Background and career
Marián Hossa (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmarijaːn ˈɦɔsa]; born 12 January 1979) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey right winger. Hossa was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the first round, 12th overall, of the 1997 NHL entry draft. After spending his first seven NHL seasons with the Senators, he played for the Atlanta Thrashers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, and Chicago Blackhawks. Over the course of his career, he made five NHL All-Star Game appearances and played in three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals with three different teams, finally winning the Stanley Cup in 2009–10 with Chicago. He won two additional Stanley Cup championships with Chicago during the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons. Hossa's playing career ended prematurely in 2017 when he was suffering from a progressive skin disorder. His contract was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in 2018 and he formally retired in 2022. Hossa accumulated 525 goals and 609 assists for 1,134 points in 1,309 regular-season games over his 19-year NHL career. He was the 44th player in NHL history to score 500 goals, and the 80th player to score 1,000 points. He was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2020.
As a youth, Hossa played in the 1993 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a team from Bratislava.
Hossa was drafted in the first round, 12th overall, by the Ottawa Senators in the 1997 NHL entry draft from Dukla Trenčín of the Slovak Extraliga. Shortly thereafter, he was selected fifth overall in the 1997 Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Import Draft by the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League (WHL), acquiring his major junior rights if he did not immediately stick with the Senators in the NHL. After seven games in the NHL, the Senators assigned Hossa to junior, where he tallied 45 goals and 40 assists for 85 points in 53 games with the Winterhawks in 1997–98, earning him the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as WHL rookie of the year, as well as CHL and WHL West First Team All-Star honors. He led the Winterhawks to a President's Cup as WHL champions en route to the 1998 Memorial Cup championship. Late in the third period of a tied championship game against the Ontario Hockey League (OHL)'s Guelph Storm, Hossa was injured by Guelph forward Ryan Davis (Who was assessed a major penalty for kneeing), forcing him out of the game. The Winterhawks went on to clinch the championship in overtime and Hossa returned to the ice on a chair as his teammates pushed him around with the Memorial Cup to celebrate the victory. With seven points in four tournament games, Hossa was named to the Memorial Cup All-Star team, along with teammate Andrej Podkonický. The injury kept Hossa from joining the Senators for his rookie season in 1998–99 until December. Despite missing two months, Hossa managed 15 goals and 15 assists for 30 points in 60 games to earn NHL All-Rookie honours and finish second to the Colorado Avalanche's Chris Drury in Calder Memorial Trophy voting for rookie of the year. The following year, in 1999–2000, Hossa improved to 29 goals and 56 points. However, late in the season, on 11 March 2000, he was responsible for an on-ice accident in which he high-sticked Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Bryan Berard on the follow-through of an attempted shot. The resulting one-inch laceration nearly forced doctors to remove the eye and nearly ended Berard's playing career. Deeply regretful and concerned, Hossa went to visit Berard in the hospital the next day to offer an apology, to which Berard absolved him of any responsibility. Hossa recorded 32 goals and 75 points in 2000–01, finishing second in team scoring behind Alexei Yashin and earning his first NHL All-Star Game appearance in Denver. In the subsequent off-season, his rookie contract expired, and Hossa became a restricted free agent. Unable to come to terms before training camp for the 2001–02 season, Hossa sat out the first two weeks before signing a three-year, $8.5 million contract on 26 September 2001. Despite Hossa's lucrative new contract, his production would dip to 66 points in the first year of the deal. Hossa would regain form in 2002–03 with a career-high 45 goals, 35 assists and a team-leading 80 points, while competing in the 2003 NHL All-Star Game in Sunrise, Florida. He then led the Senators to a long playoff run where they were ultimately eliminated in seven games by the eventual Stanley Cup-champion New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals. Hossa led the Senators with 16 points in 18 post-season games. The following season, he led the Senators in scoring for the second consecutive season with a personal best 82 points, then added four points in seven games in the playoffs as the Senators were eliminated by the Maple Leafs in the first round. Due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Hossa spent the 2004–05 season playing in Europe. Beginning the season in Slovakia, he joined Mora IK of the Swedish Elitserien to play with his younger brother Marcel after 19 games with former club Dukla Trenčín. After 32 points in 24 games with Mora IK, Hossa returned to Dukla Trenčín, where he completed the season for a total of 42 points in 22 games with the team.
With NHL play set to resume the following season in 2005–06 and Hossa's previous contract expired, he signed a three-year, $18-million deal with the Senators. However, the contract only precipitated a deal that sent him that same day to the Atlanta Thrashers along with defenseman Greg de Vries for all star forward Dany Heatley, who had requested a trade following the death of teammate Dan Snyder in a car crash for which Heatley was ruled responsible. Hossa joined star winger Ilya Kovalchuk and scored 39 goals and 53 assists for 92 points, surpassing his previous personal best by ten points, in his first season with the Thrashers. In the 2006–07 season, Hossa made franchise history as the first Thrasher to score 100 points in one season, finishing with 43 goals and 57 assists; along with a plus/minus rating of +18. He was named to his third All-Star Game in Dallas, where he notched four assists. In the final game of the regular season, Hossa recorded two assists against the Tampa Bay Lightning to achieve the 100-point mark, which still stands as the franchise's single-season points record. The season also marked the first division title and post-season appearance for the Thrashers, clinching the Southeast Division title for the third playoff seed. Hossa, however, only managed one point in four games as the Thrashers were eliminated in the first round by the New York Rangers.
In the last year of his contract with the Thrashers in 2007–08, the team and Hossa could not agree on an extension, Hossa was acquired by the Pittsburgh Penguins at the trade deadline on 26 February 2008, along with Pascal Dupuis, in exchange for Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, prospect Angelo Esposito and the Penguins' first-round pick in 2008 (Daultan Leveille). In his Penguins debut two days later, Hossa injured his medial collateral ligament (MCL) in a knee-on-knee collision with Glen Murray of the Boston Bruins. Hossa missed the next six contests before rejoining the team for the conclusion of the regular season, playing on a line with Dupuis and captain Sidney Crosby. Hossa completed the regular season with 66 points in 72 games split between the Thrashers and Penguins. He had also appeared in his fourth All-Star Game while still with the Thrashers as the host city. Complementing an already high-powered offence led by Evgeni Malkin and Crosby, Hossa proved to be a vital cog in the Penguins' run to the 2008 Stanley Cup Final. He scored his first playoff overtime goal in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, his second of the contest, against Henrik Lundqvist to clinch the series, putting the Penguins into the Conference Finals against the Philadelphia Flyers. Eliminating the Flyers in five games, Hossa and the Penguins met the Detroit Red Wings in the Final. After scoring the opening goal in game five to help stave off elimination in a triple-overtime victory, Hossa scored his team-leading 12th and final post-season goal in the sixth and deciding game to pull the Penguins within one goal. However, the Penguins were ultimately defeated by the Red Wings 3–2. Hossa nearly forced overtime with the tying goal, but was stopped by goaltender Chris Osgood in the final seconds of the game. He finished third in playoff scoring with 26 points, behind Conn Smythe Trophy-winner Henrik Zetterberg of the Red Wings and linemate Sidney Crosby. Hossa's performance helped shed a reputation for post-season underachievement, as indicated by previous playoff dry spells with the Senators and Thrashers.
Despite a reported five-year contract offer worth $7 million annually from the Penguins in attempts to retain his services, on 1 July 2008, Hossa signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings worth $7.45 million. Hossa had also reportedly turned down a multi-year offer from the Edmonton Oilers worth at least $9 million per season. Hossa explained that he opted for the shorter-term contract in hopes of a better opportunity to win a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings. With Red Wings' veteran forward Kirk Maltby already wearing Hossa's number 18, Hossa switched to 81 with Detroit. Hossa notched his first goal as a Red Wing on 18 October, an overtime winner against the New York Rangers, which also marked the 300th goal of his career. Hossa scored a goal in his return to Pittsburgh with the Red Wings on 8 February, where he was heavily booed by the Pittsburgh fans. After missing two games due to a neck injury late in the season, Hossa was taken off the ice on a stretcher after falling headfirst into the boards following a check from St. Louis Blues defenceman Roman Polák on 3 March 2009. Escaping serious injury after having laid motionless on the ice for several minutes, it was revealed that in addition to minor neck complications, Hossa also suffered a bruised knee and was listed as day-to-day. Despite the injury, Hossa returned to finish the season with a team-leading 40 goals for his third career 40-goal season. Late in the season, on 23 March 2009, Hossa was quoted as saying he would like to sign a long-term contract with the Red Wings for the upcoming season. He also stated he is willing to take less money to continue to play for Detroit, saying, "I know if I go somewhere else, I could have more, but I'm willing to take less to stay here. Hopefully things work out." Hossa's comments came just several months after the Red Wings signed forward Henrik Zetterberg to a 12-year contract extension. As the Red Wings attempted to defend their 2008 Stanley Cup championship, Hossa met his former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, as the two clubs met for the second straight year in the Final. The prospect of Hossa losing to the team he left to secure a Stanley Cup championship received considerable media attention. Before eliminating the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals, Hossa admitted meeting the Penguins in the finals "would definitely be very interesting." Ultimately, Hossa did, in fact, lose to his former team, falling by a 2–1 score in the seventh game. Immediately following the game, Hossa was asked whether he regretted his decision to leave the Penguins, to which he replied, "Regret? I don't regret it. It could be different circumstances if I sign in Pittsburgh, they probably couldn't sign some other players, and they'd be a different team." Hossa finished the 2009 playoffs with six goals and nine assists for a total of 15 points over 23 games.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
