It's a smart move by Hossa though. The Red Wings will be the overwhelming favorites to win the cup next season and he'll probably put up somewhere near 100 points this season. Then next year he'll cash in with a monster long term contract.
Well, when Detroit can sandbag regular season wins by being in the weakest(Nashville, Chicago, St.Louis, Colombus) division, it's easy to get 100+ points every season in the standings. Don't get me wrong, I like Hossa, but jumping to a team that would seem to be the favorite doesn't work for players that do this most of the time. I'm actually glad Hossa didn't sign with Edmonton, I was hoping he didn't. Edmonton already traded away Stoll, and Torres, and are more than likely not done with trimming another veteran or two.
If Hossa would have been signed, they'd would have gave up a more crucial player to make salary room. The Oilers only missed the playoffs by one point, and this was without many starters (7 starters) since the beginning of the season. They broke last season's record of man games lost due to injury, yet had a winning record with the youngest team (almost every year, they're the youngest)in the NHL, along with the youngest player in the league. Let Detroit get the #1 seed....better hope Edmonton doesn't get the 8 seed, and lose to the Oilers again, like they did in '06. The Oilers tend to beat 1st, and 2nd seeded teams in the first round quite a lot over the last 11 years. It won't be a cakewalk next season for the Redwings, like it has been the last 15 years. Chicago is finally trying to build a good team, and St. Louis has drafted well the last 3-4 years, they're on the rise. And Nashville is the only team in that division that's been kid of decent the last 3 years.
