Detroit Red Wings vs. Buffalo Sabres - March 28, 2016

Kyle Quincey would rather return to the Red Wings than explore free agency. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

DETROIT - Kyle Quincey cleaned out his locker following the team photo on April 25 and wondered whether it would be his final time in the Detroit Red Wings dressing room.

"I've been thinking that for a while and just kind of soaking in," Quincey said at the time. "The Philly game (regular season home finale on April 6), with the uncertainty of the playoffs, I was really soaking in that game.

"Everyone keeps talking about change, so it's uncertainty right now."

Quincey, 30, has been one of the team's more consistent defensemen the past two seasons, forming a solid pairing with Danny DeKeyser for much of that time.

But the Red Wings need changes following another first-round playoff exit. Quincey, an unrestricted free agent on July 1, might not be back.

"If Kenny (general manager Holland) offers me something I'd love to come back," Quincey said. "We love it here. But if not, just see what happens."

Holland said he'll speak with people in the organization over the next couple of weeks and decide which, if any, of the club's unrestricted free agents (Quincey, Darren Helm, Drew Miller, Brad Richards) will be offered a contract.

The Red Wings have salary-cap concerns - especially if they're not able to move Pavel Datsyuk's $7.5 million cap hit, if he returns to Russia. They also have three defensemen in Grand Rapids (Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul and Nick Jensen) who lose their waiver-exempt status next season and could be lost for nothing if the Red Wings attempted to send any of them to the Grand Rapids Griffins.

"Two years ago I didn't know anything until July 1," Quincey said. "I'm assuming it's probably going to be the same thing."

The Red Wings signed Quincey to a two-year, $8.5 million contract on the first day of free agency in 2014.

Quincey would surely attract interest if he explores the market, which is particularly thin on defense. The Colorado Avalanche might have interest. Quincey lives in Colorado in the off-season.

But Quincey would prefer to remain with the organization that drafted him in 2003 (132nd overall in the fourth round). He had four goals and seven assists in 47 games, missing six games with a concussion and 29 following surgery to remove bone chips in his ankle. He was a healthy scratch for Game 3 against Tampa Bay, for reasons coach Jeff Blashill didn't explain.

"Going into the season I had a meeting with Blash right away and it wasn't what I really wanted to hear, but I feel like I changed his mind with my play and moved up in his eyes," Quincey said. "My goal was always to come back and play with Danny and shut down first lines. And at the end of the year when they needed it most that's where I was.

"So for me, that's a huge win in my book and for the most part I think we did a good job. We shut down some very good lines."

Quincey hopes to be reunited with DeKeyser next season.

"I think it was two years ago that (former coach Mike Babcock) tried to put a few guys with (DeKeyser) on the right side for the first week or two and it didn't work out," Quincey said. "And then he came to me and said, 'Can you play the right side?' I never played on the left side since. So I can obviously play both sides comfortably. It was a challenge that I ran with and really take a lot of pride in. Danny's a great player, so it's very easy to play with him."

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