Hossa aging like vintage wine, and his teammates love it
Marian Hossa knows he can't play the sport he loves so much forever.
The way he has dominated play up and down the ice in the Blackhawks' opening-round series with Nashville, whose players are 5, 10 - yes, even 15 - years younger, suggests he might.
"(Jaromir) Jagr said he wants to play until he's 50 or something," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said of the 43-year-old superstar. "So don't know about Hoss. It seems we talk about this every playoff season, how he just doesn't give any indication of slowing down.
"The way he takes care of himself and prepares for games, I think he loves what he's doing."
Hossa, who may be the most quiet and unassuming star athlete in any sport, has a tendency to escape the spotlight as the media swarms Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith.
But every player in that locker room knows what the 36-year-old brings to the team, on and off the ice. Brian Bickell, Hossa's locker-stall neighbor the last five seasons, also appreciates that Hossa (sometimes) gets his jokes - even if Bickell may have to repeat them a time or two.
"He gets my humor," Bickell said. "You can ask anybody in this room, 'Who's the nicest guy on the team on and off the ice?' and it would probably be 99 percent Marian Hossa."
Said defenseman Brent Seabrook: "He's special. It's amazing to see every year he gets older, he looks younger out there on the ice."
One look at Hossa's playoff stats and one might say, "Just 2 goals in the last 23 games? No good."
But that's taking a narrow view and not understanding that Hossa has turned into the hockey version of Jason Kidd or Steve Nash, dishing out 17 assists in those 23 games (0.74 average), far above his career assist rate of 0.49 per game.
Against Nashville, Hossa is distributing the puck like a waiter whipping plates of food on a table without spilling a burger, beer or a Slovakian dumpling. Here's a look at his contributions in this series, and comments from teammates who are happy to leave Hossa more than a 20 percent tip.
Assist 1: Trailing 3-1 in Game 1, the Hawks cashed in on a 5-on-3 power play when Hossa took the puck at the point and zipped it to Patrick Kane, who then fired it to Patrick Sharp. The sequence, which took all of three seconds, ended when Sharp beat Pekka Rinne in front of the net.
Assist 2: At 8:45 into double OT in Game 1, Hossa was being pinched in against the boards by Mike Ribeiro and Taylor Beck. Hossa dished the puck to Duncan Keith in the high slot and Beck had no chance to stop Keith from firing a shot that got past Renne, giving the Hawks a 4-3 victory.
Assist 3: This was a thing of beauty. Early in Game 3, Hossa controlled the puck at mid-ice, spotted a just-off-the-bench Andrew Desjardins, fed his new teammate and Desjardins gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
"When I jumped off the bench I kind of saw him looking at me and I know he wanted to (get off the ice)," Desjardins said. "There was a guy kind of in-between us and he just waited that split second for that separation and hit me and I was off. … A great pass."
Assist 4: As pretty as the Desjardins assist was, it paled to Hossa's other Game 3 assist. Charging in on Roman Josi just seconds into the second period, Hossa left the puck for Toews on a big, fat silver platter. The Captain fired, Rinne had no chance, and the Hawks grabbed what turned out to be a short-lived 2-1 lead.
"Hossa made a great play by dropping that and trying to take away (Rinne's) eyes by being in that lane," Brent Seabrook said.
Assist 5: Hossa executed yet another drop pass, this time to Brandon Saad with 8:57 left in the third period of Game 4. Saad delivered to tie things up at 2-2 as the Hawks went on to win in triple overtime.
"He's a world-class player and even still at his age he dominates," Saad said.
At the ripe, old age of 36, it is important to appreciate Hossa while he's here. His teammates certainly do, even if he doesn't look like he did 10 years ago.
"Maybe his hairline changed a bit and his style," Bickell said, "but he's finding ways to be an elite (player just like) when he scored 40 goals a season. He's a guy that's an awesome guy to have on your team."
And an awesome linemate for for Toews, who has been skating with the 6-foot-1, 207-pound Slovak for much of the last three seasons.
"He still seems to have that passion, that burning desire to be the best," Toews said. "(He) makes it seem a lot easier than it really is.
"To think of where you'll be at if you have the chance to play as long as he has, how that might feel, I kind of cringe thinking about it. It is pretty impressive, and obviously he's always been a big part of our team since the day he got here and continues to do that."
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Marian Hossa by the numbers
0: Players with more goals than Hossa from 1997 draft class. The Sharks' Patrick Marleau trails Hossa by 30.
2: Slovakians with more NHL career points than Hossa (1,056). Stan Mikita (1,467) leads, followed by Paul Stastny (1,239).
12: Years he signed for when joining the Hawks on July 1, 2009. ... Also where he was picked in 1997 NHL draft by Ottawa. NHL.com Dream Draft panel voted Hossa best 12th pick of all-time.
14: Regular-season goals needed to hit 500 for career.
26: Average goals per full season since joining Hawks.
45: Career-high goals in one season (2002-03 with Ottawa)
100: Career-high points in one season (43G, 57A) with Atlanta in 2006-07.
176: Postseason games
531: Total goals, postseason (45) and regular season (486).