Red Wings sign Marian Hossa

[PRStoetzer]

Originally Posted by wingfanjim

Howard is only 24 years old. Don't give up on him yet.

I haven't.

It's great. The Wings have three solid goaltending prospects in the organization in Howard, Larsson, and McCollum. No reason to sign Ryan Miller. No money for it and there's ton of talent waiting in the "Wings"

Of course, as an MSU grad, I'd love to see Ryan Miller in a Wings uniform, but it's just not realistic.

[Bruce Banner Ad]

Originally Posted by wingfanjim

Howard is only 24 years old. Don't give up on him yet.

He's not going to make the club next year, and he's only got one option left. Unless Ozzie suddenly retires after next year, you're not going to seeing Howard in goal for the Wings, ever.

[PRStoetzer]

Originally Posted by Bruce Banner Ad

He's not going to make the club next year, and he's only got one option left. Unless Ozzie suddenly retires after next year, you're not going to seeing Howard in goal for the Wings, ever.

He can back up Osgood in 2009-10.

[newlander]

Yeah, he can back up Ozzie in 09-10 IF he starts to play better this season. Saw him twice last season: came away unimpressed. This season is HUGE for him IMO.

[Pablo Fanque]

Originally Posted by newlander

doesn't mean squat. Gotta have the desire and keep that edge. I'd like to see a wily old vet like Drake that hasn't won the cup signed, give them another reason to really go balls out next season: especially if Dallas retires.....just a thought.

Hossa's a vet and hasn't won a cup, has he?

Here's why Hossa say's he's coming to Detroit and what he hopes to accomplish

"It was a really tough decision for me to make," Hossa said. "When I compared the two teams, I felt like I would have a little better of a chance to win the Cup in Detroit."

"I could get more money somewhere else, but I was looking for the best chance to win the Stanley Cup."

Isn't that sufficient motivation? Why do you want an old player that covets a Stanley Cup when you get a premier player in his prime that has the same desire?

Hossa's leaving a lot of money on the table to get the cup. The fact that he's not past his prime, like a Dallas Drake-type, shouldn't change the hunger factor.

[Lochgelly]

I just wanted to add that this is awesome...other than Crosby...as I stated in another thread....Hossa was the only player on the Penguins that was any good...the rest were just hacks...

And now the Red Wings got him!!! WooHoo! Yeah! Baby!...We're gonna dominate !

Some might say that the Red Wings are the Yankees of the NHL...no that's not true...cause the Red Wings Win!

[In a pylon st8ofmind]

Can somebody give me a breakdown on Hossa's game and how well he fits in with the wings.

I wasn't really watching the Pens other than Malone, Crosby, Geno (funny nickname for Evegeny) and Fleury. Besides generally being happy when they failed.

[Pablo Fanque]

Originally Posted by st8ofmind

Can somebody give me a breakdown on Hossa's game and how well he fits in with the wings.

I wasn't really watching the Pens other than Malone, Crosby, Geno (funny nickname for Evegeny) and Fleury. Besides generally being happy when they failed.

This is a very general comment, but Hossa is often called a "power forward," which, to me, means he is a pretty good forechecker and scorer. I think "power forward" is someone like Shanahan as opposed to Gretzky.

Also, he is thought of as a great two-way player. I ck'd google to see if he was ever a Selke candidate. I don't know that he was formally, but I've seen quite a few hockey bloggers say he's that type of player and should have been up for the trophy.

[TX Sparty]

Originally Posted by Spartan4ever

I always have mixed emotions about these signings. On paper if looks great and makes the Wings stronger, but I worry that the guy might disrupt the chemistry of the team or end up being a bust. Here's to hoping everything will turn out for the good.

How can you have mixed emotions about gaining one of the top 10 forwards in the game?

The chemistry argument is way overblown, especially for an offseason pick up. He's got all training camp and all season to get used to playing with the rest of the Wings. They're all professionals anyway. I've never heard of Hossa being a locker room cancer. And even if he is, the Wings aren't an organization that tolerates it.

[PRStoetzer]

Originally Posted by TX Sparty

How can you have mixed emotions about gaining one of the top 10 forwards in the game?

The chemistry argument is way overblown, especially for an offseason pick up. He's got all training camp and all season to get used to playing with the rest of the Wings. They're all professionals anyway. I've never heard of Hossa being a locker room cancer. And even if he is, the Wings aren't an organization that tolerates it.

Hossa is a team guy. He's good friends with fellow Slovak Tomas Kopecky.

[In a pylon st8ofmind]

Nevermind, 2 years ago he had 100 reg season points and he had 12 goals and 26 points this stanley cup playoffs... Damn.

POWER forward is exactly what the team needs. Seems like the crease is poisonous to almost anybody except Homer.

[Pablo Fanque]

Originally Posted by TX Sparty

How can you have mixed emotions about gaining one of the top 10 forwards in the game?

The chemistry argument is way overblown, especially for an offseason pick up. He's got all training camp and all season to get used to playing with the rest of the Wings. They're all professionals anyway. I've never heard of Hossa being a locker room cancer. And even if he is, the Wings aren't an organization that tolerates it.

Agreed.

This ain't the NBA or the NFL where superstars have egos that hurt team chemistry. With some obvious exceptions (Lindros comes to mind) hockey players are pretty professional in their approach to the game and ability to get along well with each other. From what I've seen of hockey players over the years, even the best of the best tend to be relatively humble, easygoing fellas.

[Shooter McGavin]

Did anyone read the columnist in the Pitt Post Gazette who writes about Hossa to Detroit? He comes across pretty bitter in my opinion. You know.... why go to Detroit? Why would a 29 year old go there? Pitt has a great chance to win the Stanley Cup. If I knew how, I would post parts of the article.

[In a pylon st8ofmind]

Originally Posted by Shooter McGavin

Did anyone read the columnist in the Pitt Post Gazette who writes about Hossa to Detroit? He comes across pretty bitter in my opinion. You know.... why go to Detroit? Why would a 29 year old go there? Pitt has a great chance to win the Stanley Cup. If I knew how, I would post parts of the article.

Hossa must see something many don't in Detroit

Have you seen that commercial where the guy is encamped on the sofa with his woman, hostage to some tear-jerker chick flick, when he's interrupted by a ring tone alerting him to cell phone photos of his buddies, all busily gambling and canoodling and partying in ...
Detroit?
Honest to God.
Well, Marian Hossa saw it, or at least that's the most plausible explanation for yesterday's events, because Sidney Crosby's right winger with the Penguins signed a one-year free-agent hockey contract for $7.4 million with the Detroit Red Wings, who beat the Penguins in the Stanley Cup final last month. Mr. Hossa settled for up to $74 million less than he might have gotten on a multiyear deal from any number of breathless suitors, I guess because, like our man in the commercial, Mr. Hossa doesn't want to lament that, given the available choices, he could have "done the 'D.' "
Of course, that's not the way Mr. Hossa put it.
"When I looked at it, I wanted to have the best chance to win the Stanley Cup, and I felt Detroit is that team," he said in an evening conference call from somewhere in Europe. "I knew I could get more somewhere else. But of all the teams I could choose from, at the top there were two teams [Detroit and Pittsburgh], and at the end of the day I had to make a decision, and I felt best about Detroit.
"Pittsburgh has a great team, great people, great organization. I had to compare the two teams, and there's a little better chance to win the Cup in Detroit. I had a great time with Sid and playing on the power play with Geno [Evgeni Malkin], but the team in Detroit is something special. I know it's a short term, but we never talked about a one-year [deal] with Pittsburgh. We just talked about a long-term deal. I totally believe Detroit has the kind of team that can win it again."

[Pablo Fanque]

Originally Posted by st8ofmind

Hossa must see something many don't in Detroit

What a ****ing tool that writer is.

He thinks or at least suggests that:

1. Hossa did not go to a better club
2. Hossa had a better chance at the cup next year with Pittsburgh
3. Detroit's numerous problems have any relevance to whether or not a premier NHL player would play HOCKEY here (note the sarcasm about Detroit's gambling and nite-life)
4. There was only a play (or two) difference between the Wings and the Pens in this year's SCF
5. Detroit won't be the best team in the NHL again next year
6. Hossa was a reason that the Pens lost to the Wings

This guy must have watched a different Stanley Cup Finals than the rest of us. He doesn't know jack squat about hockey.

[Keezy]

Originally Posted by Pablo Fanque

What a ****ing tool that writer is.

He thinks or at least suggests that:

1. Hossa did not go to a better club
2. Hossa had a better chance at the cup next year with Pittsburgh
3. Detroit's numerous problems have any relevance to whether or not a premier NHL player would play HOCKEY here (note the sarcasm about Detroit's gambling and nite-life)
4. There was only a play (or two) difference between the Wings and the Pens in this year's SCF
5. Detroit won't be the best team in the NHL again next year
6. Hossa was a reason that the Pens lost to the Wings

This guy must have watched a different Stanley Cup Finals than the rest of us. He doesn't know jack squat about hockey.

It's amazing how some sportswriters have jobs. This guy is off his ****ing rocker.

[Pablo Fanque]

Originally Posted by A-Keezy

It's amazing how some sportswriters have jobs. This guy is off his ****ing rocker.

He's just writing what the Pens fans want to read, which is Hossa must be an ******* for wanting to play for someone other than Pittsburgh.

[newlander]

I hear 'ya Pablo. Hossa is a great signing and in his prime: all that is a given, and I DO think he wants a Cup in the worst way or he would've signed a long term whopper type deal elsewhere. I meant having another veteran GRINDER like Drake would be good if he retires. If not, I suppose Drake, Helm, Drapes, Maltby and/or Mac are abrasive enough. Just looking for a little more toughness along the boards come playoff time. No coincidence Dallas signed Sean Avery (the manic depressive idiot) for the sole purpose of annoying skilled players like ours into needless penalties. This, despite the fact they already have another idiot in Steve Ott that does the same thing, but can't score to save his life. I'm rambling, I'll stop now!

[Pablo Fanque]

Originally Posted by newlander

I hear 'ya Pablo. Hossa is a great signing and in his prime: all that is a given, and I DO think he wants a Cup in the worst way or he would've signed a long term whopper type deal elsewhere. I meant having another veteran GRINDER like Drake would be good if he retires. If not, I suppose Drake, Helm, Drapes, Maltby and/or Mac are abrasive enough. Just looking for a little more toughness along the boards come playoff time. No coincidence Dallas signed Sean Avery (the manic depressive idiot) for the sole purpose of annoying skilled players like ours into needless penalties. This, despite the fact they already have another idiot in Steve Ott that does the same thing, but can't score to save his life. I'm rambling, I'll stop now!

I think the NHL has changed. Skill seems to beat toughness these days.

Brooks Orpik was hitting everyone that stepped on the ice in the SCF, but that didn't seem to take the Wings off their game. Clearly he got under their skin a bit, but it didn't make any difference in the end.

I'll take the skilled guys over the goons any day.

[newlander]

No argument there, we don't need Downey anymore IMO. Just not enough room with all the young talent we have. But the grinders I mentioned above are very much needed in the playoffs to do the dirty work in the corners and along the boards. Not all the skilled guys can stand up physically all season and the playoffs to do that. The game is DEFINATELY geared toward the skilled guys now in the regular season. But in the playoffs........the grinders are worth their weight in gold.

[Pablo Fanque]

Originally Posted by newlander

No argument there, we don't need Downey anymore IMO. Just not enough room with all the young talent we have. But the grinders I mentioned above are very much needed in the playoffs to do the dirty work in the corners and along the boards. Not all the skilled guys can stand up physically all season and the playoffs to do that. The game is DEFINATELY geared toward the skilled guys now in the regular season. But in the playoffs........the grinders are worth their weight in gold.

Grinders are great. Physical players like Maltby, Draper, Holmstrom and Drake are nice players to have, don't get me wrong. But guys like Draper and Holmstrom are only really valuable because they can also score. Draper still has wheels and moves up/down the ice well enough to be in just about any play. I guess I'd make the distinction between very physical skill players (which is how I understand Hossa is generally regarded or the way Datsyuk played in the playoffs), grinders (Maltby) and goons (Ott, maybe.)

Give me one "grind line" and 2 or 3 skill lines.

[MHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by st8ofmind

Can somebody give me a breakdown on Hossa's game and how well he fits in with the wings.

I wasn't really watching the Pens other than Malone, Crosby, Geno (funny nickname for Evegeny) and Fleury. Besides generally being happy when they failed.

First, Hossa is an elite goal scorer. Good with the puck and a good backchecker (plays d well for his position). He is 6'1" 210 but really isn't an overly physical player but he will go to the net and is strong on his skates. If the Wings had any weakness, it was goal scoring from a winger and he fits that role perfectly. I was hoping for Sundin b/c I never dreamed that Hossa would take a 1-year deal but honestly he is a much better fit for the Red Wings plus he is much younger. Really, just about a perfect fit.

Nothing is ever certain in hockey but the Wings are the strongest contender for the Cup that I can remember, certainly post-lockout. This move is a 10 out of 10. the only negative is that it sets up fans for a huge disappointment if the Wings do not win the Cup again.