
There were a lot of compelling story lines in the series this year but none as compelling as Maria Hossa’s. For those of you who don’t know his story, here it is in a nutshell. Hossa ended up with the Atlanta Thrashers a couple of years ago in the Danny Heatly trade with Ottawa. He was not happy with the trade and never seemed happy playing in Atlanta. So with his contract coming up at the end of last year, Atlanta traded Hossa to Pittsburgh. He was happy he was going to have a chance to play for the cup and he did only to lose to Detroit in the finials last year. Since he was a free agent after the season he could sign anywhere that wanted him. Pittsburgh made him a multi year offer for big money, but he turned it down to sign a 1-year deal for less money to play for Detroit. The deal was for seven-years & $49 million with the Penguins but he instead opted for a one-year, $7.45 million contract. I actually admire that because he went against the norm and wanted to play to win not for the highest salary. But that was a slap in the face to the Penguins organ-I-zation. Also, to my knowledge, he is the first player to play in two consecutive cup finials with the same two teams and lose twice because he switched teams.
This is what Mr. Hossa had to say about his decision: "I don't regret it. It could be different circumstances if I signed with Pittsburgh. They probably would've signed some other players and been a different team. We could sit here for hours discussing this. It could've been a different team, so I don't regret it."

It was a long season, but as usual it ended with a lot of excitement and some good hockey being played. Now the Lord Stanley’s Cup will go around the world and visit each member of the Penguins hometown before it comes back in the fall for the start of the next season. Maybe, just maybe, the Thrashers will be relevant again next year!
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