Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Trade Deadline Day

UPDATE II: Thrashers' trade coming soon... not sure who is involved but the front office said to pay attention. My guess is Kozlov or Army is gone.

UPDATE: Kubina's agent confirms he is close to extension in Atlanta. Take him off the trade list.

Ok, so we have a little under four (thats right 4) hours till the deadline passes.

The burning question that stands before us: Who will get shipped out and what new blood arrives here in Atlanta?

Next intreguing question: Are we buyers or sellers today?

With the win yesterday you have to figure the Thrashers are going to do whatever is in the relm of possibilities to get this team past the first round of the playoffs. Then again, don't tinker with something that isn't broken.

Ok, so that leads us to what parts can be let go. We have two big pieces that could be packaged nicely in a trade to bring back atleast one quality scoring player being Colby Armstrong and Slava Kozlov. As everyone knows Kozzy (Kozlov for non-Thrasher fans) has asked to be traded so he can play out his final days on the ice not in a press box and Armstrong has essentially stopped contract talks with Atlanta.

Also on the bubble are players like Kubina and Afinagenov that are UFAs at season's end. So now it becomes a question of who garnishes the best return, and is that return greater than what is given up to get it.

With all this considered that leaves us with three candidates from the thrashers to be moved that are UFAs: Armstrong, Kozlov, and Afinagenov.

Why do you leave out Kubina in this list you ask? Two things: First, he has a no trade claus that prevents the team from throwing him to the wolves. Second, he has done way to much securing this blue line to let him go.

My prediction after all this information: The Thrashers part ways with Army and Kozlov in a packaged deal that brings in a scorer and a late pick in a draft. I was hoping for Ponikarovski from the Leafs but since he is gone, it would be nice to see Raffi Torres to fill Kovy's shoes as the scorer.

Any other guesses that you guys have, lets hear 'em. Also, throw in there if you think the Thrashers are sellers or buyers at this juncture... I'm curious to see others opinions here.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Its a Dark Day In Blueland

Our Captain will be gone by the end of the week probably, and all sources are saying the same thing... Kovy's saying he wanted to win in Atlanta was a song and dance routine when he never really considered this a viable place to stay.

Frustrating? Yes. Disrepectfult? Even More.

The man wants to hold this franchise hostage with 20% of the salary cap tied under his belt, and expect us to build a winner... with fourth and third line money left over? You can't be serious, right? Apparently, $10 million a year for 10 years isn't enough to satisfy the man.

I originally thought Kovalchuk was a smart individual who understood what it took to win as a team. After all, the has won every accolade a player can achieve at this point except a Stanley Cup, so one would think he would allow some consessions to get to this dream.

We were all wrong here. Its all about Kovy all the time.

The craziest part about this whole article is that everyone thought he truely cared about this team since he specifically asked the Thrashers to seek out certain players (Afinagenov and Antropov) and we went and got them for him. What does he do in return? If you said he thanked the organization you are wrong, rather he decides to force the team to trade him so he can test the waters as a UFA.

Just lovely.

Anyways, I just hope Waddell can get at least one top 6 player that is really young, a slew of draft picks and previous first round draft pick from a team that has a reputation of knowing where good talent is.

Any predicitons on the trade and where he will go? Lets hear them,

Monday, January 25, 2010

Kovy And All The Other UFAs

So I'm going to say hesitantly that our Kaptain might be out of Atlanta before seasons end. A trade seems to be every one's favorite thing to talk about lately. But is signing Kovy to the league maximum really worth all the hype its getting?

I beg to differ. The Thrashers are about to find themselves in a situation that no GM ever wants to be in, and I'm not talking about the Kovalchuk contract. I'm talking about the other 8 UFAs that can walk come July this year. Yea, 8 other players on this roster are free to test the waters of the NHL and see what their services will garnish them if they don another uniform.

So here is the question that I propose: Exactly what transactions helps this team the most in regards to Kovalchuk and the other UFAs?

We can reasonably expect that Kovy will get a 10+ year deal with a cap hit of $9 Million anywhere he goes, so that is our bench mark. That would put the team at $32 Million committed with only 9 players signed (5 of those being defenders). The hard part is most of the guys that are signed are second and third line players leaving $20 million to spread around the top six, which anyone can tell you just isn't enough money.

Now to complicate things worse, Brian Little is a RFA this year and Zach Bogosian is a RFA next year. Those two alone will probably eat up 6$ million easy (lets say $3 million each for rounding), so now the team is at $35 million before free agency to start next year.

So this is the list of UFAs the Thrashers have in the organization:
  • Ilya Kovalchuk
  • Slava Kozlov
  • Colby Armstrong
  • Jim Slater
  • Maxim Afinagenov
  • Eric Boulton
  • Pavel Kubina
  • Mark Popovic
  • Johan Hedberg
Out of this list there are several players I would like to see resigned, but several others could bring great package deals if in trades. I'd like to sign Pavel Kubina, Mark Popovic and Colby Armstrong for another few years. Hopefully, all those could get signed and done for under $10 million (Our running total would be at $45 if Kovy signs to the lowest deal above and $47 if he requires league max). I think Kozlov and Hedberg are in the fading years of their careers and both should be asked to take positions in the front office in order to create some true player presence in the board.

This optimal scenario leaves the thrashers with $9 million to fill out the remaining 5 roster spots, one of which is a top 6 forward. I guess its time to tap the farm, right? Maybe not.. consider trading Kovy and Colby Armstrong to unload some salary and get some immediate and future returns. Calgary is definitely interested in a deal like this that would bring back Dion Phaneuf, a guaranteed first round pick, and a plethora of other options for Don Waddell to choose. This saves about $3 Million in salary and brings back needed depth at defense. Other great suitors are the Kings and Blackhawks. Both teams are willing to give promising packages of draft picks, extremely talented young players on both the offenseive and defensive side of the puck.

So one final thought that makes this matter even more interesting: Todd White. If the Thrahsers can unload his $2.6 million hit next year then the team really has some barganing room to sign players. Yes, we are in Atlanta and we have to over pay players to come here, but that might be the exact cusion they need.

So that brings us back full circle to all the UFAs that are on this roster this year... what the heck do you do with all of them? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe this isn't just Kovy asking for too much money, but the Thrashers not planning well enough to see all these UFAs staying in Blueland past this year,