The Czar Lays Down the Law

Custance:

...the losing this year, Kovalchuk said, got to him more than any other season. Mostly because he got a taste of the playoffs last year, which gave him high expectations this year, but it doesn't help that other Russians like Ovechkin and Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin are making playoff runs.

No, he'd never admit that. He pointed out that Ovechkin was sitting at home last year when the Thrashers were in the playoffs.

But clearly, Kovalchuk has had it with the losing. He voiced his frustrations with pointed post-game comments as the season sunk to new depths, until finally admitting he felt empty after the season finale.

"I think for him," teammate Niclas Havelid said, "enough is enough."

The bottom line seems to be that if Waddell doesn't make the right moves in the off-season, and if the Thrashers don't make it to the playoffs next year, the Czar will go rule some other city. This is sickening. This is despair-inducing. This is disheartening in the extreme. I can't blame him, though. If you're reading, Donnie, do your duty.

Obviously, if we win the lottery tomorrow night we get Steve Stamkos, who seems to be a real live play-making center who could play alongside Kovalchuk. Fingers crossed, comrades, fingers crossed...