Pittsburgh Penguins Throwback Thursday: Revisiting the Marian Hossa Deal
February 28, 2008, with the hours to the trade deadline fast approaching the Pittsburgh Penguins had already swung one deal acquiring Hal Gill for Second and Fifth round draft picks from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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Former Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero was fervently working the phones for one last big splash. Unbeknownst to most of the fans in Pittsburgh this piece would be the biggest trade deadline acquisition since Rick Tocchet in 1992.
The Pittsburgh Penguins shocked the entire hockey world that Thursday afternoon. Ray Shero had pulled off the coup of the decade and pried Marian Hossa (and who many at the time labeled a throw in Pascal Dupuis) from the Atlanta Thrashers for Colby Armstrong (Pen’s first round pick in 2001), Angelo Esposito (Pen’s first round pick in 2007), Erik Christensen (Pen’s third round pick in 2002), and a first round pick that was later used to draft Daultan Leveille.
At the time it was thought that the price was steep because in essence the Pittsburgh Penguins were giving up three first round picks and a third round pick for a rental of Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis. This was reinforced by the fact that while Esposito’s star had begun to dull it was still possible that he could become a future star. Armstrong was Sidney Crosby’s best friend and was scoring at about a .54 PPG clip for his NHL career, Christensen was a shootout specialist who scored the occasional big goal and was good for .46 PPG in his career at that point.
The Penguins were giving up two NHL players averaging a combined point per game and two futures.
In realty, what the Penguin’s gave up was much less than first glance. Christiansen would go on to score a total of 90 points over the next six and a half seasons and was last seen in the KHL. Armstrong would score 100 points over the next five and half seasons and is currently a sportscaster in his native Canada. Esposito would have multiple knee injuries and flame out before reaching the NHL and Daultan Leveille would also never reach the NHL.
Hossa had a minor injury to his MCL in his first game as a Penguin and missed the next six games. However, he then came back to score 10 points in his last 11 regular season games with the Pens and added 26 points in 20 playoff contests. Hossa has scored 408 points in 471 games since the 2008-09 season.
Dupuis scored 12 points in 16 regular season games that year and 7 points in 20 playoff contests. The real kicker to the deal is that since the deal was consummated Pascal Dupuis has scored 243 points in 434 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, or over 50 points more than Christiansen and Armstrong would notch in the remainder of their careers. These stats do not include his work ethic, motor, and leadership that has been provided in the seven and a half years since.
For all of Shero’s faults, this deal should be considered his gold standard, and really the gold standard in NHL deals over the last decade. Shero gave up what amounted to a few broken down cars and some used tires for a superstar winger who nearly rode shotgun with Sidney Crosby to a Stanley Cup victory and one of the most beloved players in Pittsburgh Penguins history.
Marian Hossa chose to move on to the Detroit Red Wings later that summer declining the seven-year, $7 million contract offer that was on the table from the Penguins. This July 1 marked the date that contract would have ended, who knows how the last seven years would have played out with Marian Hossa in tow, that’s a story for another day.
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