Monday, January 11, 2010

Kovalchuk Situation Getting Messy & Quick Hits

So, as we reported last night it appeared that Ilya Kovalchuk was going to be on the move sometime in the near future. While this is not necessarily untrue at this point, things are getting very messy in Atantla. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Thrashers GM Don Waddell is not actively seeking a trade for Kovalchuk--in essence, he's not calling teams. This does not mean teams are not calling him, however, and I still see the Kings as a big player in all this.

The big sticking point in the deal appears to be term of the deal; various league-wide sources have said the Thrashers are targeting a 7-year deal while Kovalchuk's camp wants one in the 10-12 year range. Understandbly so, Atlanta does not want to invest the money Kovalchuk wants (between $9.5-$11 million) into a player who would be over 37 years old by the end of the deal. On the flip side, Atlanta is in serious jeopardy of a terrible public relations scenario should Kovalchuk do what Marian Hossa and Marc Savard have already done--flee Georgia for greener pastures.



It's also understandable for Atlanta to not want to give the maximum contract the Collective Bargaining Agreement allows to a player that is exceptional offensively but has defensive shortcomings. The Thrashers are handcuffed and the situation could get messy. The Thrashers have to do something quickly; they've lost 10 of 11 and were blown out of their own rink in a 8-1 loss to Washington on Saturday. It's time for the Thrashers to either bet or fold, but they cannot bluff any longer. Sadly, it's a lose-lose situation for a franchise becoming accustomed to losing.

QUICK HITS FOR 1/11/01

-Jamie Langenbrunner was named captain of Team U.S.A. for the upcoming Olympics. Not much to say here and a pretty logical choice.

-The Anaheim Ducks beat the Blackhawks 3-1 last night despite being outshot 43-12. That's pretty remarkable. Jonas Hiller stopped 42 of 43 shots for the Ducks.

-Colin Campbell's "Player Supsension Length Dartboard" told him to suspened Ed Jovanovski for 2 games after his elbow to the head of John Tavares Saturday night. Hmm. I'm surprised it wasn't longer considering he elbowed an up-and-coming star.

-Scottie Upshall is back for the Coyotes after missing the past three games with the ever-mysterious "upper body injury". He still leads the Coyotes in goals..with 14. Marian Gaborik has 12 goals on the power play alone. Maybe the Coyotes should get in on the Kovalchuk sweepstakes?

-Henrik Sedin remarkably leads the NHL with 62 points. He is four ahead of Joe Thornton with each player having 37 games remaining. Sadly, Joe Thronton does not have an identical twin.

And lastly, I leave you with this because it's just oh-so-intruiging. Time for a rule change? I'll be chiming in tomrrow with more evidence on why the Southeast Division should be abolished.

3 comments:

  1. i don't think that's the rule they should change. i think they should consider the play dead after the goal, and reset the clock to the time of the goal, and start there.

    but if they're not going to do that, then yes, time for a change somewhere else then.

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  2. I agree. If the call had been made, none of the subsequent plays afterwards would have happened. I understand that penalties after the play are called, but I don't think a tripping call has ever been called after a goal was scored.

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  3. The Kovi situation seems to be affecting both him (minus 6 and no points in his last 3 contest) and the team. Might be a situation where his value along with his play is dropping with his apparent greed.

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