General Manager Jay Feaster won't wait around until after the season to begin exploring ways to keep Ruslan Fedotenko in a Tampa Bay uniform. "The reality is, if we wait until the summer, the end of the season, you're dealing with a tighter time frame," Feaster said. "And I think the tighter the time frame, the closer the time frame is to July 1, it changes the dynamic. "Because if the player's not getting exactly what he wants from you, I think the player says, 'I'll just wait. Why not wait?' And obviously, at that point, the player knows exactly what his year has looked like, he knows where he fits in, in his mind. I think with this new collective bargaining agreement, it almost demands that if you want the player, you have to start talking when you're permitted to, which in this case is January."