General manager Ken Holland has informed Lang's agent, Petr Svoboda , the Wings will not be offering a contract to the potential unrestricted free agent. Lang can begin negotiating with other teams July 1.
In 81 games, Lang had 19 goals and 33 assists for 52 games, while averaging 16 minutes, 49 seconds of ice time. Arguably the Wings' most consistent forward his first two playoffs with the Wings, Lang slumped this season with eight points (two goals, six assists) in 18 games.
Still, Lang had one of the biggest goals of the playoffs for the Wings, scoring in the last minute against San Jose to force overtime in Game 4 and enabling the Wings to win on defenseman Mathieu Schneider 's power-play goal and even the series 2-2. The Wings eventually would win the series in six games.
Lang earned $3.8 million this season, the second-highest paid forward on the team behind Pavel Datsyuk ($3.9 million).
"With the salary cap, you can't bring back everyone," Holland said. "It forces you to make decisions."
Holland will meet with agents for Schneider and defenseman Danny Markov , and goalie Dominik Hasek this weekend at the NHL draft in Columbus, Ohio. Because of salary cap limitations, it's likely one -- or both -- might not return.