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Red Wings' DeKeyser happy to extend stay: 'I don't want to go anywhere else'

Mike Stobe / National Hockey League / Getty

Danny DeKeyser isn't going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

The Detroit Red Wings defenseman inked a six-year, $30-million contract on Tuesday, avoiding his impending arbitration hearing, and the 26-year-old couldn't be happier.

"It's nice to get this done and just to know that I'll be around for awhile," DeKeyser said, according to Bill Roose of DetroitRedWings.com. "For me and my fiancee - she's also from Michigan - it's just a good spot for us to be in with family all around the state and that kind of thing. It's a big event coming up for us, so it's really cool how this has worked out before the wedding, to get that done and be comfortable and not have to worry about it.

"I don't want to go anywhere else and I was pretty happy that we were able to work with Kenny (Holland) and get a deal done. So I'm just excited about it."

Under his new contract, DeKeyser will make more than twice his previous annual average of $2.187 million, even despite an 11-point drop-off in production last season, which he attributes to one glaring reason.

"This year my point total was down, I had 20 points, but led the D in goals, I had eight goals so I thought that was a pretty good accomplishment," DeKeyser said. "I didn't have any power-play time this past year so sometimes it's hard to pick up those extra points when you're not playing on the power play. Whether I'm on that or not it doesn't matter, I'm just going to do my role, five-on-five and penalty kill, and if I do get a chance on the power play I'm comfortable playing that as well. I don't know if I'll get to 40 or 45 points without playing the power play, but it's a possibility, that's for sure."

DeKeyser did hit a career-high eight goals this season, but is one year removed from his career high in points, when he hit 31 in 80 games.

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