It is not everyday that a player with as much offensive talent as Ilya Kovalchuk hits the open market, free to be pursued by 30 NHL teams for a shot to have him play in their city.

Unfortunately, it is slowly becoming Mats Sundin v2.0.

Let’s take a walk through time:

The trade deadline was looming and the Atlanta Thrashers had a very difficult decision to make.  Throw the farm at face of the franchise Ilya Kovalchuk in hopes of him agreeing to sign a life long deal to stay with the team, or acquire the best possible package to help the team in moving forward.

Then GM Don Waddell attempted the former and settled for the latter.

Ilya Kovalchuk, after turning down an absurd amount of money thrown at him by the organization who drafted him, was shipped to New Jersey to help them in their quest for another Stanley Cup.

Unfortunately for the Devils, that quest was over before it started.  However, what they did not expect was further drama from the acquisition. Feeling as though they were an organization strong enough to capture another Cup within the time window known as Martin Brodeur, Lou Lamiorello figured it would be easy to keep the superstar in Newark, NJ.

But wait.

At that time, wasn’t it all but confirmed that once the season came to an end Kovalchuk would be packing his bags and taking his family to the lovely left coast of this fine continent known as North America?  No, not Calgary, Colorado or Vancouver, not San Jose or Anaheim, but Los Angeles?

It was assumed that Dean Lombardi did not want to throw away pieces to his future for a quick fix and that it would be easier to instead, throw a boat load of money in said players direction.

As of today, Kovalchuk remains unsigned to any team, whether that be within the NHL, KHL, or some unthinkable league on a different planet.

For Don Waddell, who has since been replaced as the GM in Atlanta by Rick Dudley, the return was glorious for in theory, Ilya Kovalchuk helped the Thrashers acquire Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, Akim Aliu, Andrew Laad, Ben Eager and Brent Sopel.

And since we are in the free agent frenzy part of the season, the Thrashers have seen two contributors from last season depart in Maxim Afinogenov and Pavel Kubina.

To be quite honest, this writer would take the entire package of players over the two that have walked; leaving Kovalchuk out of this altogether.

So where do we stand?

It’s been a seesaw week within the NHL as reporters, agents, players and fans have all been engulfed in the Kovalchuk drama.  Many GMs who have potential trades or other free agent signings in mind are waiting for the dominoes to fall prior to finalizing anything that is currently pending.

Now, what has been a reason of displeasure is that fact that Kovalchuk stated when the time arrived he would want to play for a potential Stanley Cup contending organization.

Well, if that was the truth why have we been left in the dark?  Why is it taking so long for Kovalchuk to put pen to paper and officially announce his future plans.

So now that we have played catch-up, let’s move into the beginning of this week.

Rumors have circulated like wild fire on destinations that include the Atlanta Thrashers, the New Jersey Devils, the Los Angeles Kings, the New York Islanders and even the New York Rangers as well as Russia’s KHL.

The best was the “report” of Islanders GM offering a 10 year $10 million deal to Kovalchuk, which has since been deemed false. Unfortunately for the Islanders, for a player of this caliber would have truly turned the franchise in a different direction, likely erasing most of the turmoil surrounding them.

Do you feel as if your eyes are playing tricks on you?

On Monday, Kovalchuk’s agent, Jay Grossman, tweeted that a decision could be made by the end of the day. As of today, after the Kings had supposedly backed out, there has been no decision and Dean Lombardi has gone public to state that the Kings were back in the thick of it.

This has turned into the saga of a superstar that is not needed with all the other turmoil surrounding the NHL.

Here is hoping that, no matter where he winds up, there is pen to paper before this week is up. And for what it’s worth, I truly hope Mr. Grossman has been able to sleep properly because with all that has gone on, his phone has to be ringing off the hook day and night.

Anthony Curatolo
NHLHS New York Islanders Correspondent/NHL Writer
acuratolo@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @HockeyGuy_AC