From the AJC:
“It’s business, and you never know what’s going to happen,” Kovalchuk said, “but today I’m happy and I hope I’m going to stay here for as long as I’m going to play. I love the city. My family loves the city. And I feel very comfortable around that group of guys [on the team].”
Even pitiless, unblinking analyst of Thrasher suckitude Mike Knobler is moist-eyed:
Ilya Kovalchuk celebrates goals as exuberantly as any player I’ve seen, but I can honestly say I’ve never seen him happier than when he was awarded the captaincy tonight at the Thrashers’ Casino Night.
This clearly meant a lot to him, and that’s great, for him and for the team. It’s more than just a recognition he’s a great player. He knew that. We knew that. It’s recognition that the team looks up to him. There’s something very special about that.
At the moment, the Thrashers are a bad team run by incompetent managers. About that I agree with the hockey commentators who love blasting them, but to the hockey commentators who get wet talking about Kovalchuk's inevitable departure and the predestined demise of hockey in Atlanta: Go eat a bag of dicks.
4 comments:
I never understood why everyone is/was assuming that Kovy was as good as gone. Every interview he has given, all he has ever said was that he loved Atlanta and wanted to make the Thrashers into a contender. I don't know the man personally, but going by his words, actions, and demeanor, he seems like he would be the kind of person that would get great satisfaction by making the Thrashers into contenders than doing it with someone else. This is HIS team. Any other team, he'd just be a part or hired gun, like Hossa. He wants HIS team to win. I see an Ovechkin-like contract in his future from Atlanta. Add him to Little, Bogosian, Enstrom, Armstrong, Hainsey, Esposito, and maybe Tavares, and you have a decent foundation. God help us all with Waddell and this trade deadline coming up, though. God help us all...
This could be one of the more historic days in the franchise, easily. It's definitely the one thing that could make us all happy. Truly wonderful. From an arrogant show-off to a humble leader, who still can show-off, that's why we love him.
Also the day he's made captain, the website gets back in order with the template and blogrolling. It's a sign, maybe.
It seems a bit of a slap in the face to me to give it to him after getting a snowman hung on us, and currently scrapping the sellar of the NHL. Two months ago says what? Well... congrats to one of the finest players in the NHL on one of the shittiest run franchises in history. Arthur Blank please buy this team, and have DW publicly castrated for his offenses against God.
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