Stuart, on his signing

By Rich Hammond on July 2, 2008 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Here's what Brad Stuart had to say about his signing in the Detroit Free-Press today. The paper reported that the deal with the Red Wings got done just about 30 minutes before Stuart would have become an unrestricted free agent...

"There were times we were a little doubtful things were going to work out, but I'm really glad it did," Stuart said from his home in California. "I think sometimes you go on gut feeling -- I knew they wanted to keep me, but also knew they have a certain way they go about re-signing players. I didn't know what I could get on the open market, but had a pretty good idea.

"I'm just glad it worked out. It's a great team. Most of the core of the team is going to be around for at least the next couple of years. It's a great place to play and win, and I wanted to be a part of it."

J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey. E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra
@inlandnewspapers.com.

Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews
.com.