Marian Hossa Stuns The World

I am in complete shock right now. Marian Hossa just signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings for $7.4 million, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Why take a one-year with Detroit when the Pittsburgh Penguins were offering similar dollars over five years? Where is the logic in this? The only line of thinking I can come up with on Hossa's part is that he hopes to win a Cup this coming season, and then just get the biggest contract he possibly can next off-season. That is totally ludicrous thinking, and that is about all I could come up with.

For Detroit the move is pure genius. They add another uber-talented forward to their roster who will fit into their style of play perfectly. Then next off-season they simply walk away and put the $7.4 million they paid Hossa towards Henrik Zetterberg's new contract. They get a (hopefully for them) good year out of Hossa and then just let him move on. No big loss for them. It might even be possible that Nicklas Lidstrom retires after next season and Hossa stays in Motown. Either way it all works out for the Wings.

So where do the Pens go from here? Ray Shero undoubtedly was prepared for this and is already hard at work on Plan B. There is a short list of guys out there who Shero can look at to fill the void left by Hossa. Names like Jagr, Naslund, Demitra, and Huselius will surely all be looked at. I think this will work out better for the Penguins when all is said and done because they should be able to bring in new wingers for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin at close to the amount it would have cost to keep Hossa. It will be like the time I traded in my Mustang so that my wife and I could both get new cars. Sure neither car was as nice as the Mustang, but they both got the job done. I would expect at least two or three signings from the Penguins by the end of the day now that Hossa has made his decision.

Where does this leave Marian Hossa's legacy as a Penguin? As far as I'm concerned he does not have one. I'm not trying to downplay all he did for us in the playoffs, but the guy played roughly 40 games in Pittsburgh. That's not exactly enough to earn you a long-term residence in the hearts of fans. Add in the fact that he signed with Detroit, my personal most hated sports franchise, and Marian Hossa is essentially dead to me now. Make no mistake I enjoyed the time he spent with the Pens, but the first thing I'm doing tonight after my kids are in bed is trading Hossa away from my Penguins franchise in NHL 2008. And I sure won't be sending him to Detroit either.

The NHL Goes Up In Flames

Don't look now, but the Calgary Flames are starting to hit their stride. After a so-so start to the season, the Flames have picked up their game, especially on offense, and just completed a perfect 6-0 road trip. The Flames have yet to lose a game in regulation in the month of December, following head coach Mike Keenan publicly ripping his team after a 4-1 loss to Calgary at home.

Leading the charge for the Flames has been captain Jarome Iginla. Iginla contributed 8 goals and 3 assists on the road trip. He wasn't doing it alone though. Iginla's linemate Kristian Huselius notched 5 goals and 8 assists on the trip, including a pair of 5 point games, and defenseman Dion Phaneuf chipped in with a goal and 8 assists.

The Flames have been doing quite a bit of celebrating lately.

The scariest part of all is that superstar goalie Mikka Kiprusoff has still yet to provide the team with consistent play between the pipes. He has been great some nights, like in his 36 save performance against Columbus, but on other nights he has fallen flat, such as the game in Tampa when he allowed 6 goals to the Lightning. This despite, unsurprisingly, Kiprusoff being the target of much of Mike Keenan's criticism.

As it stands right now they are only a single point behind the Wild for the division lead despite their slow start. Although the Wild and the other teams ahead of them in the Northwest all have games in hand on the Flames. If the Flames can continue to get this high level of play out of their top line, and get some scoring from the depth players and more consistent play from Kiprusoff, they could prove to be a tough team to deal with in the Western Conference.