Sad Trombone with a Vengeance

HAVE YOU SEEN MY BASEBALL?!

In a continuation of our tangentially-Red Wings-related musings about the former All-World General Manager Dale Tallon, we bring you Due Diligence Part II, Electric Boogaloo.

We all knew Marian Hossa’s shoulder has had some lingering issues – Holland knew before the Wings signed him, and it’s become public knowledge over the last few weeks.

Sean Leahy of Puck Daddy did a bit of digging, and it seems that Marian Hossa was in Slovakia at the time of Free Agency’s opening days (Marian’s vacation timing seems to be as good as his scoring slumps), and therefore was NOT GIVEN A PHYSICAL by the Blackhawks.

Blackhawks’ spokesman Brandon Faber had this to say:

After his contract was approved by the NHL on July 10 we brought him to Chicago to be examined by his doctor.

I mean… I’m no economist (the market’s good right now, right?), but it seems to me that if I’m giving a man $62.8 million dollars, the very least I could do is make sure his arm works. Faber covers his ass with:

We knew about the injury before the physical so once the physical was given, all it did was confirm what we already knew.

That’s some mighty fine police work there, Lou.

I’m pretty sure I can get a nice Production Line-sponsored pool for the over/under on Hossa Games Played this season. Who wants in?