By Ray Flowers
July 24, 2009 4:04pm CDT

The Blackhawks made a huge move this offseason coming from out of nowhere to sign high-scoring winger Marian Hossa to a massive 12-year deal for $62 million (you can read more about the deal in Frozen Pucks - Free Agent Edition, Part I), and as a result all was right in the world of Blackhawks hockey. The team was coming off a wonderful playoff run, youngsters Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane appeared to be on the brink of superstar status, Patrick Sharp's injured body appeared to be nearing full health (see Frozen Pucks - Health and Rumors), and Cristobal Huet was ready to hit the ice running as the club's full-time starter after sharing duties with Nikolai Khabibulin out of town (see Frozen Pucks - Signs and Signings). However, all good things must come to an end, and all of that goodwill was dealt a pretty significant blow when the club announced that Hossa will need surgery on his injured shoulder.


THE INJURY

Here is the news - Marian Hossa has an injured shoulder that will require surgery (he has a small tear in his right rotator cuff). The belief is that Hossa will likely miss the next four months, or roughly the first two months of the upcoming season.

"Marian's injury did not respond sufficiently to our non-operative treatment over the last three weeks so we have collectively decided [Thursday] to go ahead with the surgery," GM Stan Bowman said.

"Marian has a small right rotator cuff tear that he has been battling for a while and because he is not at 100 percent with non-operative treatment he is undergoing operative treatment [Friday]," Hawks team physician Michael Terry said. "With this type of tear we anticipate a four-month post-operative recovery period, after which we expect his shoulder to be 100 percent."

"After consulting with my family and the Blackhawks, I have no doubt that this is the correct decision," Hossa said.

The good news is that the team knew about his issue before they signed him to that 12-year deal, so you have to figure that the injury really won't be a long-term concern as there wouldn't be any chance in hell that the notoriously frugal club from Chicago would have lavished the longest deal in club history to a guy they didn't think they could count on physically. Regardless, this is still a big blow to the club and to fantasy gamers for the upcoming season.


FANTASY IMPLICATIONS

One word - ugh.

This is obviously a killer to Hossa's fantasy value, and the injury will not only knock him out of the top-25 overall selections it will likely knock him out of the top-25 options at the right wing position as well. Just how substantial a loss is it? Consider the following data points.

1- Hossa has scored at least 29 goals in each of the last nine seasons.

2- In five of the last six seasons he has recorded at least 71 points.

3- Since the start of the millennium Hossa is tied for 11th in the league with 630 games played.

4- Since the start of the millennium Hossa is third in the NHL in goal scoring with 295 markers. Only Jarome Iginla (318) and Ilya Kovalchuk (297) have lit the lamp more frequently.

5- Since the start of the millennium Hossa is fifth in the NHL in points with 632 and yes, that makes him a man who has averaged a point-per-game over the past eight seasons.

That is a lot of scoring for the 'Hawks to lose and for you to have to pass up on early in fantasy drafts this season.

Just where do we think that Hossa should be drafted given the current prognosis with his injury? We won't share that information quite yet. First off we'd like to hear a medical report or two about how things are progressing, and secondly that's why we have our 2009-10 NHL Draft Guide currently being put together by the hardest working fantasy hockey staff on the internet. Hey, we have to tease you with something on a rather slow Friday don't we?