Grading the Thrashers Trades

This season has seen some big moves from the Thrashers' management when it comes to trades and personnel moves. Let's take a moment or two to break some of them down and grade them. One thing seems to be evident though, Rick Dudley has had a positive effect on this club's talent selection and trade strategies.

Let's take a look at the recent moves made by management and see how they shake down.

Ilya Kovalchuk Trade - B
You can't trade away somebody like Ilya Kovalchuk and it not hurt. Kovy was a proven 40+ goal scorer per year with an overall point production nearing 100 points per season, he was the captain and the face of the franchise. Because he was all that, you're not going to be able to trade him away close to the trade deadline, with him being considered a rental, and get near back what you're sending out the door. In return for Kovy the Thrashers received Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, the Devil's 1st round pick and swapped positions with the Devils in the second round.

Overall Waddell did very good with this trade considering what we were giving up. Oduya is signed for next season at 4 million, Bergfors is a RFA who will get more money but could be signed for a nice longer term contract. Cormier is a QMJHL player who has some upside but also is serving a season long suspension for a dirty elbow. This, by the way, is not his first dirty play, just the worst. Cormier is scouted to be a good solid gritty 3rd or 4th line player, but he's a prospect.

We picked up the Devil's 1st round pick which judging from their position in the standings will be a late pick in the round. This should net us some talent that will need development but may be able to start at Chicago and only need a year or two in the minors if we pick well. The last part of that deal was the swapping of spots with the Devils in the second round and honestly anything after the 1st round is a crap shoot.

We lost roughly 90 to 100 points a season and picked up a solid defenseman and a top 9 forward, both with time left on contracts, that was the immediate impact.

Kari Lehtonen - C
The Kari Lehtonen trade didn't net the club much in the way of usable help this season...but then again Kari wasn't any usable help this season either..so I guess that's a wash. We picked up Ivan Vishnevskiy and a 4th round pick in exchange for a glass groined goalie.

Vishnevskiy is a puck moving defenseman with a possibility to become a power play quarterback. He's only average in his own end and has trouble with power forwards. He's gonna need some work in the minors and with the glut of defensemen we have right now he won't see any time at the NHL level for a couple of years. He may end up being a piece to be moved at another time.

Evgenei Artyukhin for Nathan Oystrick - A-
This trade is nothing but upside in my opinion. Artyukhin is big, fast and can grind down opponents. No he's not a big scoring threat but he'll add size and strength up front, something that Waddell and Dudley have been looking for. We traded away Nathan Oystrick, a defenseman who played for the Thrashers as a 3rd pair defense last season but has since been relegated to Chicago due to depth in the organization. Oystrick wasn't going to make the NHL club anytime soon because of our depth at that position so I see this is a good chance for a good player to maybe break back onto NHL ice. Like I said...nothing but upside in this trade, we gave up practically nothing and got some size for it.

Clarke MaCArthur - A
We gave up our 3rd and 4th round picks, which are considered a crap shoot at best for a 3rd line forward with an average potential of 30 points per season give or take.

Chris Chelios - B
Signed to a 2 way contract and pushed through waivers (I was sure holding my breath on that one). This is nothing more than a depth signing that costs us little to nothing really. He's there in case shit hits the fan and we need somebody, the upside is that he has crazy amounts of experience and can be a mentor to just about anybody on the bench.

Overall Grade - B+

Here's the criticism  - With regards to Kovy, should we have let it get so far that the deal that was made was the best case to salvage the situation of should we have played it like we did and try to sign him. Despite what the players and management say I think that December and January sucked partially because of the distraction of the whole deal and you could certainly see as the months progressed Kovy's lack of enthusiasm for playing in Atlanta.

Tell me what you think...do you agree with my grades?? How would you score them?