Marcel Hossa has signed a one-year contract worth $780,000, the AP reports. The signing leaves Sean Avery as the lone bone of contention for the Blueshirts. The verdict from his five-hour arbitration hearing is due tomorrow, at which point the club can either accede to its terms or let Avery walk as an unrestricted free agent.

As for Hossa, he probably could have commanded more had his case gone to arbitration, but for as yet undisclosed reasons, he and the Rangers reached the low-cost pact to keep him on Broadway for one more season. Maybe Sather’s poised poison pen was a little too daunting.

Granted, from the comments we’ve had up to this point, few of our regular readers are impressed by or enamored of the younger and less-productive Hossa, but I’m interested to hear your takes on this latest contract development of the off-season.