Hossa Looks Elsewhere

On day two of the NHL Entry Draft on Saturday, the Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero received some demoralizing news when he was notified by their star rental player Marian Hossa that he is going to test the free agent market on July 1.

While Shero wouldn’t come out and say how much he offered his forward who came to Pittsburgh at last year’s trade deadline and notched 10 points in 12 games, he did term it ‘A very fair offer.’ “He told us that we look to be his first choice, but I believe he’s going to go to July1, just to make sure, and we’ll see where that brings both of us,” said Shero who gambled heavily by sacrificing talented forwards Colby Armstrong, Eric Christensen and a first round pick to the Atlanta Thrashers for Hossa last February.

Weeks heading towards the draft, Shero made no secret that he wanted to sign Hossa who played a huge role in the Penguins success this past playoff season by forming some instant chemistry with Sidney Crosby in notching 16 points. 

Despite the projection of their cap space increasing from 50.3 to 56 million for this upcoming season, Shero must do quite a bit of budget juggling as valuable players such as Ryan Malone, and Brooks Orpik are up for new contracts and budding superstars Evgeni Malkin and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury have only one year left on their entry level contracts. Desperate to sign Hossa, rumors were floating around the hockey community prior to the draft that Malkin who led the team with 106 points last season was being shopped to the Los Angeles Kings for their second overall pick. Another hot rumor was that a Russian elite team was interested in paying top dollar for the young phenom. Still, Shero downplayed all those rumors in saying that Malkin will be staying in Pittsburgh.   

It seems highly unlikely however that the Penguins will go beyond what Crosby is getting (8.7 million through 2012-13) in any pending negotiations with Hossa.

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