Penguins Get Marian Hossa In Big Deadline DealDeadline Trade Announced At Mellon ArenaPOSTED: 3:25 pm EST February 26,
2008 PITTSBURGH -- In a major, last-minute trade, the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Atlanta forward Marian Hossa on Tuesday, adding another proven scorer to superstar Sidney Crosby's line.
In exchange for Hossa and forward Pascal Dupuis, the Pens sent forwards Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen and Angelo Esposito and a first-round draft pick to the Thrashers.The deal went down just minutes before the NHL's 3 p.m. trade deadline and was announced by Penguins general manager Ray Shero at Mellon Arena during a news conference."This is a big deal to pick up Hossa, Dupuis and Gill at the deadline," said Shero. "It's a lot of money to add to your payroll. Mario Lemieux, Ron Burkle and our ownership group are very supportive. Our fans are unbelievable. We've been selling out every game. We want to give our fans the benefit of trying to have the best team possible."Hossa has 26 goals and 56 points for the Thrashers this season. He's in the last year of his contract."We've always had a hard time finding that fit for Sid, and believe Marian is a guy who can think at that level, skate at that level and, obviously, he can score goals and kill penalties and raise everybody else's game," Shero said."You look at their centers, they have (Evgeni) Malkin, Crosby, (Jordan) Staal, it doesn't really matter who you play with, it's an excellent opportunity," Hossa said. "If I play with Sid, it's great, he's one of the best centermen in the league and would be a pleasure to play with, but I leave that up to the coach (Michel Therrien)."Christensen has nine goals and 11 assists, while Armstrong has nine goals and 15 assists.Esposito is a highly regarded prospect in the Quebec Major Junior League. He was the Pens' first-round pick in the 2007 draft.A separate deal on Tuesday brought defenseman Hal Gill to the Penguins from Toronto in exchange for a second-round pick and a fifth-round pick. "He's one of the best penalty killers in the league," Shero said of Gill, pointing to Pittsburgh's No. 25 penalty-kill ranking. Related Links: More County NewsGet RSS | E-Mail Alerts Copyright 2008 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. | WEB POLL Vote: Do You Like The Trade? VIDEO THE PLAYERS
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