Hossa gives Wings options

Last Thursday when four Red Wings came to Lansing to honor the National Guard, reporters were very curious about the player’s offseason with the Stanley Cup, their preseason training and their expectations for the year.

But I had one question on my mind for all of them — how excited are you for the addition of Marian Hossa? Hossa’s signing in the offseason shook up the hockey world, mostly because he decided to give up a long-term, high salary contract for a one-year deal with a team that could give him the best chance to win his first championship.

Last season, Hossa was a key offensive contributor to the Pittsburgh Penguins run to the Stanley Cup final. He scored 29 goals last year and is one goal shy of 300 on his career.

Hossa’s decision to sign with Detroit might have come from his near miss of winning the Cup last season. But regardless of his motives, Henrik Zetterberg was thrilled when he heard Hossa was coming to Detroit.

“It was great news,” Zetterberg said. “That’s a world-class player and he will fit into this team really well. I will say he was one of the best (players) in Pittsburgh last year and it’s going to be fun to have (him) in the Red and White.”

The addition of Hossa is going to bring about new options for head coach Mike Babcock.

Will he split up the duo of Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk — who at times look like they can read each others minds.

Or do you give Hossa a shot to play with Zetterberg or Datsyuk?

Either way, the Wings second line is going to be just as talented as many other NHL teams’ first lines.

Valtteri Filppula, a candidate to play with Hossa on the second line, is excited for the firepower Hossa will bring to the team.

“He’s a great player obviously,” Filppula said. “He’s fast, he’s strong and he has great hands. What team wouldn’t want a player like that? I think he’s going to really make the team better.”

With only 15 days until the regular season kicks off with an Original Six matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Hossa still has some time to get completely comfortable with the Wings system.

It’s no secret that Detroit is by far the best team in the NHL on paper. But with all the hype surrounding the Wings this offseason, lets just hope they don’t suffer the same fate as the Tigers.