Word came down from Khan late last night that there are some scenarios setting up in the KHL that might bring Jiri Hudler back to Detroit before his two year contract is up. From the article, it sounds like the GM of Dynamo Moscow might be leaving and Hudler wants to be back in Detroit for the 2010-2011 season.
Hudler scored 19 goals in 54 games while adding 35 assists in his first season with Dynamo but the team found an early exit in its playoff run and Hudler is now on the golf course.
But the question is: Do you want him back?
I, personally, would gladly welcome him back. He's a 20 goal scorer (on the third line) and for his size (5'9", 180 lbs) he's actually pretty talented. He's a heck of a passer and plays pretty soundly on defensive. He's only 26 at the moment and has plenty of hockey ahead of him.
As far as the "oh well he doesn't want to be here" thing I think he got thrown under the bus slightly. Given that the Red Wings had crap for space in the cap last off-season really hurt the chances of him re-signing. The whole mess went to arbitration and he found a home for a year in the KHL. The way I see it was that Holland wanted to keep him, didn't have the cap room, and decided that letting him play in the KHL couldn't really hurt that badly and if ever wanted to come back to the NHL, he'd be Detroit's by way of the legal process.
Again, in terms of the "well he took whatever gave him more money" well of course he did. Can you blame him? He deserves the amount that he was offered by Detroit in arbitration but they simply couldn't afford it and DM could pay him the amount while allowing him to play still.
It's different than the way Jason Williams left Detroit after his first stay. Williams wanted out and virtually wanted no part of the team and found what he saw as greener pastures in Chicago. Hudler was kind of opportunistically exported to KHL in an attempt to salvage some cap space.