OT- Hossa may have played through a torn rotator cuff.
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Report-Hossa-could-…
Apparently he may have torn his rotator cuff in either the 3rd or 4th round of the playoffs this year. I know a lot of us Red Wings fans soured on him during/after the playoffs, but playing through this kind of injury is tough. Props to him for playing through it, I guess.
This, people, is WHY HE COULDN'T SHOOT! He could drive the net and pass but couldn't raise his arms up to shoot.
Yeah I suspected something like this. I heard an interview with Kenny Holland on the NHL network after the finals, and I was surprised he didn't mention any injury to Hossa, because it sure looked like something was off to me. Like you said, he was strong on the puck, per usual, but just not effective shooting. Kudos to Hossa for not making excuses when, really, he probably had one.
I was just about to post the exact same thing. He looked terrible shooting the puck. No wonder he didn't perform as well as he should have. DAMN IT!
God damn you all to hell.
"I know a lot of us "media driven fans that can't look at statistics and figure out if he is a good player or not" fans soured on him during/after the playoffs
There, I fixed your typo in the above line.
when this was going to surface.
This may come off sounding bad but does this really absolve him? If he tore it in the 3rd or 4th round that would the Chicago or Pittsburgh series. He only had 6 goals in the whole playoffs. The last goals coming in game 4 against Chicago. If we assume that this is the game that he tore his rotatory cuff and forget about everything that happened after the injury. He still only scored 6 goals in 15 games. That is not even close to the production that the wings were hoping for.
i am glad we got rid of him. now our young guys can step up and become stars
yeah! awesome!
First of all, they didn't get rid of him. Ken Holland tried like hell to re-sign him but due to the cap, it wasn't possible. Second, you don't let a proven star go if you can help it, even if you have talented younger players that might or might not produce at the same level that Hossa did.
There is no way the Wings are better with Hossa gone.
we won the cup without him so i think were ok without him. what really worries me is loosing samuelson and possibly hudler
WTF. The wings are simply not better with Hossa leaving the team. Adding to that is he went to our rivals. You don't take a 40 goal scorer off a team and have them get better.
Goddammit.
I am so sick of people saying "we'll be better off without him," there's absolutely no way that the Wings will be better off without a perennial all star on the team. It's certainly not the end of the world, but anyone saying that this helps the team is either kidding themselves or a moron.
Well, we're not better off. But it does open up room for Leino and Abdelkador and you can't roll with a group of 30 somethings alone forever.
True, I agree. Its just I do not see Abdelkador becoming a great player. I see his potential being at best Dan Cleary. Now, that is a not a diss, its just nothing spectacular.
Leino is a player I can see becoming a poor mans Zetterberg. He is a high skill player, but lacks top end speed and quickness. I think his upside is higher then Justin Abdelkadors.
Overall, the losses of Samuelson, Hudler (not official yet), Hossa, and Kopecky will open room for the young and unproven guys. I hope this will inject some youth, hunger, and speed into the locker room at the very least.
I predict Wings are top 3 in the West next year even with the loss of those guys and the all important Ty Conklin. Jimmy Howard, lets see what you've got.
That sucks. Of course, Max Talbot had a torn labrum and that didn't stop him from notching two in the finals.
However, this is why the NHL, of all the professional leagues, has the most passion and is so exciting to watch. Lidstrom was injured. Hossa was apparently injured. Hell, Sergei Gonchar played through a torn MCL. And that's only to name a few.
Stevie Y's knee was attached only with hopes and dreams at one point
You can't shoot with a torn rotator cuff. It would be excruciatingly painful, not to mention nearly impossible. Wiki what it actually is. If someone rewatches the tape, I'm willing to bet he NEVER raised one of his arms above his shoulder.
Note: I know nothing about medicine/anatomy/etc.
From what I can gather from the athletes I know, torn rotator cuffs can range from no pain at all to not even being able to move your arm.
Given how poorly Hossa played offensively, it is likely more the latter than the former. Still, props to him for playing through it.
The only consolation about losing Hossa is that it gives us more cap space when Nick comes off the books next year. That is the only positive.
I never soured on Hoss. I kept saying something was wrong with him, and my friend kept saying he was fine and was just sucking.
I'd feel vindicated, except now that he's with Chicago I can't exactly jump around and be all like "see, he's awesome!"
I don't think people should sour on proven players even if they are 100% when then underperform for a year.
I'd point out that Evgeni Malkin was a disaster in the 2008 playoffs. Should Pittsburgh have soured on him and sent him packing? Obviously not. Pavel Datsyuk has also had some dreadful playoff years.
This type of injury would explain a lot about Hossa's production, but even if he was healthy I'd want him back without a moment's hesitation. He's a proven playoff performer.
Also... Hossa >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Franzen. I love Kenny, but man were his priorities effed up.
I agree Hossa is a better player than Franzen, however, I would also say Franzen fulfills a role Hossa does not, namely that of the true power forward. There would be a notable lack of physicality up front if he was not on the team. And, let's face it, Franzen has been unbelievably clutch in the playoffs for three years now.
Franzen's average cap number is $3.9 million and Hossa's average number with the Blackhawks is going to be $5.23 million. That's a pretty substantial difference and I don't think the two can really be compared apples to apples. They got Franzen and enough spare cap money for another solid contributor.
I have crazy respect for hockey players. I don't know if players in any other sport (even football) are willing to gut it out through injuries like they do.