OFFICIAL: 12y, $62.4m makes Hossa a 'Hawk

[gcom007 1,465]

Hossa left for the money, plain and simple. If he had an ounce of integrity, he would have stepped up, said he didn't produce in the Finals, and sign with Detroit to correct his weak play when it counted.

No, not really.

[talex 1]

It's a wonder they managed to dominate the league in 07-08 with such pitiful depth.

They have young guys coming up who can provide depth. Sammy/Huds and an aging Maltby/Draper I would not put to much faith in. 07/08 was last year and the aging guys are now 2 years older and 2 long seasons older. Unless there is a significant change Homer is no where near his old self, Maltby is almost useless and Draper cannot grind like he used to. I disagree with those who think Sammy and Huds are depth is all I was saying, Sammy will probably be gone anyways because more than what he makes now would not be a good deal and as an energy guy Huds would be nice to keep but his size makes him a liability at times in the playoffs... Helm is great, Leino to me is highly questionable and the word is Abby is in GR for another year....

Where is the great depth looking to this coming season, especially now loosing a top 6 forward?

[Guest Shoreline]

Actually I am a little sick to my stomach right now.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Well too long of a deal IMO, but this is Great for Chicago. They still need to address their biggest issue and that is their blue line. THey should have gotten Ohlund and they would be pretty solid. Additionally, if they would have landed a solid D man like Ohlund, they should get rid of Campbell and get a real Defensemen.

That is a potential SCC! Hawks 2011 or 12?

It was good while it lasted!

No one in the league is going to take Campbell's bloated 8 mill a year contract on. The cap's going to drop next year and Campbell is grossly overpaid.

[titanium2 867]

Hossa left for the money, plain and simple. If he had an ounce of integrity, he would have stepped up, said he didn't produce in the Finals, and sign with Detroit to correct his weak play when it counted.

Wow... Self-righteous.

[OsGOD 3]

It's time for "plan B" Mr. Holland....

he is doing plan "B" much like Dumars and curry.... he knows he made a mistake last season signg hossa as it turned out worse than the year before... so he is just going back to the successful team he had pre-trojan hossa

I am glad Kenny can admit when he is wrong and fix it!

[skyphoenix 153]

This is great for Hossa. He said he wanted the Zetterberg/Franzen deal and it seems like it really worked out for him. This Blackhawks team is dangerous and adding a player like Hossa only adds to that. 12 years for him might be a little long but that is what he wanted. I wish him the best in Chicago.

[Silent Hill 3]

Not a lot of math wizards here. It's not just the 1.2 million "cap hit number" that Hossa gets. Watch:

Chicago offers $62 million over 12 years

Detroit offers $40 million over 10 years

Hossa gets an additional $22 million . Twenty Two MILLION dollars. US Dollars. 22 million of them.

He'd have been an idiot to turn that down, I don't care how much he enjoyed playing in Detroit.

[Louisville 112]

Agreed. I'd like to see any of us turn down a 20% raise at work over principle.

Now are we comparing someone who makes 35K a year or someone who makes millions? I would hope at a certain point I could take a step back and see what's important when I'm already living comfortably.

Now it is Hossa's decision, but that doesn't mean I have to respect him for it.

[A.T.Hun 0]

Hossa lost $ coming to Detroit, hoping to win a Cup. He (along with others) s*** the bed in the playoffs. Now he got his money. Good for him. I hope he picks it up again in future playoffs (but not against us) and salvages his rep.

Agreed. And hey, anything that adds to the Wings vs. 'Hawks rivalry is all good in my book.

[titanium2 867]

Not a lot of math wizards here. It's not just the 1.2 million "cap hit number" that Hossa gets. Watch:

Chicago offers $62 million over 12 years

Detroit offers $40 million over 10 years

Hossa gets an additional $22 million . Twenty Two MILLION dollars. US Dollars. 22 million of them.

He'd have been an idiot to turn that down, I don't care how much he enjoyed playing in Detroit.

But if he had integrity...

[mic04101 0]

thank god they took kopecky too

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

Where is the great depth looking to this coming season, especially now loosing a top 6 forward?

Hudler and Flip will be a year better, Leino and Helm are on board. Abdelkader will be the first guy up in case of injuries and will definitely be up for the playoffs.

Hossa is gone, perhaps Sammy; Homer's effectiveness is questionable.

Maltby and Draper have not been very good for several seasons, so that's doesn't divert from the status quo.

It's not really that different from a year ago or two years ago. In my mind the biggest bother is Homer's decline versus losing Hossa.

[lets go pavel 2]

I enjoyed having Hossa, but for a couple reasons this actually kinda makes me happy ...

1. If 12 years 62M is what it would have taken I'm glad we passed. Don't get me wrong, Hossa at 5 per year cap hit is a great deal, but 12 years ... I think we would be knee-capping ourselves in the long run.

2. We've won it without him, and we can do it again. Plus, I really prefer being the underdog/having something to prove. With Hossa we'd never be in that position, now we've already got people on here picking us for 2nd in the central.

3. Kane, Toews, Hossa, Campbell, Keith, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Lidstrom, Rafalski ... what a great 8 games every year this will be!

4. He's taking Kopecky with him ...

[Johnny Law 15]

Sad to see him go but it wasn't going to work here. Sucks he ended up with the Hawks but they are royaly screwed when these guys all come due.

I still think it was better that we let him walk.

[Scotty 0]

Blackhawks can have there playoff choker, now Ken Holland can go and try and re- sign Hudler and Samuelsson. Still don't know how Chicago is going to be able to re- sign Toews and Havlat though.

[AtomicPunk 296]

This is why Ken Holland is Ken Holland and every other GM is scrambling to be like him.

He looks long term and has a plan.

He already knows the next move he is going to make and doesn't just throw money at problems.

[titanium2 867]

Hudler and Flip will be a year better, Leino and Helm are on board. Abdelkader will be the first guy up in case of injuries and will definitely be up for the playoffs.

Hossa is gone, perhaps Sammy; Homer's effectiveness is questionable.

Maltby and Draper have not been very good for several seasons, so that's doesn't divert from the status quo.

It's not really that different from a year ago or two years ago. In my mind the biggest bother is Homer's decline versus losing Hossa.

More time for Fil in the top-6. He may not score as many goals, but he has to get used to top-6 minutes at some point.

[OsGOD 3]

Now are we comparing someone who makes 35K a year or someone who makes millions? I would hope at a certain point I could take a step back and see what's important when I'm already living comfortably.

Now it is Hossa's decision, but that doesn't mean I have to respect him for it.

you are comparing them too... you are assuming what is "comfortably" living to a 35k person is living "comfortably" to a Millionaire. I doubt Bill Gates would pass on an opportunity to earn more...

Your lifestyle and comfort level is all relative to how much you make and what you are used to... why take less and give up some comfort when you can have more?

Edited July 1, 2009 by OsGOD

[matt198913 932]

It appears that they are looking to load up for one year. If it doesn't work, than they have really handcuffed themselves

[stevie12 5]

I am going to have the biggest smile on my face when Stuart or Kronwall absolutely hammers hossa next year. Hopefully he doesn't get up. Maybe he can ask Havlat how that feels.

Edited July 1, 2009 by stevie12

[Drake_Marcus 890]

They have young guys coming up who can provide depth. Sammy/Huds and an aging Maltby/Draper I would not put to much faith in. 07/08 was last year and the aging guys are now 2 years older and 2 long seasons older. Unless there is a significant change Homer is no where near his old self, Maltby is almost useless and Draper cannot grind like he used to. I disagree with those who think Sammy and Huds are depth is all I was saying, Sammy will probably be gone anyways because more than what he makes now would not be a good deal and as an energy guy Huds would be nice to keep but his size makes him a liability at times in the playoffs... Helm is great, Leino to me is highly questionable and the word is Abby is in GR for another year....

Where is the great depth looking to this coming season, especially now loosing a top 6 forward?

Filppula and Hudler are definitely going to be better players this season than they were in 07-08. It's the opposite of the Draper/Maltby situation. Yeah Drapes and Malts are ready for the glue factory, but they weren't exactly critical pieces of the 07-08 championship (aside from Draper's faceoff skill).

I'm surprised you find Leino highly questionable when he was playing at 0.7ppg during his call-up this season. 25 year old players are expected to get better, not regress. Leino is a former MVP and was amazing in the AHL playoffs. He lead the AHL in scoring for two rounds, with 13 points in the first 6 games.

Leino's ready to step up.

I know you're obsessed with Hudler's size making him a 'liability at times in the playoffs', but he's consistently remained in the top 6 Wings in scoring both in the regular season AND the playoffs. His size sucks, but he doesn't need to be huge to be effective. Hudler is a critical part of our second PP, especially when Dats and Z are together on the 1st PP. The only forwards on this team with better hands than Hudler are Datsyuk and Zetterberg.

Once again, Hudler's 25 years old and already hit 57pts and 23 goals.

As great as Helm is, people need to understand that he's not our savior when it comes to scoring. His playoff numbers, where he was at his very best, average up to 14 goals and 3 assists. That's 17 points. Those 14 goals look great, but are highly unlikely over an 82 game season considering how short Helm's scoring stretch was and the fact that he'll be facing his first full NHL season. Helm really impressed, but his role won't be as a top 6 forward. If he can put 10 goals and 5 assists up in his rookie season we can be very happy with that... that's a excellent rookie season for an energy forward. If we're lucky he might surprise us all and replace Sammy's production.

Now that Hossa's gone the Wings need Hudler's 23 goals and 57 points to stay in Detroit. If Leino has a 57 pt rookie season he'll be a Calder candidate, so we can't count on that.

Face it man, you'll have to either settle for Hudler or find the Wings a 6'2" 60 point guy who'll sign for less (good luck).

[Mitchmac33 103]

idk if anyone has posted this yet but hossa is gonna make (if my math is right) around 7.4 million through the first 8 years, that's gonna make it hard to retain toews kane and keith

[Louisville 112]

you are comparing them too... you are assuming what is "comfortably" living to a 35k person is living "comfortably" to a Millionaire. I doubt Bill Gates would pass on an opportunity to earn more...

Your lifestyle and comfort level is all relative to how much you make and what you are used to... why take less and give up some comfort when you can have more?

Because I don't need three houses and five cars?

I'm sure the pigs from Enron had the same mindset you got there too.

Edited July 1, 2009 by Louisville

[tdinc 45]

see ya Hossa, Thanks for nothing.