The 'Hossa Itchies'

(First posted on HockeyInsideOut, JUNE 21, 2017 AT 3:40 PM)

RE: Ex-NHLer Marian Hossa: 'I will not play hockey anymore'

–Mario Tremblay also retired in 1986, just before the Canadiens’ Stanley Cup run, because of that skin rash that Marian Hossa is said to be suffering from. It was described to the fans as being eczema, but not really eczema.  It drove him crazy, he couldn't sleep at night, got worse the longer he wore equipment, no matter what he did to the gear, or what doctors tried. 

He retired just short of the number of games he needed to qualify for a pension bonus, and I remember him plaintively declaring while being interviewed on Radio-Canada that he'd appeal to NHLPA czar Alan Eagleson to see if an exception could be made in his case.  We can all imagine how that went.

–Ray Ferraro did a guest spot on TSN 1040 Vancouver and brought up the equipment angle. In the olden days, with equipment made largely of felt, leather and cotton, things would get mouldy and funky pretty quick, it was a perfect situation for bacteria and fungus to grow. Nowadays with modern materials you can throw pretty much all your equipment in the washer except for your skates maybe.

–Some more cynical fans might believe that it’s convenient for the Hawks that Marian Hossa has to retire/LTIR now, when the backdiving years of his contract kick in, and he can come off the salary cap. When he was about to play for $1M per year for the next four years. And it was arguably the plan for him to retire for those four years all along, before Gary came in and changed the rules with his cap recapture nonsense.

But we at HIO will choose to celebrate his career rather than hype a conspiracy theory and tarnish his career with any putative skulduggery.