As The Kovalchuk Turns

Well for most hockey news people today is going to be simply abuzz with nothing practically but news of Ilya Kovalchuk. There will be more than enough speculation to fill Phillips Arena three times over. So far there have been a few reports that are a little more reputable then others. I'm going to take a stab at the AJC report that gave some details as to what the negotiations were looking like.

As you have been watching the two camps are starting to make more news evident as they look to make themselves out as not the one responsible for the split. If the reports in the AJC are totally factual (it's probably as close as we'll actually get) then Kovy was offered a deal for $101 million over a 12 year period or a $10 million deal over 10 years and turned them down. He's had his eye set on the cap max which is 11.3 million and he's not backing down an inch.

If that is really the case then I'll be the first to say..Bye dude!! Because if you really can wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and go to work and think that you're worth that type of money in today's uncertain hockey market you're an absolute fool. You should fire Jay Grossman immediately because he's pumped you so full of bullshit until it's running out of your ears.

I have already made several posts about how I thought 10 million was being generous. The person that Kovy would be the most comparable to in the NHL as far as not only skill but importance to his club would be Alexander Ovechkin. Looking at those two players and reading what I've read about Ilya's demands I now understand why we're struggling to make the playoffs and the Capitals are on a 10 game winning streak where they have pretty much dominated their competition.

Kovy has no concept, obviously, of what it takes to make the championship quality team that he kept saying he wanted. In today's NHL to spend to the cap max when all speculations show that the cap will most likely fall in the next few years to come and then expect to put a team together with the money left over from that and put together a championship caliber team is the most ludicrous thinking I've ever seen.

IF what the AJC has reported is even 90% true, then I have to say that Jay Grossman has done such a disservice to Ilya Kovalchuk that it's not even funny. I think that Jay felt like Ilya's importance to this franchise would allow him to leverage the popularity of the fan base into a position that would force Waddell to capitulate to any demand made. I think he's going to find out that teams will not be willing to put that type of money on the line for the length of contract he's looking for, not for the type of player Ilya Kovalchuk truly is.

I'm not a hockey professional by any means. I have, however, watched years and years of hockey and I've seen some of the greatest players play the game ever. I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of all hockey acumen, but I do know a one way player when I see it, and Ilya Kovalchuk is the epitome of that. Kovy rarely, if ever, plays down low in his own zone. When he enters the zone he peels off to the blue line and usually is found loitering around the line waiting on a breakout pass. He has yet to post a +/- number on the positive side his entire NHL career..why is that? You've got people this season that play on his freaking line that have a plus number....why?? because they know how to play two way hockey. The point is that if you can't play equally on both sides of the puck you don't deserve to be the highest paid player in hockey.

Like I said I'm not an expert and I'm not going to pretend to make a prediction to where he could go. There are teams from Vancouver to L.A. to Chicago and so on that are being thrown out there, but one team interests me and not because of what we would get from them in return but because it will be interesting to see how he fits in...New Jersey.

Jersey has been long considered the bastion of defensive hockey play. Two way responsibility in New Jersey isn't a system..it's a religion. I will laugh my ass off to see how long it takes for Kovy to either buy into hitting somebody in his own zone or end up in the coach's dog house. I can tell you this...the fans in any other city won't stand for his style of one way play very long if he isn't banging in better than a point a night (he's been cold lately for those of you keeping score at home)

What I would love to see as a Thrasher fan, though I realize it's highly unlikely such a thing will actually happen...but it sure would be great. I would love to see us trade Kovy for a nice little group of players that could truly make this club better. Kovy goes to a team that makes a good playoff run and tests the free agency market in July. He'll be signed on the 1st for sure..but I would like to see him look at offers from clubs that no where comes close to the one he turned down from the Thrashers and then Don Waddell (or better yet..his replacement) then offers Kovy a deal for 9.5 for 12 years and he had to take it, because it's the best offer he's seen. He's back as a Thrasher, we have better players, and he's getting a good deal without being obscenely over paid.

Well that's enough spewage for the time being on Kovy..I think I'm sick