Chicago Blackhawks' Hossa makes it official
When the Chicago Blackhawks announced that Marian Hossa would miss the 2017-18 season with a skin condition, most experts figured that was the end of his hockey career.
On Saturday, Hossa made that assumption official.
"I will not play hockey anymore," Hossa told a Slovakian newspaper. "I have a valid contract with Chicago for the next three years, but I have only one health and it does not allow me to return."
Hossa recently put his Gold Coast condo up for sale, but he may one day return to Chicago as he told the newspaper that he could at some point accept a job in the Hawks organization.
Unless the Blackhawks find a trade partner that wants to get to the salary-cap floor, they still will feel some of the brunt of Hossa's $5.275 million cap hit. Last season they placed Hossa on long-term injured reserve on the first day of the season.
General manager Stan Bowman never really got much benefit out of it, though, because the team struggled so badly after Corey Crawford was injured in late December.
The Hawks signed Hossa to a 12-year, $63.3 million contract during the 2009 off-season. It will go down as perhaps the best signing in franchise history.
"He's the most classy and humble person I think I've ever met," Bowman said on June 22, 2017, one day after the Hawks announced Hossa would miss the upcoming season. "Marian is probably the biggest reason that the culture here changed. When he came here (in 2009), we had a lot of young players. …
"Here we have Marian come in, and he handles every situation with the perfect amount of humility and class. He was a great role model for our players. Off the ice he helped establish a tradition and a culture here that's going to live on for decades and decades."
Hossa was asked in March 2016 if he's proud of what he has accomplished in the NHL.
"To tell you the truth, when I first started as … an 18-year-old in the league, I never thought about these numbers," said Hossa, who will finish with 525 goals and 609 assists in 1,309 regular-season games. "My goal was kind of (be able) to play in the NHL for a (while) and hopefully be good in it.
"I never thought in my head that I would play this long. … Obviously my dream was to win the Stanley Cup at least once."
Hossa scored 186 goals and had 229 assists in 534 games with the Blackhawks. He added another 21 goals and 52 assists in 107 playoff games in Chicago.
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