Hossa sent to the Windy City in Blockbuster deal!!
Marian Hossa had a hard time finding a spot in the Pens lineup dispite putting up 19 points in 23 games he had a -6 rating and bounced around from line to line and even ending up playing a few games on the 3rd line due to fatigue. The Pens have found Chemistry with the emergence of the Spezza-Ryder-Straka trio and the Kariya-Koivu-Dumont line, Hossa was left to play on the 3rd line. For a superstar player the 3rd line is not the place, so GM Goffie worked the phone lines and found a deal that worked for both Hossa and the Pens. The Pens were looking to find an upgrade on their 3rd line and this deal did filled that need while bringing in some high end youth to develop.
The Deal breaks down like this:
To Pittsburgh:
Colby Armstrong
Thomas Vanek
Jussi Jokinen
Kevin Nastuik
To Chicago:
Marian Hossa
Mike Smith
The Pens give up one of the best snipers in CPHL history and a one of the top players in the NHL for young sniper Thomas Vanek, penalty shot specialist Jussi Jokinen, and Colby " I can't score playing with Crosby" Armstrong.
GM Goffie had this to say: " We lost a superstar today. It was a hard deal to make but in the long run we felt that it was not a good situation for either us or Marian to have him playing any less then top line minutes, and he couldn't get the chemistry there that we expected and hoped for. We wish him luck in Chicago, but we are really looking forward to the futture duo of Spezza and Vanek causing Havoc on opposition goalies."
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