In the spring of 2008, the Pittsburgh Penguins traded for a very talented Marian Hossa to help bring Pittsburgh the Stanley Cup.  Hossa was joining very talented, still very young Penguins squad-- one that had two of the top young stars in the National Hockey League.  Hossa helped the Penguins reach the Stanley Cup Finals, but came up short against the more experienced Detroit Red Wings.

In the offseason, Hossa decided to sign with the Red Wings instead of re-signing with the Penguins.  He was a key cog in the Red Wings returning to the Stanley Cup Finals; again versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.  One year after defeating the Penguins in six games, the Penguins returned the favor-- in the same amount of games too.

Hossa played on two different squads in two years, and both years felt the agony of defeat in the Stanley Cup Finals.  Had he stayed with he might not have needed to wait until he reached Chicago to finally hoist the Stanley Cup.  Instead, he endured a few extra years of agony before finally celebrating victory as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Fast forward to last season, and again a talented Penguins squad traded for a player to be the final piece of the puzzle to winning it all.  They added Jarome Iginla and made to the Eastern Conference Finals, before being swept and ousted by the Boston Bruins.  Iginla then decides to sign with the Bruins, further loading up on an already loaded franchise.

It is very easy to see that the top two teams in the Eastern Conference are the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins.  It's very likely that they just might end up facing each other yet again to decide who will represent the East in the Stanley Cup Finals.  With that being said, there is a distinct possibility that Jarome Iginla  might be in line to miss out on another opportunity for Lord Stanley's Cup.  And it might just be the Penguins that keep him from that opportunity.

If he does miss out on this opportunity, Iginla might not have many chances left.  At 36 years old, Iginla doesn't have nearly as much time or as many shots at finally being able to lift the Cup over his head in celebration.  Hossa was at least on the right side of 30 when he experience his double dose of losses.

Iginla has a great with a great team and a great opportunity-- although the same could have been said about the Penguins last year.  When it is all said and done, history might be repeating itself in the form of the Penguins getting payback in the postseason against a player they had on their team last year.  The beautiful thing about hockey and, especially, the hockey playoffs is that anything can happen and you never know who might just advance to the spotlight of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Either way, we might witness Penguins- Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals again and the Bruins might win.  Or the Penguins will get payback and find themselves in the Stanley Cup Finals.  Only time will tell.

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