The Hawks pulled two players away from their hated rivals Wednesday, signing winger Marian Hossa (right) and center Tomas Kopecky. Both players were with the Detroit Red Wings last season.
Hossa was the biggest fish in the NHL free agent pond. The 29-year-old scored 40 regular-season goals to lead the Wings, who beat the Hawks in the Western Conference Finals before losing to Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup Finals. Hossa signed a 12-year, front-loaded contract, during which he will be paid an average of $5.2 million per season.
Kopecky, a defensive-minded player, received a two-year deal.
In additional news, the Hawks lost goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to the Edmonton Oilers. The 36-year-old somehow managed to get himself a four-year deal. The Hawks will go into the 2009-10 season with Cristobal Huet as their top goaltender. It's no secret I'm not a Huet fan, but I can't blame the Hawks for not wanting to give Khabibulin multiple years at this stage of his career.
Hossa's signing also likely spells the end of Martin Havlat's time in a Blackhawk uniform. Havlat had his best year for the Hawks last season, but his injury history makes it hard to justify giving him a deal for multiple years. The Hawks are better off signing Hossa, who has had fewer injuries. As an added plus, the Red Wings just got a little weaker as well.
Kopecky figures to take the role of third-line center. That likely means Samuel Pahlsson, also an unrestricted free agent, will sign somewhere other than Chicago.
As a Hawks fan, it's really refreshing to see the team pursuing top free agents. This never would have happened during the tenure of "Dollar Bill" Wirtz. My my, times have changed. I'm looking forward to next hockey season, especially with the mediocre baseball season we are going through right now.
Marian Hossa was way overpaid for his service, and for what, to steal a player from a hated rival. The Red Wings are tickled pink today. This is a player that was soft in the entire playoffs, and really did nothing when it mattered. It was like that in Pittsburgh last year too. He is not a playoff player. Sure he can do good things in the regular season, but so what. Players are defined with what they do in the postseason.
To me, Khabibulin's departure was more of a story than the raiding of the Red Wings. Now I am not a fan of his, but he is a lot better than Huet, and I thought Khabibulin had a good postseason overall. The Hawks better hope Huet has something left in him.
I doubt the Red Wings are tickled pink. They offered Hossa a lucrative deal, which he declined.
Hossa had 26 points in 20 playoff games for the 2007-08 Pittsburgh Penguins. He was a major force during that postseason. This playoff year, he was not as good. But it's totally unfair to say he can't play in the playoffs. Your memory is very short.
Hossa is a legit 40-goal man, something the Hawks didn't have last year. At $5.2 million per year over the life of the deal, he's not overpaid.
One great postseason does not mean much. Where was he during the Senators great days? He was often criticized for not showing up in the playoffs when he was playing for them.
One great postseason season doesn't mean much? Baloney.
It means he's capable of getting it done. The Hawks just have to put him in a position where he can be successful. He'll certainly have plenty of help.
If "not showing up in the playoffs" means leading your team in playoff scoring, like Hossa did in both 02-03 and 03-04, then I agree with you Timberwolf. He also trailed only Alfredsson in scoring during the 01-02 playoffs. If anyone wasn't "getting it done" for Ottawa, it sure wasn't Marian Hossa. So, he did not just have ONE great postseason. He did all he could to try to help the Senators advance when he was with the team.
And, the days he was with Ottawa weren't necessarily their greatest days, by the way. The year the Senators went to the Cup Finals, he was already long gone playing for Atlanta!
My god, give it up already, Timberwolf! You really have no clue!
I must have missed it when the media over in Ottawa and message boards with the Senators calling out Hossa for his playoff failures, HEATHERINCHICAGO. Why don't you go tell me why the Red Wings let him walk without even giving him an offer? Where was he in the playoffs this season for the Red Wings?
How come not one team even bother making him an offer? I thought the Blackhawks bid against themselves.
And please stop with the excuse Hossa's days were not his great days in Ottawa. Ottawa was a team that underachieved in the playoffs, and Hossa was part of it.
The Red Wings gave him an offer:
http://www.thefourthperiod.com/news/det090630.html
Type "Hossa rejects Detroit" as a Google search, and you'll find several outlets reporting that Detroit made Hossa an offer.
A great night for me.
The Wild take a player from a team I hate the most in Havalat, which was a great signing. I think he will make the offense a better one, and he should do well under a system which will be offense-first.
Then, I get to see the Pistons take away Ben Gordon from Da Bulls. Enjoy that brief playoff appearance last year, which Da Bulls were fortunate to even make it a 7-game series against the Celtics, who was missing Garnett.
Oh, JB. I hear you said the Wild will be the worst team in hockey next year. What exactly are you talking about? They have good offense, and I like their goaltender. They did not make the playoffs last year because of injury issues. I don't think they are going to be a Stanley Cup contending team, but they should be competing for a playoff team. For a team that is allegedly the worst team in hockey, the Wild went 3-1 against Da Hawks last year.
As usual, Timberwolf, you display an alarming inability to read.
I never said the Wild will be the worst team in hockey. They are, however, a bad team.
Maybe you can raise a banner in your mom's basement this weekend. It will read "Won season series against Hawks, 2008-09." I think that would be a fitting tribute to the greatness that is the Minnesota Wild.
How are the Wild a bad team?
They missed a playoff spot by two points.
That's not a bad team. I don't think they are a great team. They are probably a C team at best, which is competing for a last playoff spot. That's not call being a bad team. I think they got some offensive weapons that can be productive under the new style of hockey that the Wild are going to show this year with new management. They are not an elite team, and I don't think they are an above average. An average team is the best way to describe the Wild. To say, it's a bad team is an insult to the Wild. A bad team would be the Islanders or the Kings.
You don't even know anything about the Wild let alone anything about Minnesota sports, and you couldn't even name a player or two on the Wild even if you tried. BTW, the Wild made three playoff apperances in their short history so I am content. They made the Western Conference Finals in the third year of their franchise so it's hard for me to get upset. That's more than what the Hawks have accomplished in the years I followed hockey.
Oh, the Minnesota Timberwolves went 2-0 against Da Bulls this year, and it was awesome to see the Gophers beat the I-L-L-I-N-I.
The Gophers have beaten the Illini once in the last 22 meetings. Enjoy that one victory.
I only follow the Bulls casually, but this is the second time today you've attempted to taunt me by bringing up the Bulls. I honestly do not care.
It's not real hard to name a player or two from the Wild. Backstrom and Koivu. There. I'm done.
I love the Sun-Times back page today.
You win some, and you lose some in stealing a player from Detroit and losing a player to Detroit.
That was a great cover.
Timberwolf wrote: "You don't even know anything about the Wild let alone anything about Minnesota sports, and you couldn't even name a player or two on the Wild even if you tried."
Ohhh, Timbertroll, YOU don't even know anything about the Blackhawks, let alone anything about HOCKEY, so stop even trying to engage in a HOCKEY discussion!!!
That was by far the best intelligent statement you ever made in a conversation you had with me, HEATHERINCHICAGO. I am very proud of you.
Have a good weekend!
No wonder why Dave Tallon was fired.
Our guy Marian Hossa is going to be out for several months after a shoulder surgery. For all intents and purposes, his first year as a Blackhawk will be nonexistent. Yeah he can go play in the final three months of the season, but how effective can he be? It's hard for an athlete to just play well all of a sudden after an injury. It does not work that way.
The Red Wings are the best organization in sports, and rarely, they never make mistakes so they clearly knew what they were doing with Hossa.
The Red Wings wanted Hossa back. They made him an offer. You continue to deny this fact.
Secondly, Hossa will be back in November. He'll have plenty of time to round back into form before the playoffs. I'm really not concerned.
It actually could be a blessing in disguise. Hossa's injury could force the Hawks to hold on to Patrick Sharp. They've been shopping him for some reason. They would have to get something awful good in return for me to be OK with a trade of Sharp, who is one of their most reliable two-way forwards.
So what? What does it mean the Red Wings made an offer? It may have been nothing more than PR reasons. I don't recall Ken Holland being ticked off or upset that Hossa got away from him.
How do you know if he is back in November? What if the shoulder still hurts then? There is no guarantee if that heals.
It matters that the Red Wings made an offer because you're touting them as being some sort of geniuses for not resigning Hossa. They wanted to retain him, but couldn't. You're making it sound like Detroit is delighted that Hossa is gone, and that's simply not the case.
How do I know that he'll be back in November? Well, the doctors have said there will be a four-month recovery period. By my count, November is four months from now.
Who cares if there is "no guarantee?" There's no guarantee I won't get hit by a bus tomorrow. Nothing is ever guaranteed.
Anytime I can go take a shot at The Great White Hope and Marian Hossa, it's a great thing.
Today, I found out Da Hawks have tried to cheat in signing Hossa. If that's the case, the NHL should do whatever it takes to punish them, but we all know it's not going to happen. Certain cities can get away with it, and certain cities can't.
Since it's Chicago, the NHL is not going to go risk pissing off viewers and all. Everyone loves the Chicago Blackhawks.
If a team like the Devils or the Wild do something like that, it's the death penalty.
You've already assured us that the Hawks made a terrible move by signing Hossa. I don't know why you would be concerned about the Hawks "cheating" to acquire Hossa, given that the player is question apparently isn't worth a damn.
My issue is the league should not have a double standard when it comes a team cheating. If the Wild pulled this type of stuff, they would get the death penalty similiar to what the Timberwolves dealt with Joe Smith years ago.
1) You have no proof that the Blackhawks cheated.
2) There are no death penalties in pro sports, only fines and forfeiting of draft picks.
3) The Timberwolves are in the NBA, not the NHL.