THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: The Blackhawks acted quickly and agressively when NHL free agency opened Wednesday, most notably inking Marian Hossa to a 12-year, $64 million deal. This comes on the heels of signing top free agent defenseman Brian Campbell last year. Already stacked with players like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp, have the Blackhawks now supplanted the Red Wings as the team to beat in the Central division?

JEREMY RUTHERFORD
Chicago began that process even before the Marian Hossa signing. The Blackhawks were 2-2-2 against the Red Wings during the 2009-10 regular season, and even though the Wings beat the Hawks 4-games-to-1 in the Western Conference finals, two of Chicago’s losses came in overtime. Now Hossa and his 40 goals are moving to Chicago, and he’s bringing with him Tomas Kopecky, a nice young player. The Red Wings also are losing Mikael Samuelsson, who scored 19 goals last season

Chicago lost forward Martin Havlat, a big loss, and goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who had a terrific season, in free agency; but if Hossa can play as well as he has, he should top the numbers of the injury-prone Havlat. And goaltender Cristobal Huet should benefit from being the definite No. 1 netminder in Chicago. If Huet can match what the aging Khabibulin did last year, the Blackhawks should be the team to beat in the Central Division next year.

TOM TIMMERMANN
Well, the last two seasons, Marian Hossa has been a good indicator of who will come in second place. I think it’s too soon to say the Hawks have passed the Wings. The Hawks have a lot of parts, but it remains to be seen if they all fit together. And as Sidney Crosby can tell you, there’s a lot of pressure that comes from the high expectations put on young superstars. I do think that Chicago is clearly the No. 2 team in the West, which makes the Central Division that much tougher for the Blues since they’ll have to play two very, very good teams a lot. Hossa hasn’t shown himself to be a savior the past two seasons — though this year the gap between the Wings and Penguins was pretty small — so I don’t know if he gets the Hawks over the Red Wings hump.

KEVIN WHEELER (Host of “Sports Open Line” on KMOX)
Not a chance. Detroit has won the division 8 straight years and losing Hossa isn’t going to change that much with the depth of talent they still have on that roster.

Besides, Hossa (40 goals, 31 assists, 71 points) is merely replacing Chicago’s 2008-2009 leading scorer Martin Havlat (29 goals, 48 assists, 77 points), who left for Minnesota in free agency. Hossa had 11 more goals than Havlat but had fewer points, though it should be pointed out that Hossa played in 7 fewer games than Havlat.

Oh and the Hawks lost goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, the guy that carried the load late in the season and in the playoffs. A team led by Cristobal Huet doesn’t exactly inspire me. The Blackhawks and Blues are getting closer to Detroit’s level but there is still ground to make up.

ANDY STRICKLAND (Hockeybuzz.com, KFNS)
In my opinion, the Chicago Blackhawks won’t supplant Detroit until they start beating the Wings in seven-game series, winning Western Conference Championships and, ultimately, the Stanley Cup. Last time I checked they have yet to do any of the three.

Obviously they have made some considerable strides over the past few seasons, they’ve spent money in free agency and have collected some impressive names, but with that being said, Detroit isn’t going anywhere in the short-term. Last time I checked Detroit just went to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals and are bringing back a loaded roster once again.

Chicago better find a goaltender or it really won’t matter who they have on their roster. Anybody believe Cristobal Huet is the answer in net? Martin Havlat was their best player in Chicago for much of the second half of the season and they replaced him with Hossa, who will receive nearly all of his salary in the first eight seasons of his 12-year deal. Chicago still has some important players to sign this season and moving into next year, and oh, by the way, the cap is expected to go down after this coming season.

I don’t get caught up in hype created by monster free agent signings, but I do recognize they are very, very talented and have a great coach. We have seen plenty of teams make a splash in free agency only to fizzle. Ask the Rangers or Philadelphia where that has gotten them?

THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: The Stanley Cup Finals kick off Saturday night in a repeat of last year’s matchup of the Detroit Red Wings vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins. Who are you picking to win it all and why?

JEREMY RUTHERFORD
I will go with Pittsburgh in 6 games. I picked the Pens last year, but looking back, they just weren’t ready. They are this season. Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will be a difference-maker. Injuries to Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk could also be factors. Sorry Marian Hossa, you should have stayed in the Steel City.

TOM TIMMERMANN
If you had asked me pretty much any day all year who would win the Stanley Cup, I’d have said the Detroit Red Wings. But today, I’m going with the Penguins. They’re a more mature team than a year ago, and they’ll be a lot calmer in the finals than last year. They’ve got Crosby, they’ve got Malkin, who is not disappearing this year, they’ve got Fleury in goal. Detroit is banged up and with Games 1 and 2 back to back, a younger, better-rested team, which is what Pittsburgh is, will have an edge. I think Pittsburgh’s got a shot to snag a win at Joe Louis Arena and that could be the difference in a tight series. And unlike the conference finals, this won’t be a quick series. But it should be a good one.

ANDY STRICKLAND (Hockeybuzz.com, KFNS)
Have we heard enough about the Pittsburgh comparison to the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s? I’ve yet to read a story that doesn’t make mention of it.

First off, Detroit is incredible. They have an unfair amount of depth that allows them to execute their style even without some of the best players in the world. They should be getting Lidstrom and Datsyuk back for Game 1 but how effective will they be? Niklas Kronwall and Brian Rafalski are more than capable of picking up the slack. If Detroit continues to score one out of every four chances on the power play it will make things very tough for the Penguins. Whether you like him or not, you have to give props to goaltender Chris Osgood, who is Detroit’s Conn Smythe candidate to date. Most pundits didn’t give this guy a chance and for good reason, his performance during the regular season was dreadful. Somehow Osgood finds magic in Hockeytown. I find it interesting that every player on Detroit has a Stanley Cup ring except for former Penguins Marian Hossa and Ty Conklin.

With all that being said, I think Pittsburgh will win this series and I expect it to go the distance. While Osgood has been great, Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has been consistent. Pittsburgh is skilled enough to run and gun with the Wings and should be able to create high quality chances which will make things tough on Osgood. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are the best offensive duo in hockey. Their D-men may not have All-Star names on the back of their jerseys but they’ve sacrificed and are very underrated. I spoke to Billy Guerin on Thursday and he told me he’s having the time of his life. It’s only going to get better as the Penguins will win in 7. Crosby takes home the Conn Smythe (MVP).