Vivlamore: Thrashers general manager Don Waddell has told star player Ilya Kovalchuk that he will be traded. Waddell did so after practice today. His agent was then informed of the pending move. No timetable was given for a move.
Jeff Schultz (I know, I know, but he's just been on the phone with Jay Grossman): “It certainly appears to be the direction the club is moving in,” Grossman said by phone. “Ilya’s disappointed. But we appreciate the fact there they’ve been honest about what their plans are.”
The Thrashers’ next game is Friday night in Washington. It seems highly unlikely the team would want Kovalchuk to play in that game, knowing they are about to deal him. But as of early Wednesday evening, a trade had not yet been worked out and there has been a feeling around the league that Waddell has overplayed his hand in trade talks and has been asking for more compensation than teams are willing to part with.
No shit.
Meanwhile, Custance on the Twitter: One exec told me he didn't know what to think of Kovalchuk's destination because he sees teams mentioned that he knows aren't interested.
and
If Hossa got 2 roster players, 1 prospect and a 1st-round pick, that would be the jumping off point. They still want to compete.
God help us all.
We'll update this somewhat regularly as other revelations are, uh, revealed. Feel free to play drinking games in the comments section.
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WHOA HEY:
Then who IS in the mix, Mr. Bob "I Have a BlackBerry I'm So Special*" McKenzie? Might the NHL team from the city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA, Earth, the Milky Way etc. be in the mix? "In the mix" sounds like a sexual term.
*I own a BlackBerry, because I love Jim Balsilie, and man it rules.
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Don't you just love Craig Custance? Isn't his writing like a breeze off the sea, fluttering the sarongs of elegant women on the beach promenade?
There are plenty of teams interested in Kovalchuk. I was told the Chicago Blackhawks, as of right now, aren’t in the mix. That still leaves teams like the Bruins, Canucks, Flames and Kings. Don’t forget, it’s often a team that comes out of nowhere that ends up making the deal. During the Hossa saga, the Canadiens were the front-runners for a majority of the discussions and it wasn’t until the Penguins agreed to include Colby Armstrong in the final minutes that a deal was struck. There could be a team like that laying in the weeds.
I remember that trade. Wahahaha, those were the days when we couldn't get ANY comments.
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OMG OMG the Falconer and his band of miscreants (one of whom has been known to freelance for this very blog) are having a crazy radio talk RIGHT NOW. Tune in here. Call in and leave voice messages saying your name is Hugh G. Reckshin. (503) 4-ATL-BWA, people, GET ON IT.
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You know, Kari Lehtonen. Is he really the one to trade? As much I've made fun of him, it's not impossible that we could sign him for dirt cheap and he could play exceedingly well in the next few seasons. Is this too optimistic?
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Jeff Schultz is just cold goin' nuts, calling for air strikes and bespoke tailoring for all.
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You know what? I predict Kovy goes to Vancouver. Ideally, I'd like Ryan Kesler. That won't happen. A GOOD trade would be Kovalchuk for Christian Ehrhoff, Mason Raymond, and some other human. Rumors say Vancouver is offering Raymond, Brad Lukowich, and Pavol Demitra. That wouldn't be an ideal trade. But yessir, I predict Vancouver. And LA. Kovalchuk will go to both teams.
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Been listening to Bird Watchers Anonymous' radio show for some time now. Some talk about Maxim Afinogenov going with Kovalchuk in whatever trade, WHOA HEY.
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Kevin Allen knows what he's talking about...
so I'm off, unless something happens.
45 comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M69LdDFbY0c
My drinking game of choice is "Let's go the bar, consume inhuman amounts of gin, and try to forget that I'm a Thrashers fan." It works every time.
This sucks and eklund doesn't help apparently hes going to every team in the league. So dare I ask who and what would want?Whats realistic? the hossa trade? arrrrrrrrrrrggggggh!
Indian. Burial. Ground.
We are doomed.
indeed mr speaker indeed let the whiskey flow
Predictions for Kovalchuk's destination:
1. Kings(have the players, prospects, picks, and space)
2. Blackhawks(VERY hungry for a Cup)
3. Sharks(Thornton, Heatley, Marleau, AND Kovalchuk?!?!)
4. Canadiens(Price and Markov for Kovy and Lehtonen)
5. Red Wings(they need a spark-maybe Leino, Ericcson, Helm, and Ferraro)
6. Flyers(Coburn, VanRiemsdyk?)
7. Flames(Mikael Backlund, perhaps?)
8. Canucks(would LOVE to get Hodgson)
9. Bruins(Wheeler and Toronto's pick would be nice)
10.Rangers(not much to get back from them, though)
11.Devils(not one of their typical moves, but who knows)
Total wildcards-Colorado, Phoenix, and Pittsburgh.
I really, really hope it's one of your top 3 teams, Jay. Like, really really really hope. REALLY hope. Time to break out the wine.
Eklund now says Anaheim's in the mix.
Dude's just stealing my thunder now.
RY-AN GETZ-LAF, RY-AN GETZ-LAF, RY-AN...
and Bobby Ryan, too. That will totally happen.
I'm thinking Lehtonen and Armstrong will be heading out of town soon, too. Maybe ship Lehtonen off to Philly for Coburn back. Send Armstrong back to Pittsburgh to be with his girlfriend Sidney. 2nd or 3rd round pick sound good for Armstrong? I'd even ship off Kubina while we're at it. He's good, probably won't resign, and will want too much anyways. Kubina to the Wings for Ferraro and Leino.
Something that we've forgotten to talk about at all is that Kari's going to be traded very soon as well. Dallas or LA, perhaps. Is this wise?
Hang em from the lamps! Effigies to be burned. Send em out on a rail. The era has ended. Nothing is to be seen but failure. The list of players gone is endless. All the people in charge need to go
Storm the Bastille!
This should make Sat VERY interesting.
The trade is gonna get mucked up, just know it
I just want Kevin Allen, he gets us
Storm the ASG offices!! Burn the ASG in effigy...nah, too French and French makes me think of Quebec City.
Bon Jour to your Quebec City Trashers ("h" delilberately left out)
Allons enfants de la Patrie
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé
Entendez-vous dans nos campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras.
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes!
Aux armes citoyens
Formez vos bataillons
Marchons, marchons
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons
If we're trading Kovy anyway, we might as well have a fire sale. Let's ship out Kovy, Kozy, Kubina, Fins, Army, and a goalie not named Moose.
DW needs to hold out for Kessler, Cory Schneider, and Jordan Schroeder plus a draft pick.
Actually, scratch that. DW shouldn't have any say in this. He should be fired and Dudley should be handling this trade.
"Isn't his writing like a breeze off the sea, fluttering the sarongs of elegant women on the beach promenade?"
Simply amazing!
There's a little part of me that hopes Kovy goes home tells his wife what's going on, she tells him this has gone too far and that she wants to stay in Atlanta and to call Waddell up and come to some sort of compromise. Him leaving could actually end up to be a good thing depending on what comes back and how the younger players end up playing. But it kind of leaves me with an empty feeling right now.
Jay--Kovy was the reason I became a hockey fan. My entire reason for becoming a fan of the Thrashers initially was because of how awesome he was. He turned me from a somewhat casual fan of the NHL into a bona-fide puck-head. The idea that a few prospects, draft picks and possible impact players can fill that void is impossible. Numbers on a stat sheet and points in the standings are great, but there's been very few athletes in my almost 25 years in Atlanta I've legitimately liked the way I grew to like Kovy.
This trade falls into the Dominique Wilkins/Dale Murphy category. Of course, in traditional Atlanta fashion, we have nothing to show for a star athlete's effort besides a few great memories and no championship. It'd be one thing if we had a Cup or a few playoff runs to look back at...but we don't. We have highlight goals in meaningless games.
That's why we all feel like shit right now. We had a bad-ass winger who came into his prime here over the course of almost a decade, and we did nothing with it.
To No One in Particular (just a general cri de coeur)-
I can't really put it better than GPY did. It IS like Wilkins and Murphy. I'll be able to tell my as-of-yet non-existent kids what it was like to watch Ilya Kovalchuk on a regular basis, but I have no real playoff run memories to offer.
The point here isn't Kovy Should Stay or Kovy Should Go; to me it's bigger than that. Like GPY said, for nearly a decade we had a truly elite player (albeit not a defensive one, which means he's literally worse than Patrik Stefan, I know) and did nothing with him. The fact that the Kovalchuk Era was all for naught just creates this all-pervading sense of Fail that simply fucking depresses some of us. That and the normal human sentimental value some of us attach to some players.
None of this is to say that Kovy doesn't bear some responsibility for all this. None of this is to say the Thrashers can't compete without him. It could happen, but I'm skeptical we're going to get anything back for him, and there are credible journalists saying 1) that the whole contract scenario was badly mishandled by the ownership and management, and 2) that the real reason Kovy won't re-sign is because he's not convinced the ownership is committed to keeping the team here. Draw your own conclusions, but it's not like this would be wildly inconsistent with what we already know.
GPY - Yep! That's pretty much me too. I got into hockey for the fights, but got into the Thrashers for the electricity in Kovy's skates and hockey stick. Since I'm a poor college kid who lives a few hrs away I never have been able to make it to every game, but I've listened to every game on the radio that I could over the last few years. So yeah, it sucks. And yeah, I know Donny has done what he could outta bad sitchemayshuns over the years and he's a nice guy and all that bohonkus but I kinda don't want "FLEECE me DON-ny" with his finger on the trigger.
Depressingly correct, Mort....
You know what? Why can't we trade Kovalchuk, get some nice pieces back, and resign him come July 1st? Tkachuk did it with St. Louis and they weren't exactly Cup contenders when he did that, but St. Louis was where he was happy. Plus, this will give management a very good idea just how much Kovalchuk is worth to the franchise with how fan turnout is, merchandise sales, etc.
On a side note, yesterday the ticket agent I have for the Thrashers called me up and wanted to know if I wanted to put a deposit down for a ticket package for next season. They have NEVER called me this early before. Almost makes me think they want to tie people in before they trade Kovalchuk. LOL.
I never dream, but I did last night. Somehow I dreamed we traded Kovy to the Ducks for Bobby Ryan, some guy the doesn't even exist (but he has 30 goals this year), and Ian White.
I wake up and first think go scrambling to check Bob McKenzie's twitter only to realize that I am a complete idiot.
Someone please help me.
*** As you can see from my typing above, I am clearly still suffering the effects of the Kovy Trade Swine Flu ***
Jay-
I have had the same thought. It's probably just wishful thinking, but it's absolutely possible.
I still think that Kovy and Grossman are going to hold out until there are only 2 teams left bidding on Kovy then sign with the highest bidder. Chances are he will end up signing for the 10 million per year that we offered. It may be with us, it may be with Los Angeles, it may be with the Rangers. Who knows? But I fully expect Kovy to hit free agency on July 1 without a contract, and I expect that whoever the Thrashers' GM is at the time will make a pitch to bring him home.
This just in from Kevin Allen.....
"kausatoday Just told that the Kovalchuk deal "probably" won't happen today. Too many teams interested. But let's see how day goes."
To me this is a good sign...more teams interested, the higher the price....
I agree, the best thing that could happen is 3 teams want his services... then Waddell calls the shots and tells the teams what he wants and they have to give him that or lose out. Somehow this might turn out ok... especially if he doesn't sign long term with a team before the seasons end. There is still a flicker of hope in me (not sure why though) that the Thrashers could resign him as a FA this summer.
Kevin Allen did say that he felt the return on Kovy would be better than what we got for Hossa. So that's good news right? And if there are 3 teams driving the price up, then that should definitely help.
But I can't for the life of me think of why the Devils would want anything to do with Kovy. But perhaps they are that desperate to do some damage in the playoffs before Brodeur starts his eventual, inexorable decline. Other than Parise, Bergfors, Oduya and Paul Martin, I can't think of anyone that I'd be all that excited about getting. Perhaps Zajac but I don't see why NJ would want to part with Zajac, Parise or Oduya. I like Clarkson, but a return of Clarkson, Bergfors and Zajac isn't all that thrilling.
If the three teams interested are NJ, NYR and say MTL, I don't think we'll be all that thrilled with the return. But I could be wrong!
ESPN.COM: Pierre LeBrun reports two sources claim the Flyers, LA Kings and Devils were still involved, but there's conflicting sources regarding the Bruins interest. Another source claimed the Canucks were interested at one point but are now out of it. The Kings are considered the most logical destination given their cap space and availability of assets plus desire to make a big move before the trade deadline.
CBC.CA: Elliotte Friedman reports the Kings and Flyers are reluctant to pay a high price for Kovalchuk as a rental player. It's believed the Kings are offering up Alex Frolov and are "arguing" with the Thrashers over defenseman Jack Johnson while the Flyers offer is said to involve Scott Hartnell. GM Paul Holmgren continues to rebuff attempts for Jeff Carter. Friedman also reports the Blackhawks don't want to mess with their team chemistry at this time and will address their cap issues in the off-season while Calgary doesn't appear likely. Vancouver is a possibility but that would go against GM Mike Gillis' philosophy of not parting with prospects/picks for a rental player.
Damn, we good.
I like Hartnell, especially because he is locked up for 3 more years. I'd prefer Carter, but Hartnell and one other player and a pick would be real nice. Maybe JVR? wishful thinking I know..seriously, I'd take Hartnell and JVR and not worry about the picks
Jesus H. Ramirez. Why don't we just trade Kovy for Alex Frolov, straight up? One Russian UFA for another. Fair is fair. Let's do this trade comedy right.
Morty, was it you that said something about the 'Couve being the darkhorse in this? I kind of like the idea of getting Mason Raymond, Demitra (a UFA) and a young D-man such as O'Brien who could possibly push our 2nd pairing into waking the eff up.
I don't know much about their prospects, but VAN could be a very intriguing, late-to-the-party suitor as they know full well how much they choked in the playoffs last year. They just sold out on the Sedins and Luongo and cannot sign every one of their upcoming UFA: Demitra, Mitchell, Wellwood, Johnson and Lukowich. They may be in worse shape than CHI because of the sheer number of UFA's.
Vancouver has a lot of great players to offer; I'm hoping they're still a possible trading partner. Demitra is really good but he's getting old, so I'd hope DW would demand Raymond along with him. If it was Demitra, Raymond, and Ehrhoff I'd be pretty happy...but I doubt that'd happen. And they're not likely to part with Ryan Kesler...Ah, woe, woe betide.
The Nucks have Cody Hodgson remember him? That'd be a good prospect
Maybe Raymond, Edler, Hodgson
THAT would be a good trade.
Hey Frenchy, is Cody Hodgson somehow related to Marty Reasoner. He is afterall the gold standard in my household! ;-)
Thinking about NJ as a trade partner (makes me want to vomit actually), but didn't Lemaire coach Todd White in Minny? Perhaps Lou Lam and Lemaire are crazy enough to take on Todd White's sorry ass in exchange for Dainus Zubrus' sorry-not-so-old ass? The avg age of the Devils is pushing 30 (due to Brodeur being 37), but even taking him out of the equation, they are getting up there. Perhaps they want Kovy as a last ditch effort to win the Cup while Marty's at the top of his game?? Kovy, White, Salmela (puck mover) & Moose for Zubrus, Pandolfo, Colin White, Yann Denis and a couple prospects?
I can't come up with anything else that makes any sense for the Devils let alone the Thrash.
I dont want anything from NJ except a certain young american, but that ain't gonna happen. My offer stands: Raymond, Edler, Hodgson
Shame on all of you. You forgot Jordan Schroeder.
For the Canucks, that is.
This is true Shooter, but I think I might take Hodgson, just me
I like Frenchy's deal. Edler, Hodgson and Raymond. I'd even throw in Moose if they want him back as Bobby Lu insurance.
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