NHL free agency begins on Friday. That means that for the Detroit Red Wings, it is important to get their free agents re-signed before they hit the open market. It's not an absolute necessity, but for someone like Jonathan Ericsson, Detroit clearly wants to get a new deal done before the rest of the NHL has a chance to talk to him.

While in Minnesota for the 2011 NHL Draft on Saturday, Red Wings general manager Ken Holland met with Ericsson's agent. Holland said the two sides are "in the same ballpark" and that another discussion with Ericsson's agent is scheduled for Monday.

Salary demands have been the big issue in these negotiations in the past, but now it looks like Ericsson wants to be clear about where he stands in the Red Wings' defensive plans before signing a new deal.

"A little bit of the conversation that's going on with Ericsson's camp is where we see him fitting in," Holland said.

Apparently the agents representing Patrick Eaves and Drew Miller haven't gotten back to Holland yet about offers they received, so for right now not much progress is being made with those two free agents.