(updated below, twice)
Famous impresario of Internet (and occasionally print magazine!) stuff about hockey Dave Pagnotta is writing/tweeting the shit out of this bit of Important News:
Ilya Kovalchuk's future with Atlanta is expected to be determined this week, as a decision related to his next contract with the Thrashers could come as early as Monday.
Thrashers GM Don Waddell met with Kovalchuk's agent, Jay Grossman, this weekend in Saskatoon, SK (location of the World Junior Championship) to discuss a long-term contract extension and the two sides are expected to chat again today.
During Saturday night's "The Hotstove" segment on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, the panel indicated that Waddell will be returning to Atlanta tomorrow and wants an answer by then.
Oh my! So if Kovalchuk isn't re-signed tomorrow, as in Tomorrow of well-known "Tomorrow" fame, we must bid him goodbye. I suspect we'll all know soon enough. Whatever happens, there's no way that Waddell can keep the news to himself until Casino Night, even if he wants to. It's simply not possible in the age of the Twitter Imperium.
So, yeah. Tomorrow is the day. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Thrashers inhouse blogger Ben Wright, on the Twitter, is all like "Hey now": It's very entertaining to watch the mutation of trade rumors. From one person's hypothesis to a "Sources say it could happen this week".
Well. Does this mean we can look forward to no signing for several more weeks, or at all, or perhaps a Teemu Selanne-esque "he leaves for several seasons and then comes back and wins a Stanley Cup, in the future, so it's kind of like a signing" type situation? Sources say any of these would be very entertaining.
UPDATE II: Where are our Atlanta journalists to determine just what the deal is? Obviously everything the guys on the Hot Stove say---or anything Dave Pagnotta or any hockey writer says---ought to be taken with a grain of salt. But so should anything coming from people in the pay of the Atlanta Spirit. Their level of access is undeniably a privileged one, but by definition they only know one side of the story. And they have an interest in spinning it to their side's advantage.
Which brings me back to my original question: when will "Fast" Willy Tiller leave the "upstairs" area at Marty's Party House long enough to do some actual reporting? Hmmmm? HENNNGH?
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12 comments:
Whether he stays or goes, at least this whole f'n situation will be over with soon. Then I can get on with my existence.
I pose a question to TBC's loyal readers--it took the Falcons 43 seasons to pose back-to-back winning seasons. Will it take the Thrashers as long to do the same*?
(*=Recognizes that the team may be moved in that time frame. But if the team does get moved, here's hoping our crappy luck gets transferred to another city. Suck it, Kansas City/Vegas/Winnipeg/Hamilton/Kabul)
Been wondering that myself, GPY. Dear God, I hope it doesn't take that long.
Holy. Effin. Shit.
DWad tryin' to be a tough guy and play hard-ball!
Batter up!
GPY-
Interesting, and frightening, question to ponder re: the winning seasons. God help us.
I'm eager to get this over with too. One way or the other.
And finally, I LOLed (as the hip Internet kids of our new decade, the 1990s, are saying) at your mention of Kabul. Now for a name...the Kabul Poppies? The Kabul Pashtun? The Kabul...Poplars? I say they just stick with the good old Kabul Thrashers. Something to remember us by.
Say, this made me think of something Roger Ebert recently shared on the Twitter:
Kabul in 1969: http://twitpic.com/vtaa2
Kabul in 2009, same view: http://twitpic.com/vtac0
Just something to pass the time until Kovalchuk leaves/re-signs/defects to Russia/re-boards the mothership and flies away forever.
MPea-
Your Kabul pics reminded me of a 60 Minutes story my mom told me about 2 months ago. I just found the video-watch it if you have 12 minutes and 25 seconds free. Its remarkable!!
Eden Again
Loves!
Interesting that Ben Wright didn't come out and flat-out deny that DW would even consider such a tact. I think he is just speculating on the hilarious speculation that will ensue after nothing happens by Tuesday. There are interested parties for a trade so it's time to draw a line in the sand and tempt Grossman with the "line of death". There are surely some teams, ahem LA, cough StL, uh, Edm who would be interested in our sniper extraordinaire.
Pierre LeBrun of ESPN mentioned trading Kovalchuk to the Blackhawks for Cam Barker, Kris Versteeg, and picks/prospects. It would give CHI a great player to have for a Stanley Cup run and take care of their cap issues for next year. If Kyle Beach and some top picks are included, I might be on board with this. Chicago would be my 1a favorite team with Kovy, Kane, Toews, and Hossa. WOW. Then there would be almost no chance of Kovy resigning with Chicago(absolutely no cap space), so we would have a good chance of resigning him with all of our new shiny toys we got from Chicago for him. It's a win-win for everyone!
K-Belle:
That report is stunning. I'd known a little bit about the Marsh Arabs, Saddam's attempt at extermination, knew the UN called it the biggest environmental disaster ever, etc. but that report really filled in a ton of details. Sad sad sad. But it's amazing to see the renewal. I wouldn't mind being an eco-tourist there myself when all the death and terror wind down...
It really is an amazing story...very sad, but very cool to see that way of life returning in the "marsh"...amazing what you can do with a few tens of thousand reeds...guess they should call it the Rebirth of "Re-Eden"! Bad pun.
Has Kovy signed yet? Hennnnngh!?
Pierre LeBrun is one of those characters that I absolutely cannot take seriously.
"I'm here between the benches. And from what I can hear, Coach Ron Wilson is ACTUALLY talking to his players, actually! What a coach!"
Whoops. My bad. I always get LeBrun and McGuire mixed up. It's McGuire that I find difficult to take seriously. Insert McGuire where my last comment here says LeBrun.
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