Red Wings' Holland: Social media impacts Babcock UFA story

Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland was on Edmonton’s TSN 1260 on Tuesday afternoon.

On how Mike Babcock’s contract status compares with a star player being on the verge of unrestricted free agency:

“I don’t think things are any different. I just think that what’s changed now is social media. It’s just the world that we live in and how everything is just so instant, and how there seems to be so much more media with all of these different platforms. Everybody gets to weigh in, which generates more talk and more talk.

“In ’09... we had pending unrestricted free agents in Marian Hossa, Franzen, and Zetterberg. We ended up signing two. Hossa went to Chicago. I kind of look at unrestricted agents, whether you’re on the ice or off the ice, we’ve got exclusive rights until June 30. And you hope people want to be in your program. You hope that they like what’s going on. You hope we’ve got an environment where people enjoy going to work.

"Again, our program isn’t for everybody. Some people have left through free agency. Sergei Fedorov left. Martin Lapointe left. Marian Hossa left. And many others have stayed here and spent all of their career, or most of their career in Detroit.

“So I think my take is you try to create an environment and a workplace that is positive and people make decisions that they want to be part of that.”

Source: TSN 1260/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey