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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 12:25 PM

Will Oilers go after Hossa again?

Eric Duhatschek

A couple of early thoughts as the free-agent frenzy is under way: If indeed the Detroit Red Wings’ last-ditch efforts to sign Marian Hossa to a long-term contract did fail, you’d have to think that the Edmonton Oilers will be pushing hard to convince him to join them again.

Edmonton made the most lucrative offer last year – willing to give up money and term to get him – and there’d a certain symmetry to landing Hossa rather than Dany Heatley as the big fish that they’re seeking to upgrade their top line. After all, Hossa was swapped for Heatley back in August of 2005, when he demanded a trade out of Atlanta.

Hossa is probably the more well-rounded of the two, and the advantage of signing him is you don’t have to give up anything in return. In the proposed deal with Ottawa for Heatley, the Oilers would have given up a player that they would like to ship away (Dustin Penner), but they would have also had to surrender a player that they had hoped to stick around (Andrew Cogliano).

As for Toronto, last week an NHL GM told me that he figured his Leafs’ counterpart, Brian Burke, would have both Chris Neil and Travis Moen locked up within the first 24 hours of free agency – and that they would be two-thirds of Toronto's third line next year. Let’s see if he turns out to be right.

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Globe On Hockey Contributors

Eric Duhatschek

Eric Duhatschek

Eric 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 The Globe in 2000. Eric has covered four Winter Olympics, 19 Stanley Cup finals, every Canada Cup and World Cup since 1981, plus two world championships.

 
Allan Maki

Allan Maki

Allan joined The Globe in 1997 after spending 19 years as a reporter and columnist at the Calgary Herald. Born in Thunder Bay, he graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 1977. A past president of the Football Writers of Canada, Allan 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.

 

James Mirtle

James Mirtle joined The Globe as an editor and reporter in the sports department in 2005 and now covers the Toronto Maple Leafs. A graduate of Ryerson University and Thompson Rivers University, he has written about hockey from junior on up the past decade and has a background in new media, statistical analysis and blogging. You can follow him on Twitter here.

 

Matthew Sekeres

Matthew is The Globe's national sports correspondent in B.C., covering the Canucks, Lions and other sports happenings on the west coast. Montreal-born and Ottawa-raised, Matthew is a graduate of Carleton University's School of Journalism. He has worked at four metropolitan dailies and for TSN. Matthew has covered the Beijing Olympics, three Super Bowls, the NBA Finals, nine Grey Cups and the Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

David Shoalts

A native of Wainfleet, Ont., David 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 in 1978, he worked at the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, and later the Toronto Sun. He has covered the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL since 1990 and became a hockey columnist in 2003.

 

Darren Yourk

Darren is the editor of globesports.com and host of the Hockey Roundtable podcast.