Habster:
Where there is smoke, there is usually a fire smoldering in the background so you have to think some serious discussions between Gainey and Waddell have occurred over the last couple of weeks about Marian Hossa and other players from both rosters. Having that many scouts and/or GMs from one team following your team over the last 7-10 days is not a coincidence. If Gainey wants to acquire Marian Hossa, he will have to sign him to a contract before he trades away too many players for a rental player.
I would be surprised if Hossa and his agent would turn their backs on a chance to test the free agent market after July 1st. If the market pays players like Scott Gomez, Chris Drury and Daniel Briere huge contracts in excess of $9-$10 million per year then why wouldn’t Hossa want to cash in with the same type of contracts. Players earn the right to test the market and Hossa would be foolish to pass up this opportunity unless Gainey or any NHL team throws a ton of money (i.e- 5 or 6 years at $40-$60 million) at him prior to making a deal before the February 26th deadline. Seems like a lot of money for one player……especially when your younger core players like Higgins, Plekanec, A. Kostitsyn and Komisarek will need to be signed to long term deals in a couple of years.