A Quick Look Back: Why Penguin Fans Should Thank Marian Hossa

With the new season quickly approaching, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to take a look at how one man’s decision in the 2008 offseason affected the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Now, usually when discussing Marian Hossa’s potential impact on what the Penguins could’ve been if he had re-signed, the topic is typically focused on how his long-term contract would have affected the team’s salary cap and the ability to keep other free agents (both that season and this season). A few others talk about Hossa’s disappearing act in the playoffs for Detroit and his likely disappearance if he had played for the Penguins. On the other hand, I’m going to go in a bit of a different direction on this one.

In my eyes, there is one place where Hossa’s presence would’ve had a profound effect: the coaching situation. And why is that so important? Because one of the biggest factors in the Penguins late season turnaround and playoff excellence was the coaching change from Therrien to Bylsma!

I know what you’re thinking at this point: “I’m not sure where you’re going with this.” But stay with me a little bit longer. If you remember, before the coaching change which changed the Pens’ season, the team was mired in a big slump. It was pretty clear to those watching the games that the team had grown tired of Therrien’s antics and he was failing to motivate the players. The biggest problem? Motivation was supposed to be his one strength as a coach!

So where does Hossa fit into this? Well, I believe that with Marian Hossa on this team, there would’ve been no playoff scare (Pens were outside the playoff picture during this slump) and thus, there would not have been the needed coaching change to spur the team to a Cup win. With Hossa, the team ends up in the 5-7 seed and maybe pulls off an upset in round one, but that’s about it.

Why do I think this? The fact that management waited so long to make a change, even with things as bad as they were, which was a money issue. In the end, missing the playoffs would have cost the team more money than changing coaches, which is why the change finally occurred. If the team was going to make the playoffs, which they almost assuredly would have with Hossa playing on a line with Crosby, there was no way Therrien would have been fired, and with Therrien as coach, there was a snowball’s chance in hell that they would have won a Cup.

Now, with Bylsma as coach, the Pens have a bright future, although we will finally see how good of a coach he is. On the bright side for Pens fans, at least Bylsma system plays to the strengths of his team, unlike his predecessor’s system.