Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Montreal — Marian Hossa wasn’t feeling it. The Thrashers had just played Montreal even through three periods and five minutes of overtime. It was time for the shootout.Don Waddell turned to Hossa to see if the Thrashers star forward still wanted to be the second shooter, just like he was all of last season when he scored five shootout goals.
But surprisingly, one of the most prolific scorers in the NHL declined.
“Don asked me and I said, ‘I don’t think I should go in this time. I just don’t feel it,’” Hossa said.
And lately, that’s how it’s been going for the Thrashers. They’re winning without Hossa’s scoring.
After scoring twice in the first four games, Hossa hasn’t registered a single point in two weeks. But the goal-scoring struggles go back further than that.
In his last 20 games, including the playoffs, he has four goals. For a guy who expects to approach 40 goals each season, that’s not exactly the ideal pace.
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Marian Hossa? Underperforming? Someone’s got to be pulling my leg here. How is it possible that Marian Hossa is on pace to get even fewer points than he did in his rookie season? Hossa, who tallied a mere 15 goals and 15 assists in 60 games with the Ottawa Senators in 1999 is suddenly on pace to get a mere 18 goals and 9 assists this season. That’s a little bit of a dropoff from the remarkable career-high 43 goals and 100 points last season?
Put into account the fact Hossa is in a contract year seems to make absolutely no sense. Hossa, who, along with Ilya Kovalchuk is seen as the blood and lifeforce that drives the Atlanta ship has suddenly run dry. The only thing that would attribute to the disgruntled Czech’s performance is the fact that his Thrashers are in last place in the NHL and is tired of playing for a pretender and wants to play for a contender.
And can you blame Hossa? He played on an Atlanta team that was crowned Southeast Division champions only one season ago and then withered to a four-game sweep at the hands of the New York Rangers. Then his team shriveled to six straight losses to start the season which resulted in the firing of head coach Bob Hartley. And then the team’s starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen was placed on the IR for yet another groin injury. Simply put, it’s looking like we’re not going to see a championship season from the Thrash anytime soon…
Like European counterpart Alexander Ovechkin, Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk want to play on good teams. They want to contend for the Stanley Cup, and when their 100-point efforts are not doing enough for the team to make it to the show, there’s frustration. Hossa is simply frustrated with the Atlanta attitude that the team may be heading for another rebuild.
Could it lead to a trade? Maybe. Personally, I’d be frothing at the mouth to have the chance to land Marian Hossa; he’s an all-star forward with a winning attitude. Hossa has been a healthy player throughout his career, having missed only twelve games in the last seven seasons. A right-winger with speed, skill and a lethal shot… this sounds like a guy who would tear it up with the Sedin twins or Markus Naslund.
However, making 6M this season begs the question of whether or not the Canucks can afford him, or even if Hossa wants a trade out of the ATL.
