Hossa's Surgery Not as Bad as it Sounds
Provided he recovers, Hossa's deal is still good for the Hawks
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Marian Hossa's shoulder should be just fine. Let's hope so, anyway.
When the Hawks decided to sign former Penguins and Hawks star Marian Hossa to a 12-year contract, they were taking a risk. Little did Hawks fans know just what that risk entailed.
Anytime you dole out a 12-year deal in the NHL -- a league that doesn't allow teams to void or buy out contracts until the final year -- you're getting a little risky. What if Hossa doesn't pan out? What if he declines? What if he becomes disgruntled and demands a trade? Any number of things can happen during a contract that long, and any one of them can make what looked like a good signing a bad one.
But here's the worst of it: Not only did the Hawks take a risk singing Hossa in the first place, they reportedly knew about Hossa's shoulder injury before they signed him. At least they're not incompetent and clueless. Instead they're just reckless.
But here's the thing. Hossa will have surgery for his shoulder today. If all goes well, he'll have a four-month recovery period. That should cause him to miss little more than the first two months of the 2009-10 season. At first, it seems bad -- why would the Hawks sign a player that won't be able to play right away anyway -- but it's not, really. As we overemphasized above, that is one monster of a contract. Let's keep some perspective. If Hossa misses two months out of a 12-year deal, that should barely register.
If the injury gets worse, or anything else bad happens, then the signing will deserve greater scrutiny. For now, it remains a good pickup for the Hawks. At 12 years, it better be.
Eamonn Brennan is a Chicago-based writer, editor and blogger. You can also read him at Yahoo! Sports, Mouthpiece Sports Blog, and Inside The Hall, or at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com. Follow him on Twitter.
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Posted Friday, Jul 24, 2009 - 1:05 PM CST
