Marian Hossa as a rental?
via Kuklas Korner
Bruce Garrioch from the Ottawa Sun suggests the Red Wings are in the running to acquire Marian Hossa via a trade. In the pre-cap NHL this would be a given. But with the cap in place this doesn’t seem likely.
First things first: there’s no way the Red Wings could afford to sign Hossa to a new contract. Red Wings Central lists Detroit’s salary outlay next season like so:
Lidstrom - $7.45mm
Datsyuk - $6.7mm
Rafalski - $6mm
Kronwall - $3mm
Zetterberg - $2.65mm
Homer - $2.25mm
Draper - $1.6mm
Ozzie - $1.4mm
Sammy - $1.2mm
Hudler - $1mm
Franzen - $0.9mm
Maltby - $0.9mm
Lebda - $0.65mm
Kopy - $0.5mm
Meech - $0.5mm
Ellis - $0.5mm
TOTAL: $37.2mm
The Wings will also need to sign free agents like Jimmy Howard [likely to make the team], Valtteri Filppula, Chris Chelios, Andreas Lilja and Dan Cleary. I’ll take a stab at guessing their ballpark salary next season.
Howard - $1mm
Filppula - $1.2mm
Cleary - $2.25mm
Lilja - $1.65mm
Cheli - $0.9mm
TOTAL: $7mm
If I’m close in my calculations that would put Detroit right around $44.2 million in salary and would give them 12 forwards, 7 defensemen and 2 goalies. If the cap stays at $50.2 million the Red Wings clearly don’t have enough money to pay Hossa the $7mm per season he currently makes. Even if the cap rises by a couple million dollars, the Red Wings will need to pay Henrik Zetterberg north of $6mm per season starting in 2009-10. So signing Hossa just doesn’t seem feasible.
But what about acquiring Hossa as a rental with the knowledge he would only play for Detroit for the remainder of this season? The Wings could easily afford him as he’d only account for a $2.44mm cap hit. The Wings appear to have $5.33mm available in cap space.
The bigger cost, of course, is what it would cost to acquire him. The Thrashers clearly need help on defense as they’ve allowed the most goals in the NHL. Kari Lehtonen is a solid goaltender but Atlanta has no defense at all. Detroit has a decent stockpile of defensive talent and prospects so Ken Holland might be able to work out a deal that would interest Thrashers general manager Don Waddell. If I had to guess I’d think Detroit would need to send Niklas Kronwall, Kyle Quincey and a high draft pick to acquire Hossa. The problem with that is Detroit would be strengthening their offense for one playoff run but at the same time weakening their defense. Kronwall is clearly the Red Wings’ #3 d-man.
That just doesn’t make sense to me. Is it likely Ken Holland would contact Waddell to see if Hossa is on the block and if so to inquire what it would cost to get him? Absolutley. But I’d be shocked if the Wings are able to pull off a deal to bring Hossa to Detroit.
Atlanta Thrashers Marian Hossa NHL trades Red Wings3 Comments
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Hossa to me is a real wild card. He has it in him to be one of the better gamebreakers in the league, but you never really know if you’re going to get it out of him on a given night. Maybe he would thrive on a team like Detroit where there’s less pressure to carry the load, but I’d personally rather see the Wings go for Sundin.. if for no other reason than to keep him from winding up in San Jose or Anaheim.
Man doesn’t hurt to be that wrong.
[…] Being wrong never felt so very, very right. I’ve written a couple times in a couple different contexts that it was nothing more than a pipe dream to suggest the Red Wings could sign Marian Hossa. The first was at the trade deadline this past winter. If I’m close in my calculations that would put Detroit right around $44.2 million in salary and would give them 12 forwards, 7 defensemen and 2 goalies. If the cap stays at $50.2 million the Red Wings clearly don’t have enough money to pay Hossa the $7mm per season he currently makes. Even if the cap rises by a couple million dollars, the Red Wings will need to pay Henrik Zetterberg north of $6mm per season starting in 2009-10. So signing Hossa [to a long-term deal] just doesn’t seem feasible. […]