The Sky Iz Fallin...OHNOZ!!!!

The title is what most people think is happening in Blueland. What ever are we going to do! Ilya Kovalchuk was traded from the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night because we could not come to terms with him on a contract extension. He was an incredibly important aspect and was a ton of fun to watch and to have on our team. However, I don't really think this is as bad as expected. Dr. Hockey's diagnosis: The Thrashers will press on. Everyone relax.

First of all, I think it's important to realize that agents have a lot to do with these transactions. It may not always be the player or the GM of the team. Everyone likes to flame DW for making awful decisions, but this one doesn't appear to be his fault. Let's see why:

1) Kovalchuk announces this past summer how he wants to see the direction of the team before he makes a decision. Done. The team comes out and has a strong showing at the beginning of the year and is off to the best start in franchise history.

2) Kovy wants some new players to play with so he feels like we can put together a winning team to get into the playoffs. Accomplished. Antropov and Kubina were traded for the dead weight otherwise known as Garnett Exelby. Then, Afinogenov, who happened to be my favorite player in Buffalo, gets a pro tryout and ends up signing with the team.

3) Captain Princess claims he loves it here in Atlanta and that his kids will receive a quality education and it's an excellent place for his family. Fine. He loves it here. We get it.

4) DW and the Atlanta Spirit FINALLY want to spend some money on him and offer him a 12 year, 101 Million dollar contract and he says nah, those other three things I said really aren't as important as money.

So what more could we have done? The guy is not Ovechkin, Malkin, or even Joe Thornton. Those guys are terrific two-way players who have all the great qualities as Kovalchuk and then some. They play defense and they stand their ground. Kovalchuk is weak defensively and is either offsides or turning the puck over. Is he even really deserving of the 12 year contract making him the highest paid player in the NHL? I think not.

He's going to have a hell of a time with the Devils (pun intended). He will NOT be a star there like he was here. He will NOT play the defensive style that NJ plays. He WILL score a lot of goals as he usually does. The Thrashers will NOT move to Hamilton, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Anchorage, Oahu, or any other ridiculous place that many have suggested. The Thrashers WILL continue to win games (they just did after being bussed for 5.5 hours to go 120 miles from DC to Richmond, sitting on the tarmac for 2 hours, and arriving at Philips Arena 50 minutes before game time). The Thrashers will NOT re-sign Kovy before free agency. Kovy will NOT get the money he is looking for with any other NHL team. That is how I see it. I could be wrong. I was once before, but that was a long time ago just to see what it felt like.

Again, I feel the Thrashers will move forward even without our star forward. Many other guys will rise to the occasion and we will continue to win games. Now if we could only figure our goaltending situation out... Stay tuned, and as always, I'm Steven Sorci and I approved this message.