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Hossa won't play in 2017-18

CarltonTheBear

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Friedman touched on this in his 30 Thoughts that dropped late last night, but Chicago's confirmed it this morning:

Statement from Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa:
Over the course of the last few years, under the supervision of the Blackhawks medical staff, I have been privately undergoing treatment for a progressive skin disorder and the side effects of the medications involved to treat the disorder. Due to the severe side effects associated with those medications, playing hockey is not possible for me during the upcoming 2017-18 season. While I am disappointed that I will not be able to play, I have to consider the severity of my condition and how the treatments have impacted my life both on and off the ice.

The Chicago Blackhawks organization, including Rocky Wirtz, John McDonough and Stan Bowman, and my agent, Ritch Winter, have been very supportive throughout this entire process. I would also like to thank my teammates and the amazing Blackhawks fans for their understanding. With respect to the privacy of my family, I will not be commenting any further on my health.

https://www.nhl.com/blackhawks/news/medical-update-on-marian-hossa/c-290029810

Boy, sure is funny this happened the same year his salary drops to $1mil for the next 4 seasons. Enjoy Robidas island.
 
Well, the Leafs put players on Robidas island- those players seemed to want to play but the Leafs said "enjoy your paycheck and go away".  In this case, it sounds much more like Hossa saying he'd rather not play for a paltry $1M salary.  Team just avoids heavy cap penalty of "retirement" by saying he can't play for medical reasons and voila, he's on LTIR and Chicago can go above the cap.

NOTE:  I am not questioning the validity of his medical condition or trying to be insensitive about it.  It may very well be serious etc- at the end of the day, Hossa is probably thinking why deal with the issues associated with it if I'm only going to collect $1M in actual salary.
 
You'd think that if they were going to come up with a story like this one they'd probably have a ton of documentation behind it because otherwise, yeah, it is going to set off some smell detectors.
 
But that was the point of these contracts years back, right?  Like, the only reason the last year or 2 were tacked on was to lower the cap hit, and it was unlikely that they'd choose to play them out.
 
Frank E said:
But that was the point of these contracts years back, right?  Like, the only reason the last year or 2 were tacked on was to lower the cap hit, and it was unlikely that they'd choose to play them out.

He has FOUR years left at $1mil each. His cap hit for his 12-year deal was just $5.275mil. If you ignore those tacked on years it would have been an 8-year contract with a cap hit of $7.41mil.
 
Coco-puffs said:
NOTE:  I am not questioning the validity of his medical condition or trying to be insensitive about it.  It may very well be serious etc- at the end of the day, Hossa is probably thinking why deal with the issues associated with it if I'm only going to collect $1M in actual salary.

This is how I see it to.  I believe the condition to be real, but why fight through it when the salary isn't worth it and the team appears in decline.
 
AvroArrow said:
Coco-puffs said:
NOTE:  I am not questioning the validity of his medical condition or trying to be insensitive about it.  It may very well be serious etc- at the end of the day, Hossa is probably thinking why deal with the issues associated with it if I'm only going to collect $1M in actual salary.

This is how I see it to.  I believe the condition to be real, but why fight through it when the salary isn't worth it and the team appears in decline.

He might enjoy playing in the NHL.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Frank E said:
But that was the point of these contracts years back, right?  Like, the only reason the last year or 2 were tacked on was to lower the cap hit, and it was unlikely that they'd choose to play them out.

He has FOUR years left at $1mil each. His cap hit for his 12-year deal was just $5.275mil. If you ignore those tacked on years it would have been an 8-year contract with a cap hit of $7.41mil.

I was mistaken on the time remaining, but my overall point stands...he signed one of those deals with likely very little intention of playing it out.

I mean, I don't get out of bed for $1m a year.

 
Deebo said:
AvroArrow said:
Coco-puffs said:
NOTE:  I am not questioning the validity of his medical condition or trying to be insensitive about it.  It may very well be serious etc- at the end of the day, Hossa is probably thinking why deal with the issues associated with it if I'm only going to collect $1M in actual salary.

This is how I see it to.  I believe the condition to be real, but why fight through it when the salary isn't worth it and the team appears in decline.

He might enjoy playing in the NHL.

He also might hate it.
 
AvroArrow said:
Deebo said:
AvroArrow said:
Coco-puffs said:
NOTE:  I am not questioning the validity of his medical condition or trying to be insensitive about it.  It may very well be serious etc- at the end of the day, Hossa is probably thinking why deal with the issues associated with it if I'm only going to collect $1M in actual salary.

This is how I see it to.  I believe the condition to be real, but why fight through it when the salary isn't worth it and the team appears in decline.

He might enjoy playing in the NHL.

He also might hate it.

Yeah he might.

You asked why he would play for $1M, I just gave a suggestion as to why he might want to.
 
AvroArrow said:
Deebo said:
AvroArrow said:
Coco-puffs said:
NOTE:  I am not questioning the validity of his medical condition or trying to be insensitive about it.  It may very well be serious etc- at the end of the day, Hossa is probably thinking why deal with the issues associated with it if I'm only going to collect $1M in actual salary.

This is how I see it to.  I believe the condition to be real, but why fight through it when the salary isn't worth it and the team appears in decline.

He might enjoy playing in the NHL.

He also might hate it.

Ok but you asked why he'd play below market value despite his condition and assuming NHL players, especially one who seem as hard working as Hosea, like their profession isn't really going out on a limb. Whether it's true or not it's a fair reason to throw out as a possibility.
 
Deebo said:
You asked why he would play for $1M, I just gave a suggestion as to why he might want to.

Fair enough - I had intended that it be a rhetorical question that was pointing out that between the condition, the salary, and state of the team, it was obviously not worth fighting through.  Clearly it did not come off that way.  Apologies for my response.
 
Hossa not the only one with skin disorder.  Affects/affected many athletes in general, too:

Dermatologists who talked to the Tribune were clear they were not attempting to diagnose Hossa, but they said hockey players who suffered such skin conditions decades ago likely had contact dermatitis ? a red, itchy rash caused by an allergen coming into contact with the skin.

The best way to eliminate the condition is to avoid the allergen. But if it's in a professional athlete's gear or uniform, that can be trickier.

"If it's unclear what he's allergic to do, it would be hard to avoid something you don't know to avoid," said dermatologist Amy Derick, who is on staff at Northwestern and University of Chicago and runs a private practice. "It perpetuates itself because the skin never heals with playing hockey every day."

In the case of hockey players such as Hossa, dermatologists said a contributing factor could be the many required pieces of equipment that rub on the skin and cause small breaks in the tissue with friction and sweat. That creates exposure for chemicals found in clothing and equipment to seep in. The chemicals don't cause the problem but can act as stimuli to an allergic reaction.

Open sores can lead to bacterial infections, adding another difficulty for the patient.

Because of the many hours wearing the gear in practice and games, the problem can perpetuate. Minimizing friction through a protective sleeve and moisture-wicking fabric can help.

Prescription creams, steroids and immune-suppressing medication are sometimes administered for relief. Treatments typically wouldn't have immediate side effects that would impede athletic performance, but some medications can be intolerable ? such as causing nausea ? for some patients.

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-93912818/


 

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