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Kozlov’s Biggest Assist In Atlanta May Come Next Summer |
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Next season, Ilya Kovalchuk will be playing in the last year of his current contract that pays him right at $6.4 million. Also playing the final season of a contract is fellow countryman Slava Kozlov, whose salary will be $3.66 million. Both are scheduled to be UFA in the summer of 2010.
Combined the two players take up just over $10 million…roughly the sum of money that it will cost the Thrashers, or any other team, to retain Kovy’s services. This is why I feel, especially if Kovalchuk does re-sign here, that this it will be the last season Kozlov plays in a Thrashers uniform seeing that he’ll be will be 38 years old come next May. Atlanta is turning more and more to its younger players these days…which is a good thing.
But the timing of it all more than likely dictates that Kozlov’s seventh season here will be his last. Just as Kozlov’s $3.6 mil will be slated to fall off the books, the extra funds to needed to pay Kovy will be coming on board. The two are nearly a wash.
My point here is not to throw dirt on Kozlov’s career…or make it seem as though I’m looking forward to him leave. Maybe he does have another season or two left in him elsewhere…and certainly I see his time spent in Atlanta as nothing less than 100% positive for the organ-I-zation.
Slava was brought in before the 2002-03 season…one of Don Waddell’s better acquisitions…after spending one season in Buffalo. Prior to that he played ten years in Detroit and his name is etched on Lord Stanley’s Cup because of it. He’s accounted for 137 of his 348 regular season goals while here as well as 253 of his 479 career assists. His solid, consistent play on the ice along with his mature presence in the Thrashers’ locker room has made him a favorite of both the fans and his teammates.
Two seasons ago he experience a slump in his production…only 17 goals and 24 assists…however we learned last summer that he was playing through pain. He required surgery during the offseason because of it, yet he still managed to show up for all 82 games. In fact, during the last four seasons, he has missed a grand total of one game.
In short, the Slavinator has been nothing shy of awesome.
But the Thrashers do have a business decision to make here. They have to come up with about $3-3.5 million extra to keep their star player and captain in Thrasher blue as well as find a way to do the same for such other players as Kari Lehtonen, Rich Peverley, Bryan Little and Colby Armstrong in the coming months. The there is the prospect of bringing on a top-four blueliner and/or top-six forward this summer.
Not to mention the fact that Waddell needs to balance the massive cap space he has at his avail and the maximum amount ownership will allow him to spend. So, if simply transferring Kozlov’s salary to Kovy’s column helps him pay to keep Kovy in town as well as keep the extra cap space money available for others…then it’s the right move to make.
In a sense, Kozlov current salary will assist the team in paying to keep Kovalchuk here beyond next season. And that, my friends, might just be the biggest assist of the 253 Kozzy has had so far as a Thrasher.
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