Marian Hossa has a right rotator cuff injury that apparently happened during the playoffs while playing for the Detroit Red Wings. The severity of the injury is not known but surgery isn’t out of the question at this point.(source-ESPN Chicago)
The Chicago Blackhawks were aware of the injury when they signed Hossa, which makes the signing even more perplexing then it already was. The ‘Hawks finished 2nd in the Western Conference in goals for last season with 264, behind only the Red Wings with 295, and tied for 4th overall in the league with the Penguins. Although they did lose 29 goals when Martin Havlat left, the numbers suggest more skilled scorers wasn’t really what the ‘Hawks needed. When you consider the much talked about cap issues the ‘Hawks face, the Hossa signing will really hinder them when the time comes to sign Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.
The only point of view I can think of to put a little silver lining on this situation for ‘Hawks fans is that perhaps the injury happened early in the playoffs and can explain Hossa’s ineffectiveness in the finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the 7 game final series Hossa had a total of zero goals and 3 assists for the losing Detroit Red Wings and was mostly invisible.
It’s great to score 40 goals in 74 games during the regular season but at that rate he should have scored around 12 or 13 goals in the 23 playoff games he played in for Detroit. He recorded a total of 6 goals in the 23 playoff games for the ‘Wings. In fact, of those 6 goals none were game tying goals and only 1 was a game winner and that came all the way back in the second period of game 4 of the second round against The Anaheim Ducks, a 6-3 win to tie the series, not even an overtime goal.
That silver lining might be end up being sprayed on upon closer inspection, but if you consider that Hossa had 12 goals and 26 points the previous year in the playoffs while with the Penguins, there is reason to hope that a healthy Hossa could help push the Blackhawks to the next level.
I’m of the opinion that unless Hossa can play goaltender too the money could have been used more wisely.