DETROIT — On the eve of NHL free agency, Detroit Red Wings general managerKen Holland was cautiously optimistic he would be able to agree to contractterms with star goaltender Dominik Hasek.

“I don’t think there’s a significant divide, but there’s no deal so wecontinue to go back and forth,” Holland said Saturday night. “We’ve had a lotof conversations over the last few days and hopefully we’ll talk again tonightor in the morning before free agency begins at noon.”

Hasek informed the Red Wings a couple of weeks ago that he wanted to playfor Detroit again.

The 42-year-old Hasek is a six-time Vezina Trophy winner and two-time NHLMVP. He signed a one-year contract worth $750,000 last season and earned$900,000 in bonuses for helping the Red Wings advance past the second round ofthe playoffs for the first time since 2002.

“He’ll have a greater salary this year, but we’re still trying to figureout what’s fair to both sides and how to structure the deal,” Holland said.”I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll work it out.”

The Red Wings are not quite as confident about their chances to re-signstandout defenseman Mathieu Schneider.

“We would love to have him back, but I expect him to hit the market and Idon’t blame him,” Holland said. “He’s 38 years old, so he doesn’t have a lotof chances to really take advantage of free agency.”

The Red Wings want to re-sign forward Todd Bertuzzi, but the two sides werestill negotiating Saturday.

“I’d like a shorter-term deal and he’d like a longer-term contract,”Holland said. “Hopefully, we’ll find common ground.”

Unlike a lot of teams, Detroit doesn’t expect to be active Sunday.

“I don’t see us being a part of the first waves of signings,” Hollandsaid. “I think it’s going to be crazy from everybody I’ve talked to, but we’rein a bit of a wait-and-see mode.

“We’ll talk to all of our guys at least one more time before noon and if Iget a sense that they want to test the market, we’re going to be a little moreaggressive than I planned to be. We’re not desperate, though, because we have agood nucleus in place, but we definitely need to add a defenseman or two.”