[News] Hossa won't play 2017/18 due to side effects of skin condition meds

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Hossa probably doesn't really care about Chicago's cap situation. He can still collect his paycheque while he is on LTIR, so this is a much more attractive option than retiring outright, and missing out on the remaining $4 m on his contract.

Hossa has been there for eight years and won three cups. All the core members of those championship teams are still there - I'm sure he doesn't want to stick them with a $4.25M penalty for three years. How would that go over?

"Hey guys, I'm done, but enjoy not being able to add a top six forward or multiple guys at the deadline for the rest of Toews and Kane's prime years".

[Russic]

Interesting article on Tom Reid and his battle with a skin condition: http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/s...ut-of-nhl/amp/

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Hossa has been there for eight years and won three cups. All the core members of those championship teams are still there - I'm sure he doesn't want to stick them with a $4.25M penalty for three years.

I'm sure he would be happy that he is not hurting the team, but if there was no benefit to him personally I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he were more hesitant to do so.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

It's an allergy to playing for only $1 million a season.

Maybe. ..Im smart enough to know that I don't know that part of things however.

But the whole equipment thing is something erroneously reported. It's claimed it's a serious skin condition. That's all I have said.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Wild GM

Because it is real?
I'm not sure why folks don't think this is possible.
Allergies and skin conditions can get quite severe and painful, and medications to treat can have serious side effects.
I give the people involve the benefit of the doubt absent proof that something fishy is actually happening.

Oh, I have no doubt that it is "real". But you'll pardon me if I think it only now (now that the 1M "cheater" years are kicking in) becoming something unmanageable is just way way way to coincidental for something unfishy to be happening. It's cap circumvention plain and simple.

It's probably "real" in the sense that he has a skin condition but it's probably also something that's manageable and they're only now using this as a convenient excuse to dodge the cap recapture. It's de facto cheating and they shouldn't (but probably will) get away with it. Just watch... Chicago is probably going to trade him away at the draft (Probably to Arizona ala Datsyuk) and get out of even having to deal with the headache of the opening day cap limit.

Mickey Mouse operation over at league HQ.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

I hate cap recapture penalities. These contracts were not illegal when signed - if you make them illegal, grandfather the old deals in a la helmets and visors - if you didn't have one before you don't need it now.

The owners wanted a hard cap. They didn't think about contract lengths. Why is that something that can't just be amended and then left alone? There were only a handful of them ever signed anyway.

Kovalchuk, Hossa, Luongo, Richards, DiPietro, Keith, Weber, Suter and Parise. Am I missing anyone? This seems like an anomaly based on the rules that existed at the time, and apply exclusively to a few star players. Da fuq do we need cap recaptures for?

Teams agreed to the penalties. Some teams have already been hit by the penalties. What's the problem here? The Hawks don't have 3 Cups without this Hossa contract.

Why do some get to pick and choose who gets hindered by a penalty agreed upon in the CBA, particularly when it benefits one of the most fortunate teams in the league?

I hope the Flames can get out of Gio's contract in 4 years. Will we be subject to the same standard?

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

Teams agreed to the penalties. Some teams have already been hit by the penalties. What's the problem here? The Hawks don't have 3 Cups without this Hossa contract.

Why do some get to pick and choose who gets hindered by penalty agreed upon in the CBA, particularly when it benefits one of the most fortunate teams in the league?

I hope the Flames can get out of Gio's contract in 4 years. Will we be subject to the same standard?

If Gio suffers a career ending injury in four years, I have no doubt the league would afford the Flames the same courtesy Boston got with Savard, Philly with Pronger, etc.

But not for nothing, Giordano is still the best defenseman on this team. Brodie and Dougie are great players, but when either of them play with Giordano, all of a sudden that tandem is statistically one of the very best in the entire league by every metric. That's Gio. So while six years is a long time, do you really see him being less than top four if he avoids significant head or leg injuries?

As for cap recapture, I just think it's a stupid rule. It's up there with challenging offsides.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

I hope the Flames can get out of Gio's contract in 4 years. Will we be subject to the same standard?

Oh we will, he'll be diagnosed with an acute case of Beanites... a tragically career ending condition that leaves you looking like Rowen Atkinson.

Why not? The threshold is about to be set very very very low by this.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Parallex

Oh we will, he'll be diagnosed with an acute case of Beanites... a tragically career ending condition that leaves you looking like Rowen Atkinson.

Why not? The threshold is about to be set very very very low by this.

I don't think anyone is in position to assess how serious this medical condition is. Lots of people pretending to be doctors here today.

[Savvy27]

Originally Posted by Wild GM

Funny I view it as the opposite, that people are assuming this is a massive conspiracy that the league has bought into, and for reason other GMs are also going to be fine with.

Is that more realistic or is it more plausible that the guy has a legit medical condition?

What are you referring to? The only information that I have seen has come directly from the Blackhawks and team doctors. The way I see it, this could have played out three ways:

1) Hossa retires at exactly the moment that he planned to when he signed that ridiculous contract and the Hawks a heavily penalized for their cap circumvention
2) Hossa continues to play when he doesn't want to anymore, either for the Hawks or some other team
3) Hossa develops some kind condition or suffers an injury that prevents him from finishing the contract, the Hawks pay out the last 4% or whatever of the contract and use up the LTIR space that becomes available. Unfortunate for Hossa, but works quite well for the Hawks.

Now... all of a sudden Hossa reveals that he has a skin condition. It wasn't so bad last year when his salary was much higher, but the side effects of the medication are getting worse so it's best not to push it. The team comes out and starts a PR campaign to start messaging how plausible all of this is. Elliott Friedman reports it like a complete hack and transparently lectures all of us to not make fun of it because it's so serious and believable. Then the local Chicago media posts a story about another guy who had a DIFFERENT CONDITION but it's sort of skin related so we shouldn't be so skeptical that stuff happens to skin sometimes.

All of this happens right after a major trade window closes... and you think that the people who are skeptical are the ones who are out to lunch? Sorry, but I feel like the Blackhawks are counting on your credulity here and taking advantage of it.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Wild GM

I don't think anyone is in position to assess how serious this medical condition is.

Yes, sadly Beanites is such a rare condition we may never know exactly how much it prevents athletic job performance.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Wild GM

I don't think anyone is in position to assess how serious this medical condition is. Lots of people pretending to be doctors here today.

Maybe they are farmers.

You don't need to be a doctor to recognize bull ####.

[powderjunkie]

Interesting timing - essentially getting the BS news story out of the way before all the news turns over to the expansion draft.

The only thing the Hawks might have done better is have Hossa miss a few games during the season (rest) to have this out as an established problem for him. But, then again, some intrepid reporters might see the writing on the wall and do some investigation...ask Hossa questions, etc.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by photon

And the doctors giving him needless medications or excessive medications for his condition or misreporting the dosage or medications they're giving him or overstating the side effects of those medications, etc..

Ultimately the doctors are unlikely to be complicit in any of the above, it'd be easy to check what meds and doses he's been prescribed and the history of his condition.

Unless all parties have been plotting this for many years to create the necessary paper trail...

Everyone is arguing on is he or isn't he legitimately sick here. This isn't like pregnancy where you are or aren't.

There's zero doubt on my mind he has a skin condition. There's also zero doubt that he's been battling it with for a while.

Where there's some disagreement, is in the fact that it's changed from playable to non playable condition since his last paycheck. There's a grey area here where is been legitimately affecting him to a degree he chooses to disclose. There likely isn't a test available to determine whether it's bad enough to play with or not. He can simply use this as his out and there's nothing anytime can do about it.

That's where I believe it's quite shady. There's no conspiracy necessary. Dr says he can use other medication if he tells he chooses as current therapies aren't quite enough to keep him comfortable. Hossa chooses stronger medication if he continues to put the equipment back on, which in his opinion renders it too difficult to play.

This isn't a binary process. Lots of "opinion" likely involved.

It could be very severe suddenly, yes. Is that likely? No

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Everyone is arguing on is he or isn't he legitimately sick here. This isn't like pregnancy where you are or aren't.

There's zero doubt on my mind he has a skin condition. There's also zero doubt that he's been battling it with for a while.

Where there's some disagreement, is in the fact that it's changed from playable to non playable condition since his last paycheck. There's a grey area here where is been legitimately affecting him to a degree he chooses to disclose. There likely isn't a test available to determine whether it's bad enough to play with or not. He can simply use this as his out and there's nothing anytime can do about it.

That's where I believe it's quite shady. There's no conspiracy necessary. Dr says he can use other medication if he tells he chooses as current therapies aren't quite enough to keep him comfortable. Hossa chooses stronger medication if he continues to put the equipment back on, which in his opinion renders it too difficult to play.

This isn't a binary process. Lots of "opinion" likely involved.

It could be very severe suddenly, yes. Is that likely? No

Some people who experience traumatic brain injury suffer from persistent itching and nerve pain related to the skin. Because they have no viral or fungal cause they are difficult to treat. Neuropathic Itch I think it's called. I knew someone who had it.

[bigtmac19]

He could have some kind of chronic staph infection from his equipment. That can be hard to treat.

I had an allergic reaction a few years ago, it was contact dermatitis but the doctor never figured out from what, I ended up on IV antibiotics for 10 days because I got a severe infection. I would tend to believe this.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Some people who experience traumatic brain injury suffer from persistent itching and nerve pain related to the skin. Because they have no viral or fungal cause they are difficult to treat. Neuropathic Itch I think it's called. I knew someone who had it.

This is clearly identified as dermatologic though, not neuropathic. Friedman wrote it was an allergic reaction to his equipment. I wouldn't speculate on something more malignant and unrelated.

[Roof-Daddy]

Look at all the people coming up with reasons as to how this could actually be legit at the exact perfect time for both the player and team. (When I say legit, I mean a legit reason to go on LTIR, I'm sure he's got a legit skin condition but gimme a break)

A) Player gets to retire when he originally planned to, but not officially so he still gets paid but doesn't have to play for it
B) Team gets to put him on LTIR instead of having to face cap recapture penalties

Everybody benefits here....well except for the other 29 NHL cubs and their fans who just watched the Hawks win 3 cups because of a cap circumventing front loaded deal.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Savvy27

1) Hossa retires at exactly the moment that he planned to when he signed that ridiculous contract and the Hawks a heavily penalized for their cap circumvention

It should be remembered that the contract Hossa signed was blessed by the NHL and was in line with others signed at the same time.

To call it "cap circumvention" was always stretching the truth in my mind.

The NHL could have disallowed it at the time, and chose not too.

Of course it was designed to lower the cap hit, much like Kipper's last year at $1M was designed to do. Which was, IIRC, the first contract to take that approach. And Kipper walked away from the last year.

Teams then started to push the envelope more and more.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

That's where I believe it's quite shady. There's no conspiracy necessary. Dr says he can use other medication if he tells he chooses as current therapies aren't quite enough to keep him comfortable. Hossa chooses stronger medication if he continues to put the equipment back on, which in his opinion renders it too difficult to play.

This isn't a binary process. Lots of "opinion" likely involved.

Of course, he's the one who decides on an ongoing basis if the benefit of playing is worth the downsides and the risks, since he's the one who has to suffer with the downsides and take the risk. I don't think that's shady at all, everyone who has an ongoing condition makes similar decisions.

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

It could be very severe suddenly, yes. Is that likely? No

Unlikely things do happen, and they do happen at seemingly unlikely times. His evaluation is benefit vs downside, and that doesn't require a sudden change, even a minor change could shift his decision when combined with other factors that change year by year. His decision probably has more to do with the Hawks' outlook for another championship; the less likely that is the more likely he doesn't want to go through the downside, and that's perfectly fair IMO.

I don't understand why people would think he for some reason takes the team's cap situation into account... he doesn't own part of the Hawks, he gets paid regardless, he doesn't personally benefit from the team's benefiting from his decision... unless we get back into conspiracy theories and the Hawks are kicking a chunk of money to the player under the table.