Pens pull blockbuster deal, land Hossa

The NHL trade deadline came and passed today, and the Pittsburgh Penguins officially threw their hat into the ring of serious Stanley Cup contenders, acquiring Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis from the Atlanta Thrashers and Hal Gill from the Toronto Maple Leafs. In exchange, we gave the Thrashers Colby Armstrong, Erik Christansen, Angelo Esposito, and 2008 1st round pick; and the Leafs got two mid to late round draft picks.

The Thrashers trade has drawn some mixed reactions from Pittsburgh fans, many of whom are upset about the deal because we gave away two fan favorites in Armstrong and Christansen. Colby was much loved by Pittsburgh fans because he played with a lot of heart despite a skinny frame, and had a fun personality off the ice. Christansen was loved because he was decent at shootouts, I guess. There is also worry that we gave up too much with two first round draft picks for a player (Hossa) who will be a free agent after this season. I am here to say that these fans are the same Pittsburgh fans that say the Pirates are gonna turn around before every single season: misguided.

The Hossa acquistion turns the Pens from a team that makes the playoffs and loses in 5 games (like last season) to a team that has the ability to make a serious Stanley Cup run. He is a major goal scoring threat over his career with Ottawa and Atlanta, and he has seen improvement in almost all of his seasons, meaning he may have yet to hit his peak. Just imagine these top 2 scoring lines:
1) Malkin (35 G 47 A) Sykora (20 G 26 A) Malone (20 G 18 A)
2) Crosby (20 G 43 A; missed last 5 weeks) Hossa (26 G 27 A) ???

You could put Mr. Potato Head on that second line alongside Crosby and Hossa and that would still be an amazing lineup. This trade allows that #1 line that has played so well together since Crosby got hurt in January to remain intact when he comes back, and pairs one of the better goal scorers in the league with the best passer in the league. This also helps our already dangerous power play and strengthens our very weak penalty killing (all three acquired players are regarded as good PKers). This is exactly the kind of deal the Pens and GM Ray Shero needed to pull off to send a message to everyone in the East, including our own team, that this years playoffs will be different. It's a very exciting time to be a hockey fan in Pittsburgh.