Whether the Detroit Red Wings can re-sign Johan Franzen and Marian Hossa remains to be seen, but they are making a strong pitch to retain both forwards.

Contract talks with Franzen and Hossa are intensifying, as general manager Ken Holland met Friday with agents for both players at Joe Louis Arena.

Each has expressed a strong desire to remain in Detroit.

The Red Wings have several players who will become free agents after the season and not much salary-cap space for 2009-10, so both Franzen and Hossa must take less money than they could get on the free-agent market in July.

Even at a discounted price, the Red Wings would need to cut salary in the off-season to sign both players.

"I can only sign one of them before July 1 (due to a "tagging rule" in the collective bargaining agreement) and the others will have to wait until after," Holland said. "I'll go with the first one where there's a deal I like."

The Red Wings would like to sign Franzen for $4 million per season and have discussed deals that range from five to eight years.

If Hossa re-signs with Detroit, it might be in the same $6 million-a-year range that Henrik Zetterberg received in his new contract.

Hossa believes the 12-year, $73-million pact Zetterberg signed helped him get a better gauge of his own market value. He made it sound as if a deal with the Red Wings would eventually happen.

"I know what I kind of want, I want to stay for a long time," Hossa said. "This is great to be part of. We'll see how the negotiations will go, what Ken and Ritch (Winter, his agent) tell me. It could be a few days, a few months or after the end of the year."

Hossa, who has scored two goals in each of his past two games and leads the team with 28, said contract talks can be distracting.

"I've been through it last year (with Atlanta and Pittsburgh) and tried to not focus on it. It is a little bit of a distraction," Hossa said.

"I told my agent, 'Don't bug me with that stuff. That's your part.' My part is to be productive on the ice and help my team win games."

Winter also represents forward Tomas Kopecky, whom the Red Wings have indicated they would like to re-sign.