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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 2:10 PM

Hossa off to Windy City

Eric Duhatschek

The Chicago Blackhawks landed Marian Hossa today today with the free-agent push in Chicago once again coming from team president John McDonough, who was the driving force behind last year’s two prominent free-agent signings, Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet, neither of whom provided good value for the money.

Hossa should be a much better buy - less money against the cap and a far better track record than either Campbell or Huet who, one year after the fact, are problems for the team going forward.

Campbell, at a $7.1-million annual salary-cap charge on one of the most expensive contracts in the NHL, is virtually untradable, as is Huet, at $5.625-million. Thankfully for the Blackhawks, they’ll get one more year of high-end production for reasonable dollars from their young nucleus – Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane - and two more from Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. When they all need to get raises, in the next 12 to 24, that’s when the problems will ensue.

Swapping Hossa into Martin Havlat’s place on the roster won’t be quite the issue that the Campbell and Huet signings because Havlat knocked down a $6-million salary-cap charge last year. Hossa’s number will come in just a shade over $5-million on the sort of 12-year contract that is becoming all the more common in today’s NHL.

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Globe On Hockey Contributors

David Shoalts

David Shoalts, a native of Wainfleet, Ont., joined The Globe in 1984 as a layout and copy editor in the sports section. He attended the University of Waterloo and Conestoga College. After graduating from Conestoga with a journalism diploma in 1978, Shoalts worked at the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, and later the Toronto Sun.

In 1986, Shoalts went back to the writing side of the business. He was the CFL reporter for The Globe for four years and then switched to hockey. He has covered the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL ever since and became a hockey columnist in 2003. Among the most memorable events Shoalts has covered are the final hockey game at the old Chicago Stadium (between the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks) and the men's and women's gold-medal hockey games at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He is also the author of a book of humour, Tales From The Toronto Maple Leafs, and co-author with retired Globe columnist William Houston of Greed and Glory, The Fall of Hockey Czar Alan Eagleson.

 
Allan Maki

Allan Maki

Allan Maki joined the Globe in 1997, after spending 19 years as a reporter and columnist at the Calgary Herald. Born in Thunder Bay, Ont., Maki graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 1977.

A past president of the Football Writers of Canada, Maki has covered every Grey Cup since 1980. He's been to seven Olympic Games and covered everything from rodeos to the World Series to the Super Bowl.

A regular commentator on radio and television, Maki hosted a sports program for two years on CBC Newsworld. He has won several awards for his writing and was nominated for a National Newspaper Award in 1995.

 
Eric Duhatschek

Eric Duhatschek

Eric Duhatschek was the winner of the Hockey Hall Of Fame's Elmer Ferguson award for "distinguished contributions to hockey writing" in 2001. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario's grad school of journalism, he began covering hockey in 1978 and after spending 20 years covering the NHL and the Calgary Flames, joined globeandmail.com in September, 2000, where he writes a five-time-a-week NHL column.

A frequent contributor to Hockey Night in Canada's Satellite Hot Stove segment, he has covered four Winter Olympics, 19 Stanley Cup finals, every Canada Cup and World Cup since 1981, plus two world championships. Most recently, he was appointed as the newest member of the Hockey Hall Of Fame's annual Selection Committee.