No joke — Hossa fits in nicely
Red Wings laugh right along with their new star
DETROIT — He is a prankster, this Marian Hossa, a big kid. He’ll get you on an elevator, distract you from getting off on your floor, then laugh at you when you figure it out.
But instead of getting angry, you find yourself laughing with him, because well, he’s Marian Hossa.
He has played for the Red Wings for a month now, and in that time has looked like the most brilliant signing of the summer. He’s on pace for some 40 goals, 60-odd assists and more than 100 points, and he’s doing all that while playing so hard in his own end he often leaves his teammates breathless.
Of course the Wings had seen Hossa, a veteran of nine seasons, before signing him. But he’d always been with an Eastern Conference team, so the look-sees happened maybe twice a year, which is why experiencing him up close, every day, every game, has been such a delightful revelation.
“I knew he was a really good player when he got here, but I didn’t realize that he was this good,” Niklas Kronwall said. “I mean, he’s so strong on the puck, even just going against him in practice, it’s amazing how strong he is.
“And then not only is he just an unbelievable player, but the type of person he is, I mean, he is just the nicest guy to everyone. He’s not cocky. He’s not one of those divas that some great players are.”
Not a diva, just deadly with the puck. Hossa is 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, and uses every bit of his size to protect the puck. He’s also a nimble skater, and a quick thinker.
For example: On Oct. 24 against the Thrashers, Hossa picked up the puck just inside Atlanta’s blue line, cut in off the left flank and faked a shot before dragging the puck around ex-Wings defenseman Mathieu Schneider and popping it into an empty net.
That was one of eight goals Hossa scored during his first 13 games, for a total of 17 points. He failed to register a point only twice in those 13 games.
“He’s just so talented, and he works so hard,” coach Mike Babcock said. “He’s good without the puck. He’s so big, and so strong, and I think that’s the biggest difference between him and our other guys — what are you going to do to him?”
Part of the appeal of the Wings, Hossa said, “is that I like the setup of the team. Every line has something special, along with the defense and goaltending. I like learning from the older guys here, like Nick Lidstrom and Chris Chelios, future Hall of Famers. You don’t have that on other teams, because they don’t have those types of players. Even at their age they work hard, they stay after practice.”
In turn, Hossa has infused the Wings with the type of energy that is often missing on a team coming off a Stanley Cup win.
“He’s brought excitement, and we haven’t been an excited group,” Babcock said. “That’s one of the things that you really cherish, is his energy, and I think Pavel [Datsyuk] and Homer [Tomas Holmstrom] have been caught up in that.”
Hossa was put on a line with Datsyuk and Holmstrom at the start of camp, and the three practically shouldered the team through October, finishing the month among the top-five offensive producers.
“I can shoot more, and I can be faster, because Hossa is faster,” Datsyuk said. “And he backchecks, so that give me more rest, because he is so good at backcheck.”
Any offensively gifted player would fit in on Datsyuk’s wing, but the line is a success because, like Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, Hossa is a demon at both ends of the ice.
“It’s funny, all our best offensive players are our best defensive players,” Dan Cleary said. “We’re very fortunate to have that. That rubs off on everybody, and nobody tries to cut any corners because those guys don’t.”
Hossa is always on the lookout for a way to “get” a friend. Last month the Wings were on a long trip, and at one point he was in an elevator with Tomas Kopecky.
“He comes up with stupid stuff to do,” Kopecky said. “He knows I was on the 15th floor, and he just pushed 16th and then he started talking to me to distract me, so I have to go up and then back down. Stupid stuff like that, he loves it.”
