Zetterberg’s “Two Kids and a Goat” Linemate Brett Hull Will Not Be Offered a Contract By Redwings

By Chris Turner, Zetterbergfan.com, June 11, 2004

The old goat in the “Two Kids and a Goat” Line will not be joining the two kids next season, whenever that may be. Detroit Redwings General Manager Ken Holland announced yesterday that right-winger Brett Hull will not be offered a contract for the 2004-2005 season.

With the National Hockey League’s collective bargaining agreement expiring just prior to the scheduled start of this season and the future of the salary structure uncertain, the Redwings were not prepared to take on Hull’s five million a season contract.

"We're not going to do anything right now. I can't tell you what the summer's going to bring. But certainly probably heading into the CBA we're not going to do anything.", Said Holland.

The future Hall-of-Famer signed as a free agent prior to the 2001-2002 season along with Dominik Hasek and Luc Robitaille, helping Detroit win the 2002 Stanley Cup. He had 10 goals during that playoff run, leading the NHL.

Hull scored 92 goals and had 126 assists in three seasons with the Redwings. He scored his milestone 700^th career goal with the franchise and has gone on to record 741 total NHL goals, third all-time behind Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe. He lead Detroit with 68 points this last season.

His most successful line combination over the last two seasons has been on what Hull nicknamed the “Two Kids and a Goat” line with the kids being young star forwards Pavel Datysuk from Russia and Henrik Zetterberg from Sweden. It was the hottest line in the NHL during the second half of the 2002-2003 campaign. The three highly talented forwards created exciting offence with intelligent positioning and passing and magical chemistry.

Always outspoken and opinionated, Hull has called the two youngsters future Hall of Famers and was the most vocal supporter for Zetterberg to be named Rookie of the Year in 2003. Zetterberg finished as  runner up to St. Louis Blues defenseman Barrett Jackman, who had Al Macginnis backing him.

Hull openly admitted he was benefiting statistically by playing with the two playmakers and made it known to head coach Dave Lewis that he wanted to stay on that line and remain with the Redwings. "I know that I'm in a great situation and I want to stay there," says Hull. "I look at Hank (Zetterberg), and I see a first-year guy that has the skill, the composure, the savvy of the game. He looks like a 10-year vet."

“They keep talking about how old we are and how the team’s not going to be that good in a couple of years. I say, yeah, right,” Hull said. “The sky’s the limit. You can’t even begin to fathom how good they are.”

Lewis agreed. "There's a real good feeling about the three of them together," Lewis said. "If you watch in practice, it seems like they're almost thinking as one. They have a good chemistry, and they know where everybody is at all times."

Hull’s chemistry with his teammates began to wear off behind the scenes this past year. He was virtually invisible during the playoffs. His floating and lack of effort even reduced the effectiveness of Zetterberg’s tenacity and Datsyuk’s wizardry. An early exit for the Redwings sparked talk of change to the veteran laden line-up.

Holland said, "It was a great three years. Unfortunately we didn't have a very good playoff, there's going to be a new CBA, and also we're trying to get more speed.

"Some of the things we're looking at, it certainly leaves us in a situation where we don't know what direction we're going to head. But for now, we don't have anything for him, and I don't know if we'll have anything for him in the future. I said to Brett, 'I don't know what the future's going to bring.' "