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Danny DeKeyser led Red Wings defensemen with eight goals last season.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

DETROIT - Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland is still speaking with representatives for restricted free agents Petr Mrazek and Danny DeKeyser in an effort to work out long-term contracts while avoiding arbitration hearings this week.

Mrazek's hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning while DeKeyser's is slated for Thursday. Both will be in Toronto.

The Red Wings filed for arbitration with Mrazek, who has opted for a two-year term rather than one year. DeKeyser, who filed for arbitration, can receive only a one-year deal if his case is heard because he is eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer.

Holland planned to speak again this morning with Newport Sports Management, which represents both players. Negotiations can continue up until the arbitration hearings begin.

In DeKeyser's case, current talks are about a long-term contract.

"We've talked lots," Holland told MLive. "We are having conversations on longer-term deals. Again, we're going to speak (today) but the agents for DeKeyser and the club, represented by Ken Holland, have basically agreed on what the one-year award looks like.

"We had a range. They have a range. We're in a similar range. We weren't far apart. So we know that a one-year deal, we know the range."

DeKeyser has become one of the Red Wings' top defensemen after signing with the club as a free agent out of Western Michigan in March 2013 and going straight to the NHL.

In 78 games last season, he led Red Wings defensemen with eight goals while picking up 12 assists. His average ice time of 21:08 was second only to defenseman Niklas Kronwall's 22:01 among the Red Wings.

DeKeyser, 26, is a Detroit native who is coming off a two-year contract that had a salary cap hit of $2.187 million.

"Ideally, Danny would like to do a longer-term deal. The club would like to do a longer-term deal," Holland said. "Since they filed, this period of negotiation and time to do your brief for an arbitration hearing has mostly been about discussions on a longer-term deal.

"We talked Thursday, we talked Friday, we're going to talk again" today.

Mrazek, a fifth-round pick (141st overall) in the 2010 NHL draft, will enter next season as the Red Wings' No. 1 goaltender after platooning with Jimmy Howard for the first half of last season.

He was the NHL's hottest goalie at one point during the middle of the season but lost the top job to Howard entering the playoffs before regaining it for the final three games of Detroit's first-round playoff loss to Tampa Bay.

In 54 games last season, Mrazek had a 27-16-3 record, 2.33 goals-against average and .921 save percentage. In the playoffs, he was 1-2 with a 1.36 GAA and .945 save percentage.

One of the big differences between negotiations with DeKeyser and Mrazek, according to Holland, is there are more players who can be compared to DeKeyser in order to set a market price.

DeKeyser has been in the NHL for three full seasons while last year was the 24-year-old Mrazek's first full NHL campaign.

"We've had lots of discussions," Holland said. "There's way more comparables, I think, in Dan DeKeyser's case so it was easier to figure out what was the market place. That's certainly not the case of Petr Mrazek's situation.

"So we've had lots of conversations about them explaining their position and (us) explaining our position."

Holland said the Red Wings and Mrazek have to exchange briefs - the document explaining their proposals - by 9 a.m. today. The arbitrator also will receive a copy of each brief.

Excluding a special case with Jiri Hudler in 2009, the Red Wings haven't had an arbitration hearing since 1995 with Ray Sheppard.

"I think ideally you'd like to avoid arbitration if you can," Holland said. "I think a negotiated settlement is always better than having an arbitrated settlement. Obviously, both sides run (the risk) of somebody's not going to be happy."

Arbitration cases typically take about three hours, according to Holland, who said each team has 90 minutes to present its case.

A decision must be rendered within 48 hours.