Presumably if Marian Hossa couldn't be talked into taking a Brinks truck full of money, any argument about the drawbacks of signing a one-year deal was going to fall on deaf ears.
Mind you Hossa didn't exactly settle for chump change with the $7.45 million contract he accepted from the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. That's the highest single-season salary that has been handed out, but it comes without a guarantee beyond next season for someone who was the headliner of this year's crop of free agents.
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| Marian Hossa has 299 goals in his career. (Getty Images) |
"It wasn't easy, but I feel it's the right decision," said Hossa, who turned down several lucrative long-term offers, including a nine-year, $81 million bid from Edmonton.
"Sometimes (my agent) we were talking and shaking our heads at what we're doing, but I want to win, and Detroit is the best chance for me. The team is something special."
Apparently that's the magic pull that has made Detroit the league's most compelling destination for players. The organization is not only the best in the NHL now but has been for nearly two decades, something Hossa saw first hand facing the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals. And it was enough to convince him he was better off with that team than with the Penguins, who acquired at the trade deadline
"This team is all about winning," Hossa said. "That's why I wanted to be here."
Hossa had a great run through the playoffs on a line with Sidney Crosby for one of the league's most promising up-and-coming young teams and was a top re-signing priority for the Penguins. Pittsburgh offered similar annual money and for a longer term, but like Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart, who re-signed a day earlier at less than his market value, Hossa decided the intangible of being with a proven winner was a bigger attraction.
"Good players want to be with other good players, but this wouldn't have happened unless Marian bought in to our salary structure," Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said.
For Hossa, that meant accepting he wouldn't be the team's highest-paid player (captain Nicklas Lidstrom will earn the same salary next season), leaving dollars on the table now and hoping the future will take care of itself. The Red Wings have no cap issues at the moment, but after next season, playoff heroes Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen will be unrestricted free agents. Holland could be challenged to find the space necessary to keep them and Hossa.
"Everyone wants to be treated fairly, but the only way to have lots of good players is for me to convince everyone to take a number they can live with," Holland said. "Players have to trust that the organization is committed to winning and that the money they're walking away from will be spent wisely."
Holland said by taking less money, Detroit's newest player gives him ample opportunity to play with the numbers, but it still could mean Hossa will be on the open market again after just one season. Then again, Hossa might not mind it if he wins his coveted Stanley Cup.
That won't be easy, because a decade has passed since any NHL team won back-to-back championships. But that team was the Red Wings, and because of it, there is a better grasp in this organization about the challenges defending champions face, things like short summer, emotional letdowns and the best games they tend to get from every opponent.
And that's why Holland felt he should do something to improve his team even if there are few visible gaps in the lineup. His plan was to bring in a top-six forward, but then Hossa landed in his lap, giving the Red Wings what amounts to an even better lineup than the one that won the Stanley Cup a month ago.
"When you see everything that happened in our league, with the terms and the security being given out, and then you've got a premier power forward like Marian making this happen, it's going to add that little extra bit of hunger that can be the difference," said Holland. "Success is about sacrifice -- sacrificing ice time, sacrificing personal statistics, sacrificing some money. It doesn't come easily, and Marian, obviously, is showing incredible sacrifice to come here. It's going to be a tremendous motivation for our team."
