Elliotte Friedman from Sportsnet in Canada reported late Tuesday night that Marian Hossa’s career may be over. He heard this from several sources but Hossa nor his agent, Ritch Winter, could be reached and the Blackhawks declined to comment.
Apparently Hossa suffers from a serious allergic reaction to the equipment he wears. According to the sources, this is no joke and stressed that “it’s only funny to anyone who’s never had it.” Hossa was reportedly giving blood tests every few weeks because the potency of the medication can cause major side effects. The doctors worried about Hossa taking the medication for an extended period of time and it may be what causes him to retire.
Because people care more about money than other people, this of course comes with controversy when looking at Hossa’s contract. About 94% of his front-loaded contract has been paid as he would only make $1 million per year, the next four seasons. He still accounts for a $5.275 million cap hit per season.
Hossa’s retirement would not allow the Blackhawks to just shed his contract though. Because of the CBA signed in 2013, the organization would have to pay “cap recapture” penalties. That would be $3.675 million of the cap number through 2020-2021 when his contract expires. The Blackhawks are up against the salary cap already and this isn’t a penalty they can afford to be paying.
There is one catch. The Blackhawks could put Hossa on long-term injured reserved. According to CapFriendly.com, this provides salary cap relief if the club’s average salary begins to exceed the upper limit.
Other organizations may have problems with this but it is not an uncommon practice in the NHL. The Arizona Coyotes used the long-term injured reserve on Chris Pronger all of last season. Most fans probably didn’t even know that he was still a contracted NHL player.
This isn’t the way anyone’s career should end and this would be terrible for the future Hall Of Famer. Hossa still has gas left in the tank and we wish him the best in his efforts to return.
Follow @Pappy_Hour on Twitter for more Blackhawks news and musings.
