Hossa will soon save us all and debunking trade rumors

November 4, 9:00 PMChicago Blackhawks ExaminerDieter Kurtenbach

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Marian Hossa

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Marian Hossa skated for the Blackhawks today in Glendale, along with Jonathan Toews and Ben Eager. Perhaps, just perhaps, happy times are here to stay.
All of those sweet, tasty passes that Patrick Kane has clunk off Dustin Byfuglien's stick - Marion Hossa will drink those right up and finish them. Marian Hossa is a finisher with the puck. Get him some coffee, because coffee is for closers.
Needless to say the addition of Hossa will make this very good Blackhawks team even better. With Detroit figuring it out and San Jose really doing work out west, Hossa's arrival on the west side can not come soon enough. Hopefully, when he does arrive, he can slide right into the fray and produce. With Kane on his wing and a super powerplay line with Toews, Hossa should have little problem when it comes to getting scoring chances. Don't forget, he's a closer, and closers finish on scoring opportunities.
Trade Rumors
With Hossa on the way back, rumor mill started spinning again. The Blackhawks, as it is nearly impossible not to know, will be in a precarious salary situation and will need to move some contracts if they hope to sign Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith (and at some point, maybe Niklas Hjalmarsson as well).

TRADE WATCH 2010 is already underway with Dustin Byfuglien ($3 mil.) and Cam Barker ($3.083 mil) as the top two candidates to be move. With Hossa rejoining the roster, a player earning top-six money would not be in the top-six forwards. Something would have to give.

The lines could shape up to look something like this with Hossa dressed:
Sharp - Toews - Versteeg
Hossa - Bolland - Kane
Ladd - Madden - Byfuglien/Brouwer
Kopecky - Fraser - Eager/Brouwer

As of right now, there is no way you can scratch Troy Brouwer, he's been outstanding. Tomas Kopecky is very deserving of a scratch, but with his contract the Blackhawks will want to give him the benefit of the doubt and will let him earn some of that money.

Ben Eager is going to come back soon, and his loss has left a huge hole in the lineup. A player of Eager's value won't be set aside. Perhaps Colin Fraser would be the fall man, but his penalty killing play at center can't be replaced by Kopecky, who plays both wing and center.

In the end, the odd man out might be Dustin Byfuglien. You can't scratch a $3 million dollar salary, and so the trade rumors persist. The irony of the rumors that are circulating now is that the Blackhawks would be doing no favors for themselves if they made the trade now.

The Blackhawks are the team that's desperate to move salary, and the team is desperate never comes out the victor in a trade. So if the Blackhawks were to move Byfuglien or Ladd or Barker, they would not receive a player that could help them equally this year. So, with the Stanley Cup as the goal, why would they prematurely move the salary?

My point is this, if you are going to be ripped off, you might as well hold on to your assets as long as possible and see where they take you. In all likelihood, the Blackhawks would be receiving equal value from a trade made in November or in June, why rush it?