Red Wings' Pavel Datsyuk to reveal future plans Saturday

Come high noon Saturday, Pavel Datsyuk is to make public his long-awaited decision on his future.

For two months, all signs have pointed to him leaving for his native Russia, starting with an emotional and exclusive interview with the Free Press at the end of the regular season in which Datsyuk revealed he wants to go home.

He delayed a final announcement until after the World Championship, and then went on vacation for two weeks. Datsyuk returned to the metro Detroit area Tuesday, but an immediate meeting with Holland was postponed as the Wings paid respect to Gordie Howe, who passed away June 10.

Dan Milstein, the agent for Datsyuk, told the Free Press that he, Datsyuk and Holland met Friday evening, and that “Pavel will address media from camp” on Saturday.

All signs for the past two months point to Datsyuk leaving. On the day the Wings cleaned out their lockers in April, teammates took pictures with Datsyuk, and got his autograph. Longtime friend Henrik Zetterberg all but admitted he knew Datsuk was gone. That same day, Holland said he expected Datsyuk to leave.

In expressing his desire to leave despite having a year left on his contract, Datsyuk has pinpointed two reasons: He wants to be closer to his teenaged daughter from his first marriage, and he wants to finish his hockey career playing before Russian fans. He already has an offer from the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg.

The problem for the Wings is that because Datsyuk’s last contract went into effect after he turned 35, the cap hit — a whopping $7.5 million — remains. The Wings do not believe Datsyuk knew about the rule when he made his desire to leave known. His last contract was negotiated by former agent Gary Greenstin. In all likelihood, Datsyuk believed he could do what Brian Rafalski did in 2011, when he walked away with a year left on his contract, but the contract simply dissolved.

If Datsyuk leaves, the onus is on Holland to make the best of a tough situation and try to find a taker for Datsyuk’s contract, clearing up cap space. No team would have to pay the actual $5 million salary — but even so, no lower-salaried team is going to take it without getting something in return. Chicago just had to surrender a 21-year-old high-end prospect to convince Carolina to take on Bryan Bickell’s contract.

Carolina is one of a handful of team that operate on the lower end of the salary cap. Arizona is another, as is Buffalo. But the Wings can expand options if they decide to take a much lesser contract in return — something in the $2 million range would still yield significant cap space to pursue the summer’s prize free agent, forward Steven Stamkos.

The other possibility is the Wings decide the price of moving the contract is too high — say if the cost is Anthony Mantha, or Andreas Athanasiou and a higher-round pick. It’d be unideal to say the least, but the Wings are committed to improving from within, and sacrificing Mantha might not be worth it.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.

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