Does Clearing Jokinen Mean Kovalchuk?
With the departure of Olli Jokinen for essentially spare parts, Flames fans believe another deal will be made. After all, GM Darryl Sutter did effectively clear 500K off his cap after the supposed salary dump. So is Sutter now looking to Atlanta and and acquiring Ilya Kovalchuk?
Categories: Around the League, Atlanta Thrashers, Calgary Flames, Central, Chicago Blackhawks, Eastern Conference, Los Angeles Kings, NHLHS Features, Northwest, Pacific, Southeast, Trade Rumors, Western Conference Tags: Ales Kotalik, Christopher Higgins, Don Waddell, Dustin Boyd, Greg Nemisz, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jarome Iginla, Keith Aulie, Leland Irving, Matt Stajan, Mikael Backlund, Niklas Hagman, Olli Jokinen, Tim Erixon, Tuukka Rask
The Value of: Ilya Kovalchuk
NHL Hot Stove presents it’s “The Value Of” series which will look at some of the names discussed around the NHL who likely will be moved at the March 3rd trade deadline.
Categories: Atlanta Thrashers, Atlantic, Boston Bruins, Central, Chicago Blackhawks, Deadline Speculation, Eastern Conference, Los Angeles Kings, Northeast, Pacific, Philadelphia Flyers, Southeast, Trade Rumors, Value Of:, Washington Capitals, Western Conference Tags: Akim Aliu, Alexander Semin, Andrei Loktionov, Andrew Ladd, Anton Gustafsson, Bill Sweatt, Blake Wheeler, Braydon Schenn, Bryan Little, Claude Giroux, Dany Heatley, Dave Bolland, Don Waddell, Dustin Byfuglien, Eric Fehr, Evander Kane, George McPhee, James van Riemsdyk, Jeff Carter, John Carlson, Karl Alzner, Kris Versteeg, Kyle Beach, Marian Hossa, Mathieu Perreault, Matt Greene, Nicklas Backstrom, Olli Jokinen, Oscar Moeller, Oskar Osala, Scott Parse, Thomas Hickey, Tobias Enstrom, Tomas Fleischmann, Trevor Lewis, Troy Brouwer, Tuukka Rask, Vladamir Sobotka, Wayne Simmonds, Zach Bogosian
Hopefully an End to the Kovalchuck Speculation.
If you’ve read past work on this situation, where I’ve sited points from Canadian radio or other articles around the blogosphere, you would know that the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes keeps going.
Late last night, via twitter, conversations came up that Kovalchuck and the Thrashers have hit a point in contract talks with most speculating the drama will conclude by week’s end. Pierre LeBrun of ESPN stated in an article on Saturday that the new year would have some critical news in the Kovalchuck endeavors. Well, all signs are pointing to LeBrun’s speculation as accurate.
Supposedly Kovalchuk will sign a deal with the Thrashers worth between 8 million and 11 million per year in the range of a 10-12 years. This signing would be great news for the Thrashers organization and bad news for 29 other teams that hoping to acquire the Russian sniper with a tempting package.
Kovalchuck’s agent Jay Grossman and Atlanta Thrashers GM Don Waddell met this weekend during the World Junior Hockey Championships and with the team presenting a deal to Grossman. Now the decision rests on Kovalchuk’s shoulders. Does he want to stay in Atlanta, a place he publicly stated he loves? Do his his fears of relocation trump this supposed love affair?
There are still other scenarios however.
Categories: Atlanta Thrashers, Atlantic, Central, Chicago Blackhawks, Eastern Conference, New York Rangers, Southeast, Trade Rumors, Washington Capitals, Western Conference Tags: Atlanta Thrashers, Don Waddell, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jay Grossman
Alexander Semin Signs One Year Extension
As Tarik El-Bashir of The Washington Post reports left wing turned right wing Alexander Semin signed a one year extension worth six million dollars. Definitely a smart move to lock up a player the caliber of this young man.
Semin receives a slight raise from his reasonable five million dollar salary while avoiding either an arbitration hearing or offer sheet temptation. The 25-year-old certainly put the production up to deserve a raise, arguably even into the 7 million dollar range. In his last 91 games the native of Krasjonarsk posted 111 points, well over a PPG range.
What does this mean for Semin?
Earlier in the week there was speculation on Semin, amongst others, moving to Atlanta in a swap for Ilya Kovalchuk. Although this deal seems incredibly far-fetched and unlikely, signing Semin to an extension would make him more attractive to a team receiving him.
Categories: Atlanta Thrashers, Eastern Conference, Southeast, Trade Rumors, Washington Capitals Tags: Alexander Semin, Eric Fehr, George McPhee, Ilya Kovalchuk, Marian Gaborik, Nicklas Backstrom, Tomas Fleischmann, Washington Capitals
Kovalchuk and Ovechkin Together?
If you listened to the Team 1040 AM stream like I did, you would know new rumors around Ilya Kovalchuk continue to spread like wildfire.
The newest and latest rumors discussed are the Washington Capitals as front runners in the Kovalchuk sweepstakes. Interestingly enough, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period says as much as Kovalchuk loves Atlanta, there are bigger issues there in hindsight.
Going back to the 1040 AM discussion, Washington as an organization boasts numerous movable assets. Since the permanent Michael Nylander demotion, a fair amount of open cap space opened up for the club so perhaps they have both the room and assets necessary to acquire the services of Kovalchuk.
Naturally the centerpeice would have to be either Alexander Semin or Nicklas Backstrom along with another player like Eric Fehr. Kovalchuk should claim a bounty larger than that of former teammate Marian Hossa, so there would need to be work on both sides.
