You could hear the envy in Bobby Holik's voice. The Thrashers captain was talking about the playoff run of former teammate Marian Hossa, and it was clear he'd trade early summer vacation for just one shift in the upcoming Stanley Cup Final.

Instead, he's experiencing it through Hossa, his close friend.

"We just talked on Monday about the playoff atmosphere, the experiences," Holik said. "Nobody understands unless you've gone through it. That's the best part of playing hockey."

On Saturday, Hossa and Pittsburgh take on Detroit in Game 1. Sidney Crosby and the young Penguins are peaking earlier than anyone predicted, partly because of the February trade that sent Hossa and forward Pascal Dupuis from Atlanta to Pittsburgh. The Thrashers received prospects and a draft pick, the Penguins a shot at hockey immortality.

"They do not make the final if they don't have [Hossa and Dupuis]," NBC analyst Pierre McGuire said. "Marian Hossa has had his best playoffs in the history of his career."

Hossa has nine goals and 19 points in 14 playoff games while continuing to play intense defense like a fourth liner scared of getting cut.

The performance has erased the whispers that the neck of his hockey jersey got tight come playoff time.

Playing with Dupuis and Crosby, Hossa has given the Penguins two elite lines for which nobody in the Eastern Conference had an answer.

"Obviously when you're successful, things are much easier," Hossa said Thursday. "I'm playing with great players on the line and power play. That makes it easy. I'm just happy I'm productive in the playoffs and I'm just trying to have fun. So far it's working for us."

Yes, it's working. The Penguins are 12-2 in the postseason and Hossa has gotten more productive with each round.

Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero, who sent Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito and a first-round pick to Atlanta for Hossa and Dupuis, said Hossa's new teammates were pulling for him early in the playoffs. Especially in the first round against Ottawa, Hossa's other former team.

The forward was held without a goal in the first two games of that series, and because he entered this season with only 35 points in 55 career playoff games, the pressure started to build.

"That first goal he scored against Ottawa ... it just seemed, wow, it was great to see that go in," Shero said. "And Sidney Crosby's reaction — he was really happy for him."

In the series-clinching win against the New York Rangers, Hossa scored two goals, including the game-winner in overtime. He had a goal and three assists in the final game of the Eastern Conference finals against Philadelphia.

Now it's Detroit, and Thrashers fans know how well Hossa plays against the Red Wings. He had a hat trick in Detroit during the Thrashers' 5-1 win in January, one of the few highlights of a rough Thrashers season.

His current teammates have joked that they expect the same production with the Stanley Cup on the line.

"The guys keep bugging me about it," Hossa said, laughing. "I told them it's only one game."

Dupuis has been much more than a throw-in. He's still strong on the penalty kill, and has played a bigger offensive role in Pittsburgh than he did in Atlanta.

Skating on the top line, he has six points in the playoffs and assisted on Hossa's overtime game-winner against the Rangers.

"It's been great," said Dupuis, who still keeps in close touch with Thrashers forward Eric Perrin and recently received congratulatory text messages from Thrashers Eric Boulton and Johan Hedberg. "I'm really happy that I'm getting a chance to help offensively."

Four more wins and the two former Thrashers will be lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time in their careers. Maybe it's not the way they pictured it when Thrashers training camp opened in September, but that hardly seems to matter.

"There's definitely a lot of excitement. This is my 10th year and I never got to the Stanley Cup Final," Hossa said. "Those were good hockey years [in Atlanta]. But this is another level."

COULD HOSSA RETURN TO ATLANTA?

Pittsburgh forward Marian Hossa is scheduled to become a free agent July 1, and with every playoff goal he scores his price goes up. There's speculation that Hossa could get as much as

$10 million per season

on the open market.

The Thrashers would love to have him back, but is that realistic?

"We all agreed we would revisit that," Hossa's agent, Ritch Winter, said. "The chances of him coming back to an organization that doesn't immediately have a chance to be an elite team — that's going to be challenging. [Along with] hiring the right coach, there's enough players in free agency that dramatic change could occur."

So who is the right coach?

"If [Thrashers associate coach] Brad McCrimmon was there, [Hossa's] level of interest of returning to Atlanta would be higher [than] if he wasn't there. And he's told them that."