Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Visions of a winger dancing in our heads . . .
The day started with Ray Shero saying that the Penguins weren’t going to do anything major and ended with teenage girls in Pittsburgh crying about Colby Armstrong being traded and wondering why the team picked up some girl named Mary Ann.
The trade that Shero made for Marian Hossa is undoubtedly the most important that occurred in the NHL today and may just shape the landscape of the league for the next several years if Shero plays his hand properly.
In trading Armstrong, Eric Christensen, Angelo Esposito, and a first round draft pick to Atlanta for Hossa and Pascal Dupuis, the Penguins dramatically altered the look of their team, ditching some of the young talent that they had built around to get a superstar winger possibly on the verge of free agency and a gritty player.
Hossa is undoubtedly one of the top wingers in hockey, scoring 26 goals over 60 games this season while playing on a line that featured Ilya Kovalchuk and Todd White, meaning that he did not have the opportunity to be the dominant scorer that he has in years past. Playing on that line also means that Hossa has experience playing with superstars, albeit ones that are more interested in scoring than in setting up their teammates, like Sidney Crosby is.
Placing Hossa on a line with Crosby would mean that the Penguins would have one star line, but just as importantly it means that Evgeni Malkin, who has been carrying this team lately, will finally be able to have his own line (I would guess Malone and a healthy Sykora) that he can gel with by playing on a regular basis. This would further contribute to Malkin’s development as a superstar, giving them the potential to have two virtually unstoppable lines.
Looking at what the Penguins gave up for Hossa and Dupuis is rather overwhelming at first. Eric Christensen is a solid goalscorer who didn’t really have a place in Pittsburgh, particularly when he did not have the opportunity to be the star. He may be a huge success in Atlanta or he may continue to flop. Colby Armstrong and his relationship with Sidney Crosby will be missed, but Dupuis replaces him on the ice and Crosby is professional enough that he will not let it affect his play. Surrendering Angelo Esposito, one of the organization’s top prospects, may come back to hurt, but the questions about his makeup and skill that caused Espo to fall from the #1 overall prospect to the Penguins, in the 20s, at this year’s NHL draft still abound. The first round draft choice that the Penguins gave up may hurt, but Ray Shero has proven capable of finding players in later rounds to this point. All in all, the Penguins really did not give up that much for a player of Hossa’s quality.
Shero is pretty clearly going after the Stanley Cup this season, considering that Hossa is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and will demand a pretty hefty contract extension that could prevent the Penguins from signing one or two of Malkin, Jordan Staal, or Marc-Andre Fleury to extensions. The player’s signability will obviously be an issue, but Shero must believe that the Penguins have a legitimate shot at resigning him in order to have surrendered what they did. Just taking a conjecture, Hossa will probably take about $7 million over three or four years while Malkin will take a contract equal to what Crosby received last season in order to ensure that he will stay in Pittsburgh. This could mean cap issues down the line, or it could mean that Hossa is just a rental.
If it contributes to bringing a Stanley Cup to Pittsburgh, it was all completely worth it.
I just want to end this article by saying that the rumors about Marian Hossa were reported here first and were later mocked by the Tribune-Review. I think that all of the teenage girls out there will know who Marian Hossa is pretty soon.
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