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http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/2302

Anyway, rather than subject myself to DocHoliday doing the internet equivalent of writhing around on the floor with his hands over his ears screaming "IT ISN'T TRUE" repeatedly, I think I'll find something else to do. To all of you who laid the Stanley Cup loss at Hossa's feet: enjoy the crow.

Wow haha that's hilarious!* As unfunny as it is inapplicable (I used one line of all-caps).

I honestly don't care how one line of text is received (not it's content, but it's form) by a bunch of anonymous people on the internet. Tell me more about an online conversation "ending in tears," though. Do you really take this that seriously? Really?

You're so desperate to save face that you're exploiting whatever iota of doubt that still exists as a last-ditch effort to one-up me. Maybe instead of faulting me for introducing some information that vindicates Hossa, you should come to grips with the fact that he left the team and that you've now lost your scapegoat. The only person acting like a child is the one whose arguments resemble those of a child. Hint: it's not me. Going forward, he's a pearl of wisdom: adults can use capital letters to.

Oh golly gee gosh darn let's assess my use of capital letters!

The final refuge of child-like argumentation: "no definitive proof." No, I'm not a doctor, and I haven't inspect his shoulder myself. I haven't spoken to a doctor either. I do have an article from a reliable source. That more than carries my burden. Grow up, then get back to me. Maybe you'll develop some common sense along the way.

HAHA YOU EDITED YOUR POST TO REMOVE THE PART WHERE YOU SAID IT DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE PLAYOFFS. HAHAHAHAHA Regardless, t's called common sense. Or do you think he tore his rotator cuff resting during the brief off-season he's had so far? He certainly hasn't started his training for the new year.

Yes, he did, and it was an inane assumption. Attribute Hossa's word choice to the fact that he doesn't speak English all that well. What's xmachine's excuse?

YOU PUT ME IN MY PLACE? HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA We disagreed over Campbell's utility. I conceded he's overpaid. Then I reminded you that the Wings are dedicating nearly five million dollars of cap space to dead weight, including Holmstrom, Draper, Maltby. You didn't reply. The thought of you putting ANYONE in their place is beyond hilarious. It makes me wonder about your mental wherewithal. Then again, you can barely speak the language (His choice of words "are" bad? Did you drop out of grade school?). It's only fitting that your weak grasp on the language precipitated this thread in the first place.

For God's sake. Yet another asinine post from xtrememachine. "A hockey town. Not "Hockey Town" or "THE hockey town," but "a hockey town." Chicago most certainly qualifies now, based on its ability to sell out a 20,000-seat arena for every home game last year. One of the dumbest threads I've ever seen here.

Jesus, this Snazzy kid is one of the biggest tools I've ever encountered. The whole tough guy act can't mask his total incompetence, unfortunately. You referred to Hossa as a cancer, which is an absolute joke of a statement. When Hossa gets 30+ more points than Franzen next year, I'll be sure to laugh at you.

For his own sake, I hope Snazzy isn't a day over 14 years old.

"Hossa is probably the main factor destroying their organization, and he will be the cause that Hawks' future is going to be f***ed. What a cancer, glad he's gone, cause that could be us right now..." Maybe you're the one who should give reading a shot.

Calling Hossa a cancer is a new low by LGW standards. None of his teammates in any organization have ever had anything bad to say about him, save for Max Talbot, who can't help but run his mouth and score his 20 regular season points. The organization may be classy, but you couldn't locate class in a Ritz Carlton. Stop acting like a spurned child. Christ, the pathetic behavior of some of you here never ceases to amaze me.

It wasn't a bad investment, as I pointed out. Please, put more effort into following along. They had the money and Khabibulin played well. They likely wouldn't have made it as far as they did in the playoffs without him. What'd they gain from that? Invaluable experience. You know, the kind of experience the Penguins relied on to beat the Wings in the Finals. Hossa will play well beyond $5.2m per season. 40 goals alone prices him beyond that. Huet is a number 1 goalie, so he deserves to be paid what he is. As I said, Campbell is probably overpaid, but he could be moved if push came to shove. So what it boils down to is that your evidence of "Tallon's bad signings" is one player. Congratulations, you suck at this. Meanwhile, Holland has saddled the Wings with Holmstrom, Maltby, and Draper. Enjoy that geriatric minus line. They might put up 10 even-strength points between them this year!

They had the money to sign Khabibulin, so they did. Did the Hawks have any cap issues because of it? Nope. That's why this "xtrememachine" (incredibly cool name, by the way - how you took the "e" off the beginning of "extreme" is awesome. Maybe you could do some alternating caps too so people know what a badass you are) couldn't make a decent point to save his life.

Have they faced any cap issues due to those signings? One may have been ill-advised (similar to keeping Holmstrom, Draper, Maltby, and every other aging liability on the Wings who prevented Hossa from re-signing here), but they haven't put them up against the wall. Khabibulin is gone - irrelevant point. Huet is their number 1 goalie - again, do you have a point? Campbell is the only overpayment, and he could probably be moved if need be. If Gomez could find a suitor, Campbell certainly could. All you have is your misguided prognostication about a subject you don't fully understand. Do you honestly think Tallon didn't consider the implications of the Hossa signing on his ability to retain Kane, Toews, and Ketih? Nevermind, thinking seems a bit beyond your abilities. I wouldn't expect anything less from a guy who criticized the decision of a 30-year-old who has bounced around the league like a pinball to ensure he stays with one team for the rest of his career. Oh wait, you probably thought it'd be a good idea for a 30 year old to sign another short deal. That's advisable. "Here, Hossa: risk another career-ending injury and the subsequent tens of millions of dollars you'd lose because of it to ensure you like your new coach." You're a dolt. Do you need some lessons in argumentation? I could teach you how. It's a wonderful ability once you get it down. I could even show you were you can view a team's cap figures all on your own so you don't embarrass yourself like this in the future!

The amount of illogical and downright stupid statements in this thread is astounding. First, there's no way the Blackhawks would've signed Hossa without more assurance than you can fathom that they'd still have the money to re-sign Kane, Toews, and Keith when their contracts come due. I'm sure most of you consider yourselves smarter than Dale Tallon (laugh out loud), but in situations like these, you check to the power. It's more than conceivable for the three of them to be signed given their cap situation, regardless of the expected cap drop (although forecasts of that have been mitigated recently). From what I've heard, all three love Chicago and want to stay there. Detroit's not the only team in the league that can convince its players to take hometown discounts. Second, as hard as most of you try to discount Hossa's worth by pointing to his mediocre finals, it doesn't change the fact that he had a 40-goal season despite playing over four fewer minutes per game than he did in Atlanta or Pittsburgh, multiple strong games in the Columbus and Anaheim series, and essentially closed out the series victory over the Blackhawks (his two best games of the playoffs were games 4 and 5 against the Hawks). Put any other Eastern team in the Finals and I'm sure Hossa plays well - it was an enormous amount of pressure on him from the media scrutiny placed on his decision to leave the Pens for the Wings. One player does not make or break a series anymore. Hossa's not Gretzky, just as Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, or any other marquee player on the Wings is not Gretzky. NONE have the ability to singlehandedly take a game over. Third, as for the 12-year contract that most of you are suggesting will have him in a Hawks uniform until he's 42, there's no way in hell he plays that long. He'll probably retire at 37 or 38 and the contract will come off the books. Lest you've forgotten, it's the same kind of deal that Franzen and Zetterberg signed. Or did you think the favorable cap rules only applied to Wings? I get that impression from the narrow sightedness of many of you. Fourth, there's the inevitable fact that the Wings are aging while the Hawks are young and thriving. Fight it tooth and nail, but the Wings' stars are much older than the Hawks' stars and the Wings don't have anyone in the system with the talent of a Kane or Toews to carry the torch as Lidstrom, Rafalski, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg get older. That's the price of success - lower draft picks make it harder to replenish talent. When Lidstrom retires after next season, the Hawks will be the cream of the Central Division crop, not the Wings. I don't blame Hossa one bit for the decision he made. The Hawks have a brighter future than the Wings. I'm sure there will be a flurry of attempts to refute me that I probably wont even bother to read, but have at it. Take your homer glasses off for a second and see things as they really are instead of as you'd like them to be.

More YoungGuns butthurt. Explain the 92- and 100-point seasons he had in Atlanta. Sure sounds like a go-to guy to me. I swear, YoungGuns must cry himself to sleep every night while cursing Hossa. It's all he does here. It's a sickening obsession.

Flames, easily. Lidstrom is definitely showing his age, Rafalski has always benefited from Lidstrom's presence, and Ericsson still has a lot of development left. Bouwmeester is the best defenseman right now of the bunch. Regher is probably the most underrated stay at home defenseman in the league. Phaneuf has dropped off a bit, but we'll see what he can do with another stud on his line. The Flames are absolutely stacked on the blue line.

No, he didn't "get" 5.2, he took 5.2. There's a world of difference. He could've taken big bucks to go somewhere like LA, but that's not what he's about. Enjoy your sour grapes.

YoungGuns with his daily dose of butthurt.

I know you're one of the Hossa Hate Bandwagon members, but to suggest that Havlat is a better playoff performer than Hossa is ludicrous. Hossa averages more points per game in the playoffs and has more experience. He's also twice the backchecker that Havlat is.

You're trying to make something out of nothing. He doesn't have bad knees.