MVN - A Pittsburgh Penguins blog
The Confluence of the Three Rivers
Hossa departure shocks Penguins and their fans
Marian Hossa wants to hoist the Stanley Cup, just like every other hockey player.
He had said that since his arrival in Pittsburgh after his trade from Atlanta and he repeated that as he informed Penguins’ management that he would explore free agency.
In that respect, you simply cannot fault Marian Hossa for signing with the defending Cup champs, the Detroit Red Wings. I mean, who wouldn’t. The Wings only had two main unrestricted free agents, Andreas Lilja and Brad Stuart, and they both quickly re-signed. As they showed in the Cup Finals, their two-way game is very tough to beat, and adding Hossa to that mix will only make them more dangerous.
So if the primary objective for Hossa was kissing the Cup, it’s tough to go wrong with electing to sign with Detroit today with a one-year deal worth 7.4 million dollars.
It’s just the way that he did it.
GM Ray Shero and Penguins management reportedly offered Hossa a seven-year deal worth $7 million annually. A chance to be a long-time, major contributor to the team that he helped advance to the Cup Finals and will be Cup contenders for the foreseeable future, those still quite young Penguins. A chance for the Slovakian sniper to be regularly fed pucks from the best playmaker in the NHL, Sidney Crosby.
But Hossa ultimately decided today to disregard what his future could have been with the Penguins, and instead chose to select the here and now success with the Detroit Red Wings. Not only did Hossa reject the seven-year offer from the Penguins, but he agreed to only a one-year deal with the Red Wings.
The Red Wings could not offer Hossa a long-term deal, they have big money deals they must prepare for next season with beast forward Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen. Wings’ GM Ken Holland admitted that he freely thought the Wings didn’t have a chance to sign Hossa. But it was Hossa’s agent, Rich Winter, who is not Mr. Popular in Pittsburgh either now, who approached the Wings about offering a short-team deal for Hossa. It was only after that conversation that the one-year deal for Hossa was consummated.
I am not personally upset, per se, at Hossa, even though I freely admit that I was dead wrong in predicting he’d re-sign with the Penguins. However, I will say that Hossa fed Penguins fans with some pretty optimistic remarks after the Cup Finals ended, saying that he loved playing with the Pens in their Cup run, he’d didn’t need a huge deal and that he just wanted to play for a Cup contender.
And it’s for that reason that Hossa will soon realize that Pittsburgh sports fans don’t take kindly to their professional athletes leaving on other than honorable circumstances. Ask Barry Bonds. Ask Jaromir Jagr. You soon may even ask Ryan Malone. Hossa may have become a fan favorite in his short time in Pittsburgh, but that’s ancient history now.
Hossa had the opportunity to be a Penguin for a good portion of the remainder of his NHL career. He still might, who knows what could happen in this wacky NHL. He may very well be a free agent again this time next year, although if Shero does his job over the next couple of days there probably won’t be available cap room.
If Hossa kisses the Cup next year, I suppose it’ll all be worth it. But if he doesn’t, and even worse, if he gets injured, he may regret the decision he made today.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Opinion, Free Agency.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
THE AUTHOR
POLL
ARCHIVE
RECENT ARTICLES BY DIVISION RIVALS
RECENT PENGUINS NEWS
SPONSORS
10 Responses to “Hossa departure shocks Penguins and their fans”
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Hossa just replaced Bonds as the most hated sports figure in Pittsburgh.
But you think Pens fans will turn on Malone? I’m happy for him that he got overpaid elsewhere.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:38 am
I doubt it Steve, but let’s face it, he was only traded to TB after he rejected the Pens’ offer. I realize the Pens probably couldn’t afford him, but Pittsburgh fans are fickle.
Pens’ fans probably won’t boo him, but I doubt they’ll give him a standing O, either….
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I just don’t see why the fans got so attached to Hossa. He played like 30 games for them. I think it is their sense of entitlement they have because of the Sidney Crosby effect. Who cares what he said right after he battled 3 months with the Pens?? What do you expect him to say… “I just want to play somewhere else”. We all know he wanted to go the Wings at the deadline, but no way would Waddell have turned down the CRAZY deal Shero gave him. Even then EVERYONE said the Pens have little chance of re-signing with the Pens. Why should he sign with the Pens JUST because the fans will be pissed at him if he doesn’t. Last time I checked Hossa is the one who is making the decision about his life… NOT THE PENS FANS!!!
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
That’s actually quite a valid point Tom…
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Piss on Hossa, and good riddance.
You know what Tom, that’s exactly what I’d expect him to say, if he’d say anything. I’ve seen players less than him say, “I’m going to look at everything that’s in front of me, and pick whatever most makes me comfortable.”
I agree with you 100% that it shouldn’t be Pens’ fans that choose where he goes.
At the same time, I’d respect players a lot more if they just laid it out there.
Of course, what the hell do I know.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:01 pm
By the way Va…love what you are doing here…
July 4th, 2008 at 7:22 am
You know what, he gave the Pens everything he had from the moment he arrived and left everything on the ice, so I can’t fault him there. He also didn’t reject Shero’s offer because he got more money elsewhere, like most young and money hungry pro athletes, but instead so he could win a Title now while taking on a huge amount of financial risk!!! How many times do we as fans say that we love the college game because the kids play for the right reasons - love for the game and to win. Had he left for more money, no one would bat an eye and we would be considered just another money hungry pro athlete, but when he came to the Pens he played passionately to win a championship and would probably have taken Shero’s offer had he won this year. However, after seeing several of his own cup contentending teammates leave over the past month, that left a lot of doubt whether they could even get back to this level next year, whereas the Red Wings were able maintain practically their entire cup winning team, so on paper it had to look obvious which team gave him the best chance to win. Truth is he made his decision for the best and purest reason in sports - to win a championship - and not for more money.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Welcome to Detroit!
July 6th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I don’t think Pens fans should hold Ryan Malone in the same category as Hossa and Jagr as far as terms of departure. Malone at least had the sense to just not say anything to the press that would be misleading because he wasn’t sure what was going to happen. And he didnt make any “dying alive” remarks like Jagr did. Hossa should have just not really said anything. Nobody can honestly tell me that his half-truths weren’t misleading.
I worry that if he had been more straightforward, it wouldn’t have cost Shero valuable time up to and around July 1. Lucky for us, we have a smart GM and he made a pretty good recovery signing players after that, (in my opinion.)
July 8th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Mad at Hossa? Get a job.
He is a true hockey player through and through. He has passion for the game and the ultimate prize. Money can’t buy you a legacy, unless you want to be remembered for being an overpaid underachiever (underachiever is a label that is usually assigned to players that get large contracts, whether they deserve them or not.) Moreover, a chance to wear a winged wheel is enough for most hockey players, period, but Hossa will have a legitimate shot at sipping from Lord Stanley’s cup, with a proven TEAM that is basically entirely intact. This, instead of being a complimentary piece to the amazing Sidney Crosby, on a team that is somewhat shaken-up after the first week of free agency.
Sidenote: Don’t get me wrong, because I was just as much a Crosby fan as the next guy, but let his play and actions speak for themselves, don’t cram him down our throats. Unlike the rest of the sporting world, Hockey fans don’t need to see a Reebok commercial to know who can play. The kid gets more camera time than Ryan Seacrest. Personally, Marc-Andre should be legitimately pissed because he played amazingly all playoffs and got less attention than Sid’s “whispy” adolescent moustache.
The Wings are a team that can share the wealth. You can watch a game at Joe Louis Arena and see people wearing jerseys with Draper, McCarty, Maltby, Cleary, Franzen, Holmstrom, and Kronwall on the back, in addition to the ones wearing Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Lidstrom and Yzerman. You see press conferences with Kris Draper and Chris Chelios and Darren McCarty, its not just the Lidstrom, Z and Pav show.
Also, Ken Holland and his staff are absolutely masterful in their craft. The bottom line is: if Hossa wants to stay here, Holland will make it work, and Marian’s teammates will help make it work. If you think he’s only in Detroit for one season, don’t be surprised if you’re sadly mistaken.
Leave a comment