Hawks steal Hossa and Kopecky from Detroit!
The Blackhawks just plundered the Dead Things, signing Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky away from Day-twah. Hossa is signed for twelve years!
On the down side, Martin Havlat is gone, having been given the news that the Hawks weren't interested in giving him more than a one-year contract and consequently going to the most lamely-named team in professional sports, the Minnesota Wild. Will somebody please teach those people in Minnesota the difference between a noun and an adjective?
Goalie Nicolai Khabibulin, meanwhile, was also let go, and signed with Edmonton. This puts the Hawks in the perilous position of having a French first-string goaltender. Not French-Canadian, mind you. French. As in France. Defending the goal.
To be fair, Cristobel Huet showed signs of brilliance in the last couple of games of the Conference Finals, when he subbed for the injured Habby. Of course, he also stunk up the joint in the crucial Game Four at the UC. Still, with more regular work, perhaps he'll fill the bill. Youngster Corey Crawford figures to be an adequate backup, at least some day; maybe "some day" will come next year. I still don't know enough about young Finn Antti Niemi (sounds like something Judy Garland would shout in a tornado before dropping a house on a wicked witch) to know whether he will turn out to be a long-term solution at a position about which I'm a lot more concerned than the Hawks seem to be.
The Hawks also signed tough New Jersey center John Madden, who will take Sammi Pahlssen's place. Sammi has gone to Columbus.
There is no question that Hossa is a substantial upgrade over Havlat, and Madden over Pahlssen. And while I'm sorry to see Havlat go, there is no question that the Hawks' chances of hoisting the Stanley Cup next year just got a big, big boost.
Psychologically, this has to hurt in Detroit- especially since Hossa left Pittsburgh last year to come to the Wings ironically because he thought he'd have a better shot at a Stanley Cup in Hockeytown. You have to wonder what his decision to sign a twelve year deal with the Blackhawks says after he turned down the Octopus Abusers' offer of a renewal on his one-year deal.
My concerns are twofold. First, next year several of the Hawks' young stars will become free agents. This deal makes no sense if it means not hanging on to Versteeg, Toews, Kane, Keith and Seabrook. And secondly- again- I'm not sold on the Hawks' situation in goal. I'm thinking multiple Stanley Cups here, and Huet is not my dream number one goaltender for such a scenario. Neither of our two young prospects at that position, Crawford and Niemi, strikes me as a Stanley Cup caliber netminder, either. Of course, I really don't know much about Niemi, other than that he's from Finland.
Still, if there is any question that Rocky Wirtz is serious, it's gone now. Let the sour grapes in Detroit begin!
Comments
Seems like a lot of teams have goalie issues. Sure, we have a #1 guy, but I don't think he's a Stanley Cup guy. Perhaps a 2-week tourney winner, but a grueling 6-8 week run for the Cup? Heck no! He's got mental issues that only bringing back Warren Strelow from the dead will solve.
Who knows... perhaps next year I'll be wearing red and this time rooting for the Hawks. I'm a little leery though because they signed Hossa. He is a major player, but the team he leaves wins the Cup... what does that mean?
I have to admit that you guys do seem to have front office issues, though. You've let some awfully good players get away in the past few years. The Sharks are a long way from hopeless, though. It can be turned around by the right GM- if you get him in place soon enough, that is.
I'm an unabashed reactionary when it comes to post-seasons in professional sports. All of them are too long. Hockey seems to me to be the one game whose nature somewhat mitigates the ill-effects, with baseball the least able to bear it with integrity; after all, in baseball literally anything can happen in a short series, and often does. I fully expect MLB to decide any year now to throw out the results of the season entirely and decide the participants in the playoffs by lottery. Good for attendance, you know.
Never heard the Hossa syndrome described quite like that. The way they're talking about it in Chicago is that the team he's on always loses in the Finals- which for us would be a step up!