I spent a large part of this season being pissed off at Marian Hossa for turning down a larger contract offer from Pittsburgh to sign a one-year deal with Detroit, because he felt he had a better chance there to win the cup. It was insulting to Pittsburgh and it’s fans, who felt they had a pretty good chance themselves of carrying around the big trophy all summer.

I went through the playoffs routing against Detroit for the same reason. I wanted him to regret joining the Red Wings. As it became apparent that the Pens themselves might actually make it to the dance, I began to push for the Wings to make it, too. How sweet would that be? The team he bailed out on beats him and the team he thought he had a better chance with.

Well, it happened exactly like that. Funny, though, how winning makes you charitable. Overnight, my feelings about Marian Hossa have changed. I started looking at his story more objectively. I began to realize that what he did was actually  the converse of what I have disliked about so many professional athletes that have left my favorite teams for more money elsewhere. We, as fans, make emotional investments into these players. And when they tell us again and again that money is more important that their teammates, the cities they represent and winning, well, we feel betrayed. It is personal to us on some level.

Hossa did leave the Penguins. But he did it for an admirable reason. He actually took less money for what he felt was a better chance to win. How often have you actually seen a player do that? So now I feel bad for him. Now, I feel bad that he wasn’t rewarded for his winning-over-money decision. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly wouldn’t have wanted this one to end any other way. But It would be nice some day to see a player that makes a similar decision have it work out for him.