Wes Goldstein

Dale Tallon has gotten pretty good at making a big free agent splash, so his signing of Marian Hossa to a mega deal probably shouldn't come as a surprise.

The Chicago Blackhawks are an organization that made remarkable strides last season and reconnected with its fan base, and keeping the momentum going through the ticket selling time in the summer is important to it. Naturally landing the biggest name out there helps, but it doesn't always work. Tallon is still trying to extricate himself lately from the big contracts he gave Cristobal Huet and Brian Campbell just last summer, and now he's decided to lock into another expensive player who has yet to prove he's a real difference maker. 

Neither Huet or Campbell really justified their salaries, and this latest signing has the potential to be a similar handcuff for Tallon because Hossa has an annual cap hit of $5.23 million for the next 12 years and the Chicago GM will soon have to re-sign young core Stars Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith.

Hossa may be an elite forward, but he moved to Detroit las season because he thought he could win a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings and didn't because he pulled a Houdini in the playoffs. The disappearing act could have been overlooked if it was an anomoly, but those kinds of post-season efforts have been the biggest knock on Hossa's career, first in Ottawa and then in Atlanta.

Hossa did have a great 2008 playoffs as what turned out to be a rental for Pittsburgh, but he reverted to form this spring for the Red Wings, scoring only six goals -- a pair in three different games -- and none in the seven-game final against the Penguins. Still Detroit made an offer to keep him before the market opened, but the Red Wings needed the cap hit to average $4 million and Hossa turned to Chicago where he'll carry more expectations than he did before.

But when it comes to money, and it has to now for Hossa, he did get an incredible deal given the times. And he's fortunate because he left around $80 million on the table last summer to pursue his Cup dreams with a one-year, $7.4 million contract from Detroit. Now the salary cap is trending downward, yet Hossa still managed to get a franchise type contract, and one that is heavily front-loaded so his take-home pay actually goes up for the next few years.

That should give Hossa time to try for a Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks aren't that far off, a really talented team that in many ways resembles the Penguins a couple of years ago. Hossa will have to be a big piece of the puzzle, but first he'll have to prove he's a better fit in the Chicago room than Martin Havlat was.

Havlat led the Blackhawks in scoring and more important stayed healthy last season. He was a key part of Chicago's surprising run to the Western Finals and liked by teammates. Havlat earned $6 million last season and wanted to come back on a shorter term too. But the Blackhawks decided to put their money on Hossa.

So for Tallon's sake, Hossa has to make a much bigger impact than the free agents he brought in last year.