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Hossa puts Cup dreams ahead of cash windfall

ERIC DUHATSCHEK

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 2:00 AM EST 04/07/08

When the dust settled at the end of two wild days of free agency, the rich just got a little richer ...Read the full article

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  1. R Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: What's wrong with this picture for the Red Wings that now actually applies for a number of NHL clubs ?

    The payroll of the team is growing...

    The attendance is shrinking...

    Deja vu? I seem to remember something like this happening before...

    What really happens when an irresistable force meets an immovable object anyways... stay tuned to find out.

    Cheers
  2. D M from Canada writes: Not only are the other teams crying... but I bet Hossa's agent is as well. Just think how much money HE lost when Hossa took a lot less money for only one year.

    I often wonder how much pressure the agents put on the players to take a higher amount instead of playing where they would rather. I know these agents are rich too, but they must be drooling over the money as well.
  3. Sean O'Reilly from Kitchener, Canada writes: The best thing as a fan of this team is its not some of the ridiculous deals that have been going around. The wings payroll is high yes, but no contract is stupid like Campbell in Chicago.

    ........the wings are in it every year because of its great culture, Hossa's comment's only reinforce that the wings organization is second to none.
  4. Jay D from Canada writes: Unfortunately for Marian I doubt the Wings can win the cup again next year. I think that there are other teams that can compete with the Wings who didn't play hockey until June last season that will be fresher next spring. It is very difficult to slog through two consecutive long seasons. Especially given that very few new players are coming in there will be few new warm bodies to use. A good example from last year is the Ducks who looked tired an uninterested come playoff time despite having a very solid defense corp that most people thought would carry them at least to the conference final.

    Still a great signing for Detroit.
  5. Dave Miller from Canada writes: I can't believe I am standing up and applauding Marian Hossa! Amazing. I've been waiting for a player to take a pay cut to play for a team he wants to play for....I thought that era was passed. Way to go Hossa!
  6. Maxwell Maxwell from Canada writes: Ah, Eric... hoisted on your own petard! Just yesterday you wrote a level column about the crazy money being thrown around, only to be followed by today's contradictory column. When the headline says a player forgoes a windfall, we read the fine print to learn that he will, in fact, earn 7.5 million dollars. Unbelievable! How will Marian ever make do - the mind boggles at the sacrifices he must make to hoist the Cup. Given the sullied business of hockey, that cup is surely tainted, and the journey less noble. But hey, "greed is good in the new NHL". (If I sound cynical, I am. The vibe of hockey has changed for me. The worm has turned.) My 11 year - old son, who is not a hockey player nor fan, was watching the frenzy on TV with me. His uninformed, casual observation was "Dad, I think hockey players are greedy. The don't even care about the team...." I think the economics are such that the average passionate (loyal?) fan will slowly become disenfranchised, alientated, skeptical, jaded, disconnected with the sport whose heroes play "for the love of the game". The next generation of fans will have little to identify with a game whose stars prostitute themselves out to the highest bidder. Why settle for a 7 year deal when you can get 8. Why settle for 25 million to stay with the team that drafted you when the competition will give you 26 million. The game seemed a little more pure and honest when guys like Sittler and Gainey were squaring off.
  7. R Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: Maxwell Maxwell:

    I agree.

    It's not like Hossa is the next Mother Theresa for Gawd's sake.

    This whole free agency period (while likely meant to bring excitement to the NHL) has really cheapened it IMHO...

    $16 million for Sean Avery, a guy who didn't finish high school and works at Vogue magazine, was the contract that left me feeling a bit "disenfranchised, alienated, skeptical, jaded...

    BTW In your post above, what does that sentence mean "for the love of the game ? "

    Cheers
  8. Spencer C from Canada writes: OMG what a saint!
    He ONLY took $7.8 million.
    Wow, talk about sacrifice.
    The fact that this is news shows how out fo touch with reality the NHL has become.
    I'm really hoping some teams start to file for bankruptcy to prove just how unsustainable this business model is.
  9. bilbo baggins from Canada writes: ha ha, exactly. He only got 7.4 million. These reporters have to crank out stories every day. Kind of dilutes the quality.
  10. John O'Meara from At A Bay, Canada writes: Gotta laugh at how cranky some people are. Salaries in other pro sports are way higher. Hockey $$ are chump change compared to the NFL and the NBA. Hockey wasn't purer when Gainey was playing, the owners were just better at shafting the players...
  11. EJ Ravensbud from Canada writes: Eric, must be getting paid a whopping salary if he thinks 7 plus million dollars is not a windfall. NHL hockey is not in the same league as the NFL and MLB. It pretends to be big league by vastly overpaying average players who would barely make the American League if there were only 12 teams. 12 teams with a 60 game schedule, October to March would make for reasonable hockey. Come to think of it I remember seeing this about 50 years ago. Heck, Sid might even make one of the 12 teams!
  12. Daniel Sturgis from Morocco writes: What shocks me is it was a cup chasing decision. He was on with a serious contender in Pittsburgh, a young team that can only improve. Yet he signed with the team they lost the cup to. Sweet irony would see Pittsburgh hoisting the cup next season!
  13. Jeffrey Biggs from Hamilton, Canada writes: It's because he played in Pittsburgh last year that he picked Detroit. He saw, far better than most casual fans, exactly how much better the Wings are than any other franchise in the league. The fact that the Wings signed two Penguins (who you think would know better than most how close the two teams are) for less than their market value says a lot about how close the Pens are to winning.
  14. Ed Long from white Rock, Canada writes: An athlete who passes on more money for a one year shot at a championship with a serious contender is making a smart high stakes
    move to increase his value and, let's not forget, to eventually retire with
    a championship ring.

    The Wings play chess.

    Everybody else plays marbles.
  15. Ed Long from white Rock, Canada writes: The Pens are the Sid Show and he might deliver a championship as did Lemieux.

    The Wings are Scottie Bowman team concept, very similar to successful Euro teams. Bowman studied Euro teams and used role players for his multiple championships in Montreal and Detroit. Gainey, whom Tikhonov called the best player in the world, and turning Yzerman into a checker and team leader were typical Bowman exercises.

    Zetterburg is another Bowman style project.

    I believe roles players and Euros are more comfortable and perform at a higher level in the Bowman style organization. The other organizations have predominately failed to bring these players to championship level.

    Hossa in Detroit is a natural.
  16. a m from Edmonton, Canada writes: "The whispers out of Edmonton, where Winter is based..."

    When I first glanced at that, I thought he was dissing our climate.
  17. Dave The Rave from Ottawa, Canada writes: Hossa is one smart hockey player. The money may seem absurd to us, but we forget one skate blade across the jugular, one headfirst slam into the boards, one spear in the spleen, one well placed chop across the legs, and one butt end in the eye can wreck these mens' lives. How much money is too much for an NHL star? That amount doesn't exist, especially when the gazillionaires who play NHL owner get richer as Joe Average Fan stays mired in mortgage payments and credit card bills. Marian wants to win a Cup. He's bet on the best odds in the NHL right now. And if he doesn't get his name on the silver chalice, he's got more than enough to retire anytime and anywhere he pleases. He, and every other player lucky enough to make it to this level, deserve nothing less.
  18. bilbo baggins from Canada writes: true enough Daniel Sturgis
  19. R Miller from Halifax, Canada writes: The Wings could be very sorry when the IIHF and Russian superleagues start to be able to compete with NHL salaries especially if league revenues start to drop on this side of the Pond...

    Might this also be a reason why Hossa opted for a short contract instead of a long one?

    No, it's simply because Hossa is a saint as this article implies...

    'Nuff said.

    Cheers.

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