 seasons.

"Pavel really wanted to commit here for his career,"general manager Ken Holland said of the longest contract extension in team history."In the end we felt very comfortable with a long-term commitment to Pavel."

"Everyone in the organization wanted him to stay with us," said team owner Mike Ilitch.

I hope for the sake of Ken Holland, that he'll live up to this money.
If anything, he's certainly going to come close to living up to that.

Nevertheless, the 2006 Lady Byng Memorial recipient is happy.

"This contract was extremely important to me," Datsyuk said. "Especially since I have been a Red Wing since 2001."