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Atlanta tries to move on without Kovalchuk Print
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Written by Brett Friedlander   
Saturday, February 06, 2010 01:04
In 1980, the Atlanta Flames packed up their pucks and sticks and relocated north to Calgary.

Thursday night, another Atlanta-based hockey team sent away the face of its franchise – rather than the entire team – when it sent captain Ilya Kovalchuk to the New Jersey Devils after failing to come to an agreement on a long-term contract extension.

Whether the controversial move turns out to be the beginning of the end of the NHL’s second run in the capital city of Georgia is yet to be seen. But according to general manager Don Waddell, the Thrashers would have had trouble surviving had they given in to Kovalchuck’s demands and paid him what he wanted.

“If we had met Kovy’s ultimate demand, we would have jeopardized our ability to build a competitive team around him and retain our other young players as they became eligible for new contracts in the season ahead,” Waddell wrote in an open letter to Atlanta fans on the team’s on line newsletter, Blueland Insider.

“At the end of the day, we couldn’t close that gap and simply reached a point at which we couldn’t reasonably go any higher.”

Waddell said that the Thrashers made two final offers to Kovalchuk, who is in the final year of his current deal, before finally deciding to trade him to New Jersey with defenseman Anssi Salmela in exchange for Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier and a 2010 first-round draft choice.

The first offer would have paid Kovalchuk an average of $10 million per year for seven seasons. Another totaled more than $100 million over 12 years and would have, according to the Thrashers GM, made him “more money than any other NHL player in the history of the league.”

Had Atlanta held onto Kovalchuk, he would have become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Most of the Russian star’s now-former teammates, upon learning of the deal, said they understood why the Thrashers did what they did. It was a strictly a business decision.

That, however, didn’t make take away any of the sting of losing the franchise’s all-time leading scorer and most marketable player.

In eight seasons since being selected No. 1 overall by Atlanta, Kovalchuk has 328 goals and 287 assists for 615 points in 594 games. He is tied for fifth in the league with 31 goals this season.

“It’s very disappointing,” forward Slava Kozlov told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday. “We traded a great player, but most importantly we traded our captain and a great guy. He was here eight years. He was a leader in this organization. He did a lot. But I guess it’s a hockey business. It’s tough. I wish him good luck in New Jersey. We have to move on and focus on our game and our job.”

Even with the face of their franchise no longer in the lineup, the Thrashers remain focused on making the playoffs for only the second time in their history. They are currently in 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings, but only three points behind Tampa Bay for the eighth and final playoff spot.

“You see a lot of great teams. Some have superstars, some don’t,” center Jim Slater said. “They still manage to make the playoffs and go a long way. What we have to do here is all come together in this locker room and learn how to win together as a team and not just rely on one player. I think we can do it.”

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Last Updated on Saturday, February 06, 2010 03:52