What The Hossa Deal Means to The Blackhawks' Future

On Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that they had signed All-Star wing Marian Hossa, formerly of the Detroit Red Wings, to a 12-year contract that carries an annual salary cap figure around $5.2 million.

This deal carries a ton of implications on the Blackhawks, and the monetary obligations are the least of them.

The first, and most obvious, reults are related. Oft-injured wing Martin Havlat, who reportedly has a strong offer from the Los Angeles Kings, won't be back in Chicago. But he's been more than adequately replaced by a player that has averaged 82 points and 40 goals over the last six seasons.

Secondly, by adding both Hossa and Tomas Kopecky, coupled with goalie Ty Conklin signing with St. Louis, the defending division and Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings have become significantly weaker.

Granted, they still have names like Datysuk and Cleary skating in the red sweaters, but their leading goal scorer and backup goaltender have defected, both to division rivals. It's not a good day in Detroit.

Third, and most importantly, this deal is more of an organizational move by the Hawks that has Scotty Bowman's name written all over it.

The concern for many Hawks fans has been, and still is, how the team keeps its young nucleus in one piece. With the likely lowering salary cap next summer, every team is going to need to become creative moving forward, and the youngest team in the league is far from an exception.

This summer, the Hawks are still looking at needing to re-sign winger Kris Versteeg and defender Cam Barker, who are restricted free agents. They have already put pen to paper with center Dave Bolland on a five-year deal with a cap number around $3.3 million.

In 12 months, the Hawks will be looking at Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane as restricted free agents. Brent Seabrook follows a year after that with a contract that stands to expire.

Look at the deals of Bolland and Hossa as parameters, not contracts. With all the young, talented players ready to negotiate their career pay days, the Hawks have established a framework within which the rest of the contracts can, and will, be negotiated.

In Bolland, a younger player that the organization (specifically Bowman) is reportedly head-over-heels in love with, the Hawks gave a nice contract based largely on promise to set one standard.

In Hossa, an established superstar and elite scorer, the team has set another.

Now, Bowman and General Manager Dale Tallon can approach all of the budding stars on the roster and show them a range within which the team is willing to negotiate. The theory, and committment, is that there is now a ten-year window within which the team intends to become a Stanley Cup contender.

While the loss of Havlat is certainly one the fans will feel in their hearts, there is a very distinct difference between he and Hossa: Havlat has a resume loaded with injuries, while Hossa has been very durable.

If the Hawks had committed to Havlat, there were viable arguing points that agents for players like Versteeg, Toews, and Kane could have made that one of those young players had something more valuable to the franchise than Havlat.

Kane and Toews were All Stars last year, something Havlat cannot claim. And all three have been able to stay relatively healthy in their young careers. Toews was, at just 20 years old, named the team's captain last year.

By adding Hossa, who has been in consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, there is little debate about who is the most accomplished forward on the roster. He's a four-time All-Star with Hall of Fame scoring credentials.

So the bars have been set. Bowman and Tallon can now approach the agents for players like Keith, Seabrook, Toews, Kane, Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, and more and give them two benchmarks between which they can negotiate.

The Blackhawks have drawn a deep line in the sand that many observers likely overlooked when they inked this deal. Somewhere between Bolland's contract and Hossa's is where all of these young stars have their leverage to fight for dollars.

So, warm up the "Chelsea Dagger", and make sure the red light bulbs behind the goals at the United Center are warm, because they're going to get plenty of use in the next decade. Hossa joins an already potent offense that figures to make the Blackhawks relevant for a long, long time.

Hopefully, the next time Hossa makes the Cup Finals, he has a better result.