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Atlanta Thrashers Blogger •
Two years ago the Atlanta Thrashers were coming off their one and only playoff appearance…a very brief foray into the postseason. The following season, as the team tried in vane to make a return trip to the Hunt for Lord Stanley’s Cup...one big, dark, ominous cloud hung over the organ-I-zation…creating a subplot to the season.
It was the Marian Hossa saga.
Hossa was playing in the last year of his contract, one that he signed in Ottawa only to then find out a short time later he was being shipped off here in return for Dany Heatley. Greg Devries also accompanied Hossa to Atlanta in that deal. As the trade deadline neared in 2007…the Hossa situation was the dominant topic in Thrasherville and the season seemed to become the secondary topic. As general manager Don Waddell recently told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution…he didn’t think the Hossa deal was too big of an issue, “until three weeks before the trade deadline,” Waddell said. “Then it was a huge distraction”.
Many fans in Atlanta became annoyed with Hossa, feeling he was “dogging it”... knowing he was moving on to another team at the deadline anyway, so why put it all out on the line, why risk injury? Oh, he could bust his hump in a mid-January game in Detroit, scoring a hat-trick against the eventual champs, but not for us…even as the Thrashers still had a shot at the playoffs, (they actually held a lead in the Southeast Division in mid-February.
When it was all finally said and done, Hossa departed for Pittsburgh along with Pascal Dupuis. Also departing Atlanta was any hopes of the playoffs as the team completely tanked down the stretch...falling from contending for the division to finishing second from the bottom of the conference in the last two months of the season.
Don’t get me wrong, the trade did not cause the Thrashers to collapse…the foundation was already weakened from deals made over the course of previous seasons. But the timing was such that after the trade, it was as if the team knew their chances were slim-to-none for postseason play, and it appeared that many decided to “Hossa” it the rest of the way.
And now, two years after the whole “Hossa Drama” began in the summer of 2007, the Thrashers find themselves facing a very similar situation with Ilya Kovalchuk...the team captain and the face of the franchise in the Atlanta hockey community. But this time around Don Waddell asserts that things will be different.
As Chris Vivlamore...the AJC’s new Thrashers beat writer... tells us, “General manager Don Waddell told the Journal-Constitution last week that, unequivocally, Kovalchuk will remain with the team as it attempts to re-sign one of the NHL’s elite players. There will be no trade deadline move — such as with Marian Hossa — if negotiations reach an impasse”.
Maybe history has served its lesson for Waddell. He told us back then that he wanted to re-sign Hossa...and I’m sure he did. Unfortunately, Waddell and the Thrashers ownership did little to provide any hope to him that they were dedicated to building a winning team around him…providing a legitimate chance to compete in the “now”.
After last season came to another playoff-less conclusion, Kovy made it very clear what he wanted to happen before putting ink to paper on any new contract. “If I feel like we’re in the right direction, for sure I think we’ll figure out a way to sign a new deal,” Kovalchuk told the AJC.
He made it clear, as I discussed in my first Hockeybuzz post, that he was looking for the team to get tougher and stronger...and that had to happen before he would sign any new contract.
In essence, since Ilya knows he’s going to get his money wherever he signs, he’s giving the team he currently captains the first opportunity to pitch themselves to him. Only in this situation, unlike the line in Jerry McGuire, he’s not telling Waddell, “Show me the money”...he’s saying, “Show me the team”!
Then...and only then... can Don show him the money.
So...Mr. Waddell has his work cut out for him this summer. More than ever, I feel, he has got to ice a legitimate playoff contender this season, or he may not get another chance at it. To do so he must take the vast cap space and lure in some solid free agent talent and/or parley some of the depth the organ-I-zation has in goal into a top-six forward or top-four defender. He might also be able to do so my dealing with certain teams that are facing cap issues.
Waddell can directly control whatever trades may present themselves, but he’s gonna need assistance in regards to attracting free agents who have a choice as to their destination for this coming season. First, he needs Bruce Levenson and the rest of the Spirit Boys to give him their blessings in opening the checkbook and using a good chunk of that cap space available to them. However, Kovalchuk can also do himself some good here by being the Thrashers’ ambassador...selling himself and the team to certain talent that he would like to see brought aboard.
If Kovalchuk isn’t signed by the beginning of the season, however, Waddell insists that he will not permit the dark clouds of uncertainty to settle in over the organ-I-zation.
“I think [the Thrashers and Kovalchuk] will both know where we are way before the season starts if it is going to happen”, said Waddell. “That doesn’t mean it can’t happen once the season starts. My mission is to keep Ilya Kovalchuk here, whether that happens in July or August or we have to go out and prove that we are a team that’s going to take that next step we are fine with that.”
But what if the summer...and fall...passes with no new contract and the trade deadline nears? Could the Thrashers find themselves in the same situation Florida faced with Jay Bouwmeester?
Last March, I was of the opinion that Florida did the correct thing by keeping Bouwmeester. They were in the thick of a playoff push and that franchise desperately needed to qualify for the playoffs, having not been in them for several years. As you know, the gamble did not pay off…even though the Cats did finish with a 41-30-11 record. It was identical to Montreal’s 93-point finish, but the Habs got the nod due to the tie-breaker advantage and Florida sat at home while Montreal...and three Western Conference teams with fewer points…made it into the show.
And what if Waddell does indeed find himself facing the same type of decision with Kovalchuk?
As he told Vivlamore, “If you trade every player that is going to come up to be an unrestricted free agent, the way the league is set up you are going to be a free agent at 25 [years old], so we are going to be doing this all the time,” Waddell said. “You have to look at the big picture and say this year is more important to us than years from now. Florida went through it with [Jay] Bouwmeester. They didn’t trade their big guy, but they missed the playoffs.
“You are going to see that more and more. Where a player is 25 and he’s going to get a home-run deal, but it’s more important right now to keep him and keep the franchise moving in the right direction.”
So, it seems Waddell intends to ride this all the way to the end. I’ll go on record today as saying that would be the right course to take. Kovy has to be re-signed here. The team needs it...the organ-I-zation needs it.
Don Waddell needs it too. For if he fails in this mission...especially on the heels of failing to keep Hossa...it may just be the last challenge he faces as the general manager of the Atlanta Thrashers.
It was the Marian Hossa saga.
Hossa was playing in the last year of his contract, one that he signed in Ottawa only to then find out a short time later he was being shipped off here in return for Dany Heatley. Greg Devries also accompanied Hossa to Atlanta in that deal. As the trade deadline neared in 2007…the Hossa situation was the dominant topic in Thrasherville and the season seemed to become the secondary topic. As general manager Don Waddell recently told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution…he didn’t think the Hossa deal was too big of an issue, “until three weeks before the trade deadline,” Waddell said. “Then it was a huge distraction”.
Many fans in Atlanta became annoyed with Hossa, feeling he was “dogging it”... knowing he was moving on to another team at the deadline anyway, so why put it all out on the line, why risk injury? Oh, he could bust his hump in a mid-January game in Detroit, scoring a hat-trick against the eventual champs, but not for us…even as the Thrashers still had a shot at the playoffs, (they actually held a lead in the Southeast Division in mid-February.
When it was all finally said and done, Hossa departed for Pittsburgh along with Pascal Dupuis. Also departing Atlanta was any hopes of the playoffs as the team completely tanked down the stretch...falling from contending for the division to finishing second from the bottom of the conference in the last two months of the season.
Don’t get me wrong, the trade did not cause the Thrashers to collapse…the foundation was already weakened from deals made over the course of previous seasons. But the timing was such that after the trade, it was as if the team knew their chances were slim-to-none for postseason play, and it appeared that many decided to “Hossa” it the rest of the way.
And now, two years after the whole “Hossa Drama” began in the summer of 2007, the Thrashers find themselves facing a very similar situation with Ilya Kovalchuk...the team captain and the face of the franchise in the Atlanta hockey community. But this time around Don Waddell asserts that things will be different.
As Chris Vivlamore...the AJC’s new Thrashers beat writer... tells us, “General manager Don Waddell told the Journal-Constitution last week that, unequivocally, Kovalchuk will remain with the team as it attempts to re-sign one of the NHL’s elite players. There will be no trade deadline move — such as with Marian Hossa — if negotiations reach an impasse”.
Maybe history has served its lesson for Waddell. He told us back then that he wanted to re-sign Hossa...and I’m sure he did. Unfortunately, Waddell and the Thrashers ownership did little to provide any hope to him that they were dedicated to building a winning team around him…providing a legitimate chance to compete in the “now”.
After last season came to another playoff-less conclusion, Kovy made it very clear what he wanted to happen before putting ink to paper on any new contract. “If I feel like we’re in the right direction, for sure I think we’ll figure out a way to sign a new deal,” Kovalchuk told the AJC.
He made it clear, as I discussed in my first Hockeybuzz post, that he was looking for the team to get tougher and stronger...and that had to happen before he would sign any new contract.
In essence, since Ilya knows he’s going to get his money wherever he signs, he’s giving the team he currently captains the first opportunity to pitch themselves to him. Only in this situation, unlike the line in Jerry McGuire, he’s not telling Waddell, “Show me the money”...he’s saying, “Show me the team”!
Then...and only then... can Don show him the money.
So...Mr. Waddell has his work cut out for him this summer. More than ever, I feel, he has got to ice a legitimate playoff contender this season, or he may not get another chance at it. To do so he must take the vast cap space and lure in some solid free agent talent and/or parley some of the depth the organ-I-zation has in goal into a top-six forward or top-four defender. He might also be able to do so my dealing with certain teams that are facing cap issues.
Waddell can directly control whatever trades may present themselves, but he’s gonna need assistance in regards to attracting free agents who have a choice as to their destination for this coming season. First, he needs Bruce Levenson and the rest of the Spirit Boys to give him their blessings in opening the checkbook and using a good chunk of that cap space available to them. However, Kovalchuk can also do himself some good here by being the Thrashers’ ambassador...selling himself and the team to certain talent that he would like to see brought aboard.
If Kovalchuk isn’t signed by the beginning of the season, however, Waddell insists that he will not permit the dark clouds of uncertainty to settle in over the organ-I-zation.
“I think [the Thrashers and Kovalchuk] will both know where we are way before the season starts if it is going to happen”, said Waddell. “That doesn’t mean it can’t happen once the season starts. My mission is to keep Ilya Kovalchuk here, whether that happens in July or August or we have to go out and prove that we are a team that’s going to take that next step we are fine with that.”
But what if the summer...and fall...passes with no new contract and the trade deadline nears? Could the Thrashers find themselves in the same situation Florida faced with Jay Bouwmeester?
Last March, I was of the opinion that Florida did the correct thing by keeping Bouwmeester. They were in the thick of a playoff push and that franchise desperately needed to qualify for the playoffs, having not been in them for several years. As you know, the gamble did not pay off…even though the Cats did finish with a 41-30-11 record. It was identical to Montreal’s 93-point finish, but the Habs got the nod due to the tie-breaker advantage and Florida sat at home while Montreal...and three Western Conference teams with fewer points…made it into the show.
And what if Waddell does indeed find himself facing the same type of decision with Kovalchuk?
As he told Vivlamore, “If you trade every player that is going to come up to be an unrestricted free agent, the way the league is set up you are going to be a free agent at 25 [years old], so we are going to be doing this all the time,” Waddell said. “You have to look at the big picture and say this year is more important to us than years from now. Florida went through it with [Jay] Bouwmeester. They didn’t trade their big guy, but they missed the playoffs.
“You are going to see that more and more. Where a player is 25 and he’s going to get a home-run deal, but it’s more important right now to keep him and keep the franchise moving in the right direction.”
So, it seems Waddell intends to ride this all the way to the end. I’ll go on record today as saying that would be the right course to take. Kovy has to be re-signed here. The team needs it...the organ-I-zation needs it.
Don Waddell needs it too. For if he fails in this mission...especially on the heels of failing to keep Hossa...it may just be the last challenge he faces as the general manager of the Atlanta Thrashers.
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