Stick tap for Hossa
Blackhawks great didn’t get anywhere close to the credit he deserved during his Hall of Fame career
A friend whose hockey acumen I trust recently posed a question: Who was the best player on the Blackhawks in their three Stanley Cup runs?
I thought about it for a minute before settling on Patrick Kane. His numbers are undeniable, and if there’s one Hawks player opponents had to figure out a way to stop, it was him. (Still is, actually.)
My friend went a different direction, with no equivocation: Marian Hossa.
I paused. I’m not sure he even made the top three on my list, even after covering the Cup runs in 2013 and ’15. Of course, had my friend asked if I believed Hossa belonged in the Hall of Fame — he was elected Monday — I would have questioned his sanity for merely implying Hossa could fall short of enshrinement.
I doubt I would be alone in listing other players before Hossa in terms of their value to the Hawks during their dynasty. After all, Jonathan Toews (2010), Kane (2013) and Duncan Keith (2015) were the Conn Smythe winners in that stretch, and they’re practically shoe-ins for the Hall themselves. That said, Hossa’s talent and effect on each game always passed the eye test.
The proof is in those three Cups — and the way the superstar seamlessly meshed with the burgeoning Hawks from the moment he signed as a free agent in 2009.
“Obviously I saw lots of potential offensively in those young players, so I said, ‘Maybe I won’t score on this team 40 goals like I did in Detroit,’” Hossa said in a Zoom call with reporters Thursday. “But my ultimate goal was to win a Stanley Cup at all costs. Even if I had to play defense and score (only) 30 goals or 25, I didn’t care. I got lucky to play with great teammates, a great coaching staff, a great front office and in sold-out buildings night after night.”
With good reason, the moment he first held the Cup aloft in Philadelphia in 2010 is foremost on Hossa’s mind as he awaits induction.
“When Johnny (Toews) gave me the Stanley Cup and he let it go, the weight of the Stanley Cup, that’s a moment I will never forget,” Hossa said. “That’s why I played hockey, to achieve that goal.”
Hossa did plenty of heavy lifting, and stats tell only part of the story. He had 525 goals in his career, good for 35th on the all-time list. Not too shabby. Ditto for his 609 assists. However, he never finished higher than 10th in the Hart Trophy voting for league MVP — even when he racked up 100 points for the Atlanta Thrashers in 2006-07.
He was tough to find on the NHL’s annual leaderboards, though it’s worth pointing out Hossa led the Hawks in points in 2011-12 and twice led the league in shorthanded goals — including in 2009-10, when he played in only 57 games in his first season with the Hawks.
The latter is a good starting point when assessing his contributions. Even if Hossa’s numbers didn’t blow people away, he was inescapable — literally. To use a popular hockey-ism, there weren’t many better at taking away time and space from opponents. It’s a huge reason he was considered one of the league’s best two-way forwards throughout his career.
He was a fixture on the Hawks’ penaltykilling units, hence all the short-handed goals. And good luck dislodging the puck once Hossa had it on his stick.
Regarding his defensive skills, the Hawks and their fans probably owe the Red Wings a fruit basket.
“When I joined the National Hockey League, I was strictly an offensive player. I had no idea how to play defensively,” said Hossa, who played for the Hawks’ most hated rival the season before coming to Chicago.
He credited several coaches and former teammates with helping his game evolve.
“What helped me the most was the year in Detroit,”he said. “Obviously we didn’t win (the Cup), but I learned so much from players like (Pavel) Datsyuk, (Henrik)
Zetterberg, (Nicklas) Lidstrom, (Chris) Chelios and (Chris) Osgood. Some pieces I brought to Chicago with me, and I learned how to steal pucks even better than before. I learned how to play better defensively and tried to set an example for my young teammates. Maybe they would see something they like from my game and maybe raise their game.”
Hossa mentioned luck several times on the Zoom call, though the trained eye understands it barely registers as a reason for his success. Certainly when considering a concussion and other injuries barely slowed him down. And by all accounts he left quite a bit in the tank when he walked away from the game in 2017 at 38 because of a debilitating skin condition.
“I know I still had a few years left if I wouldn’t have had a skin condition and wouldn’t have had to take heavy pills each day,” Hossa said. “I was leaving the game when I was still in really good shape. I was able to skate with the young guys and I scored 26 goals in my last year. But you don’t want to gamble with things like those pills.”
That Hossa has so few individual accolades defies logic. With such an outstanding body of work, how did he finish no better than fifth in the voting for the Selke Trophy, awarded each year to the league’s best defensive forward?
Even more baffling: How was it that Hossa was an All-Star only once in his 19-year career? I repeat: Despite being only the second player to be elected to the Hall while still under contract — defenseman Chris Pronger is the other — Hossa has but one All-Star appearance on his resume.
Fortunately, those questions are moot now that he’s set to take his place among the game’s legends.
Hossa got the official call from Hall officials Wednesday night, and the congratulatory messages flooded in immediately afterward.
“As soon as they announced it, the first message I got was was from Patrick Kane,” Hossa said. “It showed how much he loves the game and he’s paying attention.”
If anyone wasn’t before, they definitely are now.