I just posted about this in the trade deadline thread but thought it was interesting enough that it deserved it's own thread. There's been rumours forever about Montreal trying to acquire Hossa at the 2008 deadline. I don't remember the whole story, but there was even some lore that his gloves were spotted in Montreal. There's an article in the Athletic today where Ray Shero, who worked for the Pens at the time and acquired Hossa, shares some details on that day. Here are the excerpts:
The rest of the Athletic's article on this is great. I also have some free passes still if anyone is interesting trialing the Athletic.
It's interesting to think about what could have been if Hossa had come to Montreal that year (and maybe signed an extension, however remote those chances would have been...). Montreal finished first in the conference that season. I wonder what Montreal's offer was.
Shero: The Marian Hossa deal was with one minute to go
...
Don Waddell thought he might have a deal with Montreal (for Marian Hossa). I called him or texted him at about 2:40 (Eastern). And he basically said, "Do you want to do this?"... And I said, "What's the deal?" Because we'd talked about a few different things. When we got the package, it was a first-round pick and two good roster players for us, Colby Armstrong and Eric Christensen, and our first-round pick the year before, Angelo Esposito. And Don's like, "Do we have a deal?"... I'm looking at our board and seeing we'd take out two roster forwards. I'm like ... I need a forward. He goes, "What about Pascal Dupuis?"
...
I put him on hold. And I have Mario on my office phone.
I said "Here's the deal. I'll go as quick as I can..."
"Ray if you like the deal let's do it."
I said: "It's a big risk..."
He said: "Ray, I'm a risk taker. I bought this team out of bankruptcy."
With about one minute to go, I hang up and Chuck Fletcher (then Pittsburgh's assistant GM) is right there and he's got the fax line. I say "We have a deal, Chuck. Hurry up!" And it goes through.
The rest of the Athletic's article on this is great. I also have some free passes still if anyone is interesting trialing the Athletic.
It's interesting to think about what could have been if Hossa had come to Montreal that year (and maybe signed an extension, however remote those chances would have been...). Montreal finished first in the conference that season. I wonder what Montreal's offer was.
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