Martin Havlat Twitter/ Sun-Times Article

[RedFX 48]

Originally found this Sun Times Article via the Freep. Basically echoed alot of the uncertainty and skepticism of the Hossa deal.

Chicago Sends Ben Gordon to Detroit for Marian Hossa

I'm a very casual hockey fan, but signing the 27-year old Marty Havlat for 6 years, $30 million certainly seems like a better deal than getting 30-year old Hossa for 12 years, $62 million. Again, I don't know too much about hockey, so I'll ask you puckheads out there to convince me that I should trust Dale Tallon. But on the surface - at least to me - it just doesn't seem like a slam dunk for the 'Hawks.

The bigger issue now is whether the 'Hawks still have enough money under the cap to retain young stars Patrick Kane, Jonathon Toews, and Duncan Keith, all of whom are set for big raises after this upcoming season. I'd hate to see any of those guys go.

HOWEVER. The Article referenced a very vague and critical Twitter post from one Martin Havlat....

Excited to be in Minny where I was welcomed and appreciated by management. The real story about what happened in Chicago to come out.

Twitter Link

Hmmm...............

[HawksFan4Life 0]

He wanted a long term deal, but we would only give him one year as a chance to try and resign Kane, Toews, and Keith.

[Zetts 236]

He wanted a long term deal, but we would only give him one year as a chance to try and resign Kane, Toews, and Keith.

...so instead you give Hossa a 12 year deal. Am I the only one that finds that logic a little faulty?

[Opie 308]

Hossa >> Havlat

Hossa 12 years 62.4 m << Havlat 6 years 30 mil (numbers from article)

Same cap hit (basically) one 12 years for a 30 year old, one 6 years for a 27 year old?

If Bowman is behind it there has to be merit to it!

Edited July 2, 2009 by Opie

[Snazzy 0]

Hossa >> Havlat

Hossa 12 years 62.4 m << Havlat 6 years 30 mil (numbers from article)

Same cap hit (basically) one 12 years for a 30 year old, one 6 years for a 27 year old?

If Bowman is behind it there has to be merit to it!

I fail to see the merit behind it when they mortgaged their entire future and will not only lose some of their core players, but will lose some of their depth as well. It's not a good day in Chicago if you're a Hawk fan, that's for sure.

I'd be PISSED if Holland put the Wings in this situation where we could lose either Datsyuk, Zetterberg or Lidstrom. Chicago just don't seem to have it "together" and Bowman is really starting to show his age.

Edited July 2, 2009 by Snazzy

[Opie 308]

I fail to see the merit behind it when they mortgaged their entire future and will not only lose some of their core players, but will lose some of their depth as well. It's not a good day in Chicago if you're a Hawk fan, that's for sure.

I'd be PISSED if Holland put the Wings in this situation where we could lose either Datsyuk, Zetterberg or Lidstrom. Chicago just don't seem to have it "together" and Bowman is really starting to show his age.

I am not saying there is any merit behind it, just that with Bowman behind it two things are going to happen, it is going to work, as in their is a very friendly cap hit to trade if need be to make room for others. I would be way more worried about Campbell and Huet contracts before I would hossa's.

The other way it works is that Bowman is losing his marbles and this destroys the Hawks.

I am on Bowman's side until I see it bomb in his face, but I agree if Holland put the Wings up against the cap for 12 years with an aging forward and the Wings lost the core young players I would be bulls***.

Detroit (except this past year, because you can't pass on last years Hossa contract) always seems to be set up for Vets leaving or on expiring contracts when the young up and comers are scheduled to get paid.

For instance Lids next season, he will sign for less and alleviate all the cap hell from the one year Hossa signing. I imagine if Lids contract were a year or two longer, Holland would have passed on Hossa, cap hell for 4 years is a lot worse than 2.

[RedFX 48]

He wanted a long term deal, but we would only give him one year as a chance to try and resign Kane, Toews, and Keith.

But it doesn't make sense. Chicago said they weren't going to be overaggressive because of their RFA situation over the next two years. If you're going to sacrifice Havlat, who was BIG part of getting your team out of the gutter, to make sure you have enough for Toews, Kane, and Keith that's understandable (and what was widely the consensus). But why would you then turn around and sign another big name for slightly higher cap hit, but for 12 years? What happens if 6-7 years down the road, Toews and Kane become a Gretzky-Messier duo and they both demand 7-8 million a year? Because you have so much already wrapped up in Hossa (who could easily be passed his prime or injury prone at this time) you may not be able to afford both without having to lose substantial parts of the team.

Don't get me wrong, Hossa will be a great contribution to the team. But it doesn't make sense with the strategy Tallon said he had coming in.

[RedFX 48]

And I'm wondering what the "real story" is

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

And I'm wondering what the "real story" is

They weren't willing to offer the injury-prone Havlat twelve years worth of opportunities to spend on IR. On a strict player-vs-player comparison, Hossa was a no-brainer. How that all fits into the cap remains to be seen.

[Snazzy 0]

And I'm wondering what the "real story" is

The real story is Tallon is putting all his eggs in one basket and hoping for the best. They are building for a one year opportunity to win the cup even though it is going to sacrifice their future at any cost. Problem is, they just gave up any siginificant chance they had by not addressing the goaltending situation. Huet just isn't going to be able to carry this team to the finals. I love Bowman, but I think it's time he retires. I'm glad he's not in the Wings org anymore.

I have a feeling Kane or Keith (or both) won't be a Hawk after this year.

[Opie 308]

The real story is Tallon is putting all his eggs in one basket and hoping for the best. They are building for a one year opportunity to win the cup even though it is going to sacrifice their future at any cost. Problem is, they just gave up any siginificant chance they had by not addressing the goaltending situation. Huet just isn't going to be able to carry this team to the finals. I love Bowman, but I think it's time he retires. I'm glad he's not in the Wings org anymore.

I have a feeling Kane or Keith (or both) won't be a Hawk after this year.

Chi's biggest problem, almost all of their D is offensive, save Kieth, and Huet is mediocre at best.

With 4 men in the O zone and one D and Huet back that is bad news. Real bad news!

They are almost turning into the lightning, only saving grace right now is there young D which they may lose next season.

They should have gone after anyone, hell take a shot at Clemenson or Conklin, who is there back up currently?

Maybe they trade Hossa to Bos for Rask and Kessel! Just kidding!

[Nicklin3011 0]

The real story is Tallon is putting all his eggs in one basket and hoping for the best. They are building for a one year opportunity to win the cup even though it is going to sacrifice their future at any cost. Problem is, they just gave up any siginificant chance they had by not addressing the goaltending situation. Huet just isn't going to be able to carry this team to the finals. I love Bowman, but I think it's time he retires. I'm glad he's not in the Wings org anymore.

I have a feeling Kane or Keith (or both) won't be a Hawk after this year.

Snazzy you are so jealous it's not even funnny. First of all Campbell, Byfuglien, Sopel, or Huet will be gone by next summer. Either 1 or maybe even two of them. Secondly, Tallon and both Bowmans addressed that they have enough money and space to resign Kane, Toews, and Keith. They are all RFA's not UFA's. It is pretty much garunteed They will all be Hawks at least this time around. Kane and Toews are due each about 4 to 4.5 million and same for Duncan Keith. Take a look at Pittsburgh everyone siad OHHH NOO WAY DO THEY RESIGN CROSBY, MALKIN, FLUERY AND STAAL, but they did. These guys all want to win and Chicago gives them the best oppurtunity to do that. Not to mention the commercials and endorsements they are getting here will even sweeten the deal. Toews is a life long Hawk we all know this..Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane will be hawks for a long time too. Basically they are RFA's and will be signed long before May or June comes around, so go cry about that or something or keep thinking "THE HAWKS CANT AFFORD ALL THOSE PLAYERS!!!!!" Well Detroit can afford Franzen, Zetterberg, Datsuck, Lidstrom, and Hossa all at once..I think we can do the same much like you and Pittsburgh.

[Pat 44]

They're gonna trade Hossa after the season, mark my word...

It was the only way for them to have a shot at winning the cup this year is to sign him long term to lower the cap hit.

They will lose Kane or Toews if they keep Hossa, it's not possible to keep them both.

Hossa a wing July 1st, 2010.

[wiszo1mt 7]

Snazzy you are so jealous it's not even funnny. First of all Campbell, Byfuglien, Sopel, or Huet will be gone by next summer. Either 1 or maybe even two of them. Secondly, Tallon and both Bowmans addressed that they have enough money and space to resign Kane, Toews, and Keith. They are all RFA's not UFA's. It is pretty much garunteed They will all be Hawks at least this time around. Kane and Toews are due each about 4 to 4.5 million and same for Duncan Keith. Take a look at Pittsburgh everyone siad OHHH NOO WAY DO THEY RESIGN CROSBY, MALKIN, FLUERY AND STAAL, but they did. These guys all want to win and Chicago gives them the best oppurtunity to do that. Not to mention the commercials and endorsements they are getting here will even sweeten the deal. Toews is a life long Hawk we all know this..Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane will be hawks for a long time too. Basically they are RFA's and will be signed long before May or June comes around, so go cry about that or something or keep thinking "THE HAWKS CANT AFFORD ALL THOSE PLAYERS!!!!!" Well Detroit can afford Franzen, Zetterberg, Datsuck, Lidstrom, and Hossa all at once..I think we can do the same much like you and Pittsburgh.

see you next season? and if all that is true with what u said... whos ur goalie in the '10-'11 season?

Edited July 2, 2009 by wiszo1mt

[Lovin Jiri Fischer 147]

Hossa a wing July 1st, 2010.

I would rather have Kane to be honest.

[Opie 308]

Snazzy you are so jealous it's not even funnny. First of all Campbell, Byfuglien, Sopel, or Huet will be gone by next summer. Either 1 or maybe even two of them. Secondly, Tallon and both Bowmans addressed that they have enough money and space to resign Kane, Toews, and Keith. They are all RFA's not UFA's. It is pretty much garunteed They will all be Hawks at least this time around. Kane and Toews are due each about 4 to 4.5 million and same for Duncan Keith. Take a look at Pittsburgh everyone siad OHHH NOO WAY DO THEY RESIGN CROSBY, MALKIN, FLUERY AND STAAL, but they did. These guys all want to win and Chicago gives them the best oppurtunity to do that. Not to mention the commercials and endorsements they are getting here will even sweeten the deal. Toews is a life long Hawk we all know this..Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane will be hawks for a long time too. Basically they are RFA's and will be signed long before May or June comes around, so go cry about that or something or keep thinking "THE HAWKS CANT AFFORD ALL THOSE PLAYERS!!!!!" Well Detroit can afford Franzen, Zetterberg, Datsuck, Lidstrom, and Hossa all at once..I think we can do the same much like you and Pittsburgh.

HUGE, Massive, Large, gargantuan, titanic difference, Chi just signed him for 12 years, Det and Pitt did it for a year and pit did it for 3 months.

You have a contract that very well could have a NTC in it (no one knows yet) for 12 years at 5.2 a year.

What if no one wants Hossa because he fails in the post season, or gets hurt and is really never the same guy.

Or he could go on a tear and lead the Hawks to the cup singlehandidly and then there is no way the Hawks get rid of him.

Making Hossa work for one year =/= making it work for 12 years!

How do you know those guys are life long Hawks?

They have been on the team what 3 seasons now?

EDIT: No one will want Campbell and Huet when the cap goes down, especially if that high priced of a D-man is basically your 4th forward on the ice!

Edited July 2, 2009 by Opie

[VM1138 1,921]

Hossa's contract is actually pretty reasonable, and tradeable if it doesn't work out.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

It strikes me as totally unfeasible that Chicago's GM would have offered Hossa this deal and not been aware of the upcoming cap crunch, or that he was and accepted it anyways. I'm not familiar with the Hawks' cap situation at all so I can't comment, but there must be a workaround or else he wouldn't have pulled the trigger.

[Opie 308]

Hossa's contract is actually pretty reasonable, and tradeable if it doesn't work out.

Yes but they would have to move another contract to sign all 3 of those RFA's.

Hossa's deal being reasonable is the bad thing about this, basically they signed him to a great number for another team. They can not keep him at that number and hope to keep the 3 RFA's, even with Madden's deal only being one year, the two of them combined are going to be the cap hit for one of Toew's or Kane. Keith will be a little less, but not by much.

They will have to find away to dump Hossa and one of Campbell or Huet to keep all 3.

OR the 3 will have to take very long term cap friendly contracts which as already pointed out would be disastrous mistake for them, they would be signed right through their prime to a low end contract when they could be worth more a lot more than 1 mil at age 32-34. They will likely (as is the pattern with most youngsters) sign a 6-8 Mil deal (which IMO they are worth) for 4-6 years. Then sign the cap friendly long term deal!

[TheCaptain19 49]

I would rather have Kane to be honest.

duh

[gcom007 1,465]

I am not saying there is any merit behind it, just that with Bowman behind it two things are going to happen, it is going to work, as in their is a very friendly cap hit to trade if need be to make room for others. I would be way more worried about Campbell and Huet contracts before I would hossa's.

The other way it works is that Bowman is losing his marbles and this destroys the Hawks.

I am on Bowman's side until I see it bomb in his face, but I agree if Holland put the Wings up against the cap for 12 years with an aging forward and the Wings lost the core young players I would be bulls***.

Detroit (except this past year, because you can't pass on last years Hossa contract) always seems to be set up for Vets leaving or on expiring contracts when the young up and comers are scheduled to get paid.

For instance Lids next season, he will sign for less and alleviate all the cap hell from the one year Hossa signing. I imagine if Lids contract were a year or two longer, Holland would have passed on Hossa, cap hell for 4 years is a lot worse than 2.

to the bolded...

[RedFX 48]

Keep in mind Versteeg is also a RFA and due a reasonable raise

[HawksFan4Life 0]

...so instead you give Hossa a 12 year deal. Am I the only one that finds that logic a little faulty?

Well, Hossa is not as injury prone as Havlat. Papers are hailing him as an upgrade over Havlat. Havlat is one of the most underrated players in the game, but Hossa is one of the best in the game, period.

[Snazzy 0]

Snazzy you are so jealous it's not even funnny. First of all Campbell, Byfuglien, Sopel, or Huet will be gone by next summer. Either 1 or maybe even two of them. Secondly, Tallon and both Bowmans addressed that they have enough money and space to resign Kane, Toews, and Keith. They are all RFA's not UFA's. It is pretty much garunteed They will all be Hawks at least this time around. Kane and Toews are due each about 4 to 4.5 million and same for Duncan Keith. Take a look at Pittsburgh everyone siad OHHH NOO WAY DO THEY RESIGN CROSBY, MALKIN, FLUERY AND STAAL, but they did. These guys all want to win and Chicago gives them the best oppurtunity to do that. Not to mention the commercials and endorsements they are getting here will even sweeten the deal. Toews is a life long Hawk we all know this..Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane will be hawks for a long time too. Basically they are RFA's and will be signed long before May or June comes around, so go cry about that or something or keep thinking "THE HAWKS CANT AFFORD ALL THOSE PLAYERS!!!!!" Well Detroit can afford Franzen, Zetterberg, Datsuck, Lidstrom, and Hossa all at once..I think we can do the same much like you and Pittsburgh.

This post is so full of fail that I don't even know where to begin. I'm jealous that Tallon is ruining the Chicago Blackhawks future? Lol. okay! Personally I'm glad that Hossa is gone because he would have ruined Detroits future as well. To me, he wasn't worth keeping for the cost of our role players that... which is a big part of winning success.

Holland had all those players signed because our big name boys weren't due for a raise last year, we had the money to burn for a 1 year deal with Hossa. Now that everyone got their raises this year, Wings couldn't afford Hossa at 4 million, let alone 5.2 million without losing our major components in the depth department. What makes you think Chicago is the exception (not to mention the cap is expected to decrease next year).

Chicago will have nearly 38 million in 6 players. Let me repeat, Chicago will have damn near 38 million (80%) of their cap money in only 6 players if they resign Kane, Toews and Keith. Not to mention all the depth players that they'll be forced to lose. Like I said, yesterday was a sad day if your a Blackhawks fan. Tallon just mortgaged the future for a one year opportunity to win the cup, while completely disregarding the main issue, the goaltending issue.

If that makes me jealous, then obviously you know s*** about hockey. Wings have the a very bright future for many-many years to come and they're just going to keep getting better.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Snazzy you are so jealous it's not even funnny. First of all Campbell, Byfuglien, Sopel, or Huet will be gone by next summer. Either 1 or maybe even two of them.

Yeah, you'll have no problem unloading Campbell's bloated, ridiculous contract. And it'll be no problem in the year the cap contracts for the first time. Same goes for Huet. You'll probably have to either buy out Huet's contract or pray he has the best year of his career this season.

Secondly, Tallon and both Bowmans addressed that they have enough money and space to resign Kane, Toews, and Keith. They are all RFA's not UFA's. It is pretty much garunteed They will all be Hawks at least this time around. Kane and Toews are due each about 4 to 4.5 million and same for Duncan Keith.

Wow. You really have no clue what Toews and Kane are worth, do you? Being an RFA doesn't mean you get paid whatever the hell the team feels like paying you. If anyone's going to get an offer sheet it's a player like Toews or Kane.

Take a look at Pittsburgh everyone siad OHHH NOO WAY DO THEY RESIGN CROSBY, MALKIN, FLUERY AND STAAL, but they did.

This coming season will be the Penguin's first with a full price Malkin, Crosby, Staal and Fleury. They've yet to feel the crunch.

These guys all want to win and Chicago gives them the best oppurtunity to do that. Not to mention the commercials and endorsements they are getting here will even sweeten the deal.

That's not even remotely true. Chicago is far from being the best team in the league and has no history of winning at all. They're a great, young upcoming club. That hardly makes them a player's best opportunity to win.

Chicago isn't some magical mecha of advertising and endoresment. They can get those anywhere. Do you think Reebok gives a s*** if Kane's playing in Chicago or New York? Hell no. And I'm sure every city has a local dentist or optometrist looking for a hockey star to do a commercial for them.

Toews is a life long Hawk we all know this..Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane will be hawks for a long time too. Basically they are RFA's and will be signed long before May or June comes around, so go cry about that or something or keep thinking "THE HAWKS CANT AFFORD ALL THOSE PLAYERS!!!!!" Well Detroit can afford Franzen, Zetterberg, Datsuck, Lidstrom, and Hossa all at once..I think we can do the same much like you and Pittsburgh.

This coming year is Detroit's first where their stars are being paid their fair price. Zetterberg and Franzen were the deals of the decade the past two postseasons. Now they're getting their fare share.

This year is your chance to get a shot at the cup while paying Toews, Kane and Keith peanuts. Next year you have to pony up. That's what happens when you get the privilege of drafting lottery picks for a decade- they end up costing you a lot from RFA age on.