from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

The Red Wings have seven pending UFAs, three of whom they would like to sign – goaltender Jimmy Howard, forward Gustav Nyquist and defenseman Nick Jensen.

If Holland doesn’t at least have the parameters in place for deals with any of these three, then he might be inclined to move them rather than risk losing them for nothing on July 1.

All three have spent their entire NHL careers in Detroit and have expressed a desire to stay. But it’s still business.

“We’ve had exploratory talks,” Holland said, without identifying which players he’s trying to re-sign. “I’ve got to, here in the next few days, crank it up to another level.

“I’d like to think before the deadline that we’re either signing them or close, where we sort of have the makings of a deal and you’re hanging onto the player. It would be the very worst-case scenario if I don’t trade somebody and then that player we have interest in re-signing leaves on July 1.”

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