Marian Hossa and The Winged Wheel of Doom

Detroit Red Wings

Don't look now hockey fans but the team whose only serious competition on the way to the Stanley Cup last year came in the form of the Dallas Stars and Hasek's hip just lost nothing except for the aforementioned Mr. Hasek and added one of the best players in hockey in Mr. Marian Hossa. Why do other GM's even bother?

It doesn't matter who Hossa plays with, he's just good. Hossa had 56 points in 60 with Atlanta last season. In Detroit Hossa will be centered by either Datsyuk or the young and talented Valteri Filpulla. I would expect Detroit will spread its BIG 3 (Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Hossa) across two lines creating one of the following combinations:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Franzen-Filpulla-Hossa

or

Franzen-Datsyuk-Hossa
Zetterberg-Filpulla-Holmstrom

or

Zetterberg-Filpulla-Hossa
Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Either way Hossa's numbers should be ridiculous. I think, looking at the above, Filpulla stands to benefit the most from this acquisition (as Zetterberg and Datsyuk are already fantasy superstars). Slight boosts go also to Holmstrom and Franzen. Cleary I think gets the sort end of the stick here as he was starting to show some very good promise the last two seasons and will now spend the majority of his time playing on the third scoring line. Say goodbye to the powerplay unit Dan. Oh god... this powerplay!

A return to the 90 or 100 point arena for Hossa should not only be expected, but I think it would be a disappointment if he scored any less. Also, while Hossa's commitment to the defensive end of the game has been criticized in the past, he now finds himself playing with two of the best defensive forwards in the game in Datsyuk and Zetterberg, and in front of the best defense in the league (Lidstrom, Rafalski, Stuart, Kronwall are you serious!!!). His plus/minus should thus significantly improve.

This team might actually be better than you think. Scary huh?