Today’s News Clips June 21, 2017 Chicago Tribune What Marian Hossa's announcement means for Blackhawks' salary cap Chris Hine June 21, 2017 Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa is facing a serious health issue and will not play in the 2017-18 season because of what he called a "progressive skin disorder" and the severe side effects associated with the disease's medication. Hossa's announcement means the Blackhawks will be missing one of their top players from last season (26 goals, 19 assists), a Hall-of-Fame caliber player who had a rebound season at 38. It will also have major implications on the complicated salary-cap situation for the Hawks — and it may end up providing them with some cap relief, although they'd rather have a healthy Hossa playing for them. Hossa signed a 12-year, $63.3 million deal with the Hawks before the 2009-10 season. Most of the money in the contract was frontloaded and Hossa stands to make just $1 million in each of the final four seasons even though he carries a cap hit of $5.275 million. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, which was signed before the 2013 season, the league would punish such long-term contracts if the player were to retire before the contract expires. Teams can face harsh salary-cap recapture penalties if a player retires before the end of a long-term deal. This is why Hossa saying he will just miss next season — and not formally retiring — is so important to the cap situation. The Hawks are likely to place Hossa on long-term injured reserve and could get relief on the $75 million cap from his absence. In February 2015, the Hawks placed winger Patrick Kane on long-term injured reserve. That meant the Hawks were able to go over the cap in the amount of Kane's hit minus the amount of cap space they had previously to replace him on the roster so long as he was out during the regular season. The Hawks swung multiple trades after Kane's injury and brought in high-priced center Antoine Vermette at the trade deadline. Kane did not play the rest of the regular season and, because there is no salary cap in the playoffs, the Hawks were able to keep all those acquired players on the roster when Kane returned for the Stanley Cup-winning playoff run. The handling of Kane's injury and the cap machinations ruffled some feathers around the league. The situation is similar in Hossa's case. If Hossa goes on long-term injured reserve, the Hawks should be able to go over the cap in the amount of Hossa's cap hit minus the amount of cap space they have going into the season to replace him. Cynics are likely to say this is just another questionable way in which the Hawks are going to circumvent the cap. Other teams have employed this tactic in the past, like Chris Pronger with the Flyers and they Coyotes when they acquired Pronger's rights. The Hawks have to be cap compliant only by the first day of the regular season, meaning they can sign someone and be over the cap by 10 percent ($7.5 million) until the day of the first game. They will likely put Hossa on long-term injured reserve just before the season. He could stay there for the remainder of his contract without ever formally retiring. With the Hawks likely sending center Marcus Kruger to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft, the Hawks may end up with around $6 million in cap space entering free agency, making them a player in the market come July 1. Chicago Tribune Thanks for your excellence, Marian Hossa Steve Rosenbloom June 21, 2017 Whoever heard of such a thing? A hockey player developing an allergic reaction to his own hockey equipment? Excuse me? It’s true, apparently. It’s also stunning and sad. Surefire Hall-of-Famer Marian Hossa will miss this season and might be forced to retire from the Blackhawks because of a progressive skin disease. Whoever heard of such a thing? An allergic reaction that strong? That debilitating? I mean, nobody can knock Hossa off the puck, and here’s an evil bacteria knocking him out of the game, perhaps forever. “The gunk," as it has been known, has a history in hockey. Going back to the 1970s, Minnesota defenseman Tom Reid cut his career short because of something similar. The scientific explanation for non-science majors like me is a player’s sweat gets trapped in the equipment and the bacteria grows. “Over the course of the last few years, under the supervision of the Blackhawks medical staff,’’ Hossa said in a statement released by the Blackhawks, “I have been privately undergoing treatment for a progressive skin disorder and the side effects of the medications involved to treat the disorder. Due to the severe side effects associated with those medications, playing hockey is not possible for me during the upcoming 2017-18 season. While I am disappointed that I will not be able to play, I have to consider the severity of my condition and how the treatments have impacted my life both on and off the ice.’’ This seems so unfair. He is as magnificent a person as he is a player, or vice versa, take your pick. He called attention to himself solely with his unparalleled play. We’re not supposed to root in this business, but tough. If you couldn’t root for the Hossa who was so wondrous on the ice and the Hossa who was so classy off it, then you might want to schedule an EKG. Even at 38 in his 19th NHL season, Hossa was a gift to watch. In the first 18 games of last season, Hossa scored 11 goals, pretty much carrying the team when nobody else was doing much. Throughout his largely underrated career, if 534 goals can be underrated, Hossa didn’t just play at both ends of the ice, he starred. Even-strength, power play, penalty-killing, top line, last minute of a period — you can’t find an important spot in which he didn’t excel. If Hossa had the puck, you probably weren’t going to get it back until you fished it out of your net. If he didn’t have the puck, watch out. Hossa burst forth like a Transformer, but yet, he could maneuver in the smallest of spaces in the most dangerous areas around the net. In 2009, he became the most expensive, dramatic and greatest free-agent signing in Hawks history with that creatively long contract. His overtime goal in Game 5 against the Predators in the first round of the historic, magical, drought- ending Stanley Cup run in 2010 remains one of the most important in Hawks history. It surprised no one that captain Jonathan Toews handed the Cup to Hossa first on that tear-inducing night in Philadelphia. Hossa would be handed the Cup two other times, a core player in the Hawks’ bid to claim a dynasty with three in six years. He was smart, talented and classy. Check that — is, not was. He’s still alive. This probably sounds like a eulogy, but it’s intended to be an appreciation. Hossa sweated, skated and earned the right to go out his way, not in the sick, stunning manner this appears to be. If the worst gets played out, then a glorious chapter featuring one of the greatest players in Hawks history has ended. We were privileged to watch such excellence. Thank you, Marian. Chicago Tribune Marian Hossa will miss Blackhawks' 2017-18 season with 'progressive skin disorder' Chris Hine June 21, 2017 Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa often said he would keep playing hockey no matter his age so long as his body allowed him to continue. Hossa’s body may have made up his mind for him. Hossa will not play in the 2017-18 season because of a "progressive skin disorder" and the "severe side effects" of the medication used to treat it, Hossa said in a statement Wednesday morning. Hossa's statement, however, did not say he was retiring from hockey. “Over the course of the last few years, under the supervision of the Blackhawks medical staff, I have been privately undergoing treatment for a progressive skin disorder and the side effects of the medications involved to treat the disorder,” Hossa said in the statement released by the Blackhawks. “Due to the severe side effects associated with those medications, playing hockey is not possible for me during the upcoming 2017-18 season. "While I am disappointed that I will not be able to play, I have to consider the severity of my condition and how the treatments have impacted my life both on and off the ice." If Hossa has played his last game, he will finish with Hall of Fame credentials. He played in parts of 19 seasons and compiled 534 career goals while winning three Stanley Cups with the Hawks, whom he signed with on a 12-year, $63.3 million deal before the 2009-10 season. Sportsnet in Canada reported Hossa was dealing with an allergy to his equipment that may cause him to stop playing. "Marian has been dealing with the effects of a progressive skin disorder that is becoming more and more difficult to treat and control with conventional medications while he plays hockey," Blackhawks team physician Dr. Michael Terry said in a statement.