Everyone already knows that Marian Hossa will miss the 2017-2018 season but the Blackhawks still haven’t put him on Long-Term Injured Reserve. This decision has also indefinitely pushed back the July 1 deadline the NHL had for reaching a decision about handling Hossa’s contract.
The NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly responded to The Athletic’s Scott Powers in an email about the Blackhawks decision. “Chicago is not attempting to utilize LTI(R) during the offseason for Hossa and, as a result, the determination of whether it will be available next season is not a time-sensitive matter.”
People have been wondering why the NHL is going to make a ruling on Hossa being put on the LTIR. The precedence has been set and a move like this is not uncommon by NHL teams. Chris Pronger had been on the list for the last 5 years before officially retiring this offseason.
This seems like the Blackhawks are playing a game within the game and saying “We’ll wait until the season starts to put him on LTIR because you can’t change the rules then.”
We all have to wait to see what the Blackhawks and the NHL do until October but there will be tons of speculation until then. It’s unfortunate that the NHL finds the need to create drama around a sad situation for such an honorable player.
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