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Posts Tagged Ilya Kovalchuk

Free Agency: Day 2 Recap

Jul 3

Posted by Eddie in News | No Comments

The NBA has the LeBron-Wade-Bosh sweepstakes. Where if any team signs any of the three named players will hit the lottery and will have a franchise player for years to come. Over at the Coolest Game Played on Ice, we have the Kovy sweepstakes. The biggest free agent in the NHL this summer is New Jersey forward Ilya Kovalchuk. Just like his roundball counterparts, Kovy wants to be able to win the Stanley Cup while getting paid the big bucks. Today was a standstill in the race to sign Kovalchuk, but in past days it has been known that the New York Islanders are joining the discussions for his services. Islanders GM Garth Snow is only reporting that “I’ve had a conversation with his agent and I’ll leave it at that” when he spoke with Newsday beat writer Katie Strang. The main contenders for his services appear to be along with the Islanders is New Jersey and Los Angeles. All three teams have potential to make themselves better with Kovy on their roster. LA and NJ are the more “championship” ready teams while the Islanders could be in a couple years with the potential of a Tavares-Kovalchuk duo.

In other news, no big names found new homes today. There was some key re-signings since Matt’s update yesterday. Colorado kept defenseman Daniel Winnik and forward Kyle Quincy. Both young guns were RFA’s entering this off season, and both signed two-year contracts. Anaheim potentially got one of the “steals” of the early signing period as they got Islanders minor league prospect Trevor Smith. Smith spent last season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Islanders’ AHL affiliate. Smith, a center, appeared in 77 games, scored 21 goals and recorded 26 assists for 47 points. He was in the top-three in all three statistical categories for his team last season.

The Dallas Stars also quietly added two key depth players in Andrew Raycroft and Adam Burish. As the Stars are moving past Marty Turco, they signed Raycroft from Vancouver to compete with minor league backstop Brent Krahn to backup Kari Lehtonen. Raycroft has the leg up on Krahn, as he has been in the league for 10 years and also has seen time as a starter in recent years with Toronto, Boston. Raycroft also won the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year in 2003-04.

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Free Agency Starts at Noon Eastern

Jul 1

Posted by EB in News | No Comments

First and foremost, happy Canada day to those viewers from abroad.

Today starts the first day of free agency period at high noon eastern. Top players like Ilya Kovalchuk, Sergei Gonchar and Evgeni Nabokov are only few names of many that are out there for general managers to persuade to play for their clubs.

The wheeling and dealing is expected to be good this year with many big names out there. HWB will keep you updated with recaps of some of the big names taken, how it will impact the team signed to, and our overall impression of the whole event.

Sit back and enjoy the fireworks!

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Ilya Kovalchuk Traded to the New Jersey Devils

Feb 4

Posted by Matt in News | No Comments

It’s official. Ilya Kovalchuk has been traded to the New Jersey Devils along with defenseman Anssi Salmela. In return, the Atlanta Thrashers will receive defenseman Johnny Oduya, right wing Niclas Bergfors, prospect Patrice Cormier and a first-round draft pick. More to come…

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Hitchcock Fired

Feb 3

Posted by EB in News | No Comments

Ken Hitchcock has been fired today by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Ken Hitchcock has been fired today by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Today the Columbus Blue Jackets have relieved Head Coach Ken Hitchcock and appointed Assistant Coach Claude Noel as interim head coach.

The move comes as no surprise as the Blue Jackets have been struggling and currently sit in 14th place within the Western Conference. The team who made their playoff debut last year is now no where near contention to make the playoffs again. In the last 10 games the team went 4-6-0, and like their overall season, they fall under .500 for wins.

Unfortunately, the team really has no players that they could move before the trade deadline, but perhaps that goes to show the lack of stars on the team. It would be nice if they could get Ilya Kovalchuk who is expected to be moved within a few days, but that seems as possible as the club to turn this season around and make the playoffs.

Perhaps now young star Nikita Filatov will be happy as he may receive more ice time. Nonetheless, the Blue Jackets should recognize this season is over. Work hard on improving for next year and try work the draft in their favor for next season.

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Coyotes in Detroit

Jan 26

Posted by EB in News | 1 Comment

Tonight the Phoenix Coyotes visit Joe Louis Arena to go against Conference competitor the Detroit Red Wings. The two teams have met three times already with Detroit taking two out of the three.  Will the Coyotes clip the mending Wings, or will Detroit fly away with the “W”?

Detroit is coming off of a tough loss to the Los Angeles Kings. That loss has leap frogged them the wrong way. The Wings are currently in 8th place among the conference with 58 points, due only in that the Calgary Flames are sinking fast within the Conference (1-8-1 in last ten).

A ray of hope shines for the Wings as defenseman Niklas Kronwall returns to the lineup. One thing to look out for though is every time an injured player comes back to the Wings lineup, another person goes down.

Phoenix sits 5th within the Conference at 63 points. Looking pretty good right now, however goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov is showing possible signs of wear and tear with only 4 wins and a 3.38 goals against average in the last month. Not to worry though as the offense has scored an average of 3.6 goals in their last 5 games.

Tonight I will be in attendance with Tony A., a long time reader, responder and a Barbie doll collector. Hopefully we can agree to disagree on the outcome.

On a different note, rumors of where Ilya Kovalchuk will land before the trade deadline are circulating. Yet no rumors of possibly moving to Phoenix? Hmm…  Phoenix does have the largest cap space currently and would be able to afford Kovalchuk’s expected of 10 million plus salary a year. They also have two first round draft picks. Just throwing it out there. But who knows, maybe there is room for only one Ilya on the team. I’m crossing my finger regardless.

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K-F-C

Dec 22

Posted by EB in News | No Comments

Captain Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atalanta Thrashers.

Captain Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atalanta Thrashers.

K is for Kovalchuk:

The All-Star left wing and Captain of the Atlanta Thrashers has come to a “snag” in talks for a new contract with his current club.

Next year, Kovalchuk becomes an unrestricted free agent. Kovalchuk entered the league in the 2001-2002 season with Atlanta Thrashers, and has played with them since. He has been posting up consistent numbers, averaging 79 points in the five completed seasons he has played. Atlanta has had trouble in the past completing deals. Atlanta was unable to sign Marian Hossa a few seasons back.

Kovalchuk is one of the big names this year for potential free agents. It is expected he will sign with Atlanta and become their franchise player, however if not, oh what a fun time it will be come trade deadline.

F is for Fisticuffs:

The Florida Panthers visited the Philadelphia Flyers last night for some good ‘ol hockey.

The meeting was their first since October 24th, where Flyer’s captain Mike Richards hit winger David Booth. The hit, which was controversial in being a head shot or not, received no disciplinary action, but has taken Booth out of the lineup for an indefinite period of time. Booth is the future of the Panthers, but currently is only participating in “light” skating.

The game began with a bang, as the first period consisted of 3 fights, one less than 2 minutes in. The total fight count ended with 4, yet the one to make note of was Panther’s captain Bryan McCabe challenging Flyer’s captain Mike Richards to a fight 3 minutes and 42 seconds into the game. The two dropped the gloves, circled briefly with both captain C’s bearing on their chest, and began to throw their punches.

It is not often you see two captains going toe to toe in a fight. Respect to both captains, McCabe for setting the tone and the score, and for Richards taking responsibility for his previous actions on Booth. Hockey is scrutinized for it’s fighting, however self regulation such as this makes the game safer than if fighting were to be removed.

The Panthers dominated the score board, winning 4-1, moving them to 8th place in the East, and sending the Flyers into a speedy decline to second to the bottom of the conference.

Martin Brodeur is interviewed after recording his 104th career shutout in an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh Monday, Dec. 21, 2009.

Martin Brodeur is interviewed after recording his 104th career shutout in an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh Monday, Dec. 21, 2009.

C is for Champion:

New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur broke the shutout record, posting his 104th of his career in a 4-0 win over the defending Cup Champions Pittsburgh Penguins. The record previously belonged to Detroit Red Wing’s Terry Sawchuk.

Brodeur, smiling from ear to ear took many photos with teammates and his puck inscribed with “104.” It is good to see the emotion and love for the game, and Devils forward Zach Parise said it best about the milestone, “I mean, it’s pretty fun. I’m sure it’s fun for him but it’s pretty cool for us too.”

The record stood for 39 years. Ironically, Sawchuk’s last shutout was against the Penguins on February 1, 1970.

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Atlanta Thrashers

Sep 13

Posted by Eddie in Season Previews | No Comments

Last season, Atlanta played its best hockey when it was already eliminated from playoff contention when it won 12 of its final 18 games. Atlanta hopes to use the strong finish last season to continue early this season.

This franchise has had superstars Ilya Kovalchuk, Slava Kozlov, Marian Hossa, and Dany Heatley in its 10-year history and has manged to make the playoffs only once when they won the Southeast Division in 2007. The one constant throughout the Thrashers history is GM Don Waddell, and he needs to start showing improvement with this franchise before his seat will start to become hot.

Will Atlanta trade Ilya Kovalchuk to a contender at the deadline?

Will Atlanta trade Ilya Kovalchuk to a contender at the deadline?

Kovalchuk is perhaps the best player on a bad team in the NHL. Last season he finished fourth in goals with 43 and tied for sixth with 91 points. In the final year of his contract, Waddell has to give him the proper help needed to carry the team into the playoffs. He wants the same success Russian countrymen Kozlov, Sergei Federov, Evgeni Malkin, and Pavel Datsyuk have had as all three have had their names on the Stanley Cup. Kovalchuk is also in the final year of his contract. Expect him to be traded at the deadline if Atlanta isn’t in playoff contention.

Waddell has given Kovalchuk help on the first line with the addition of Nik Antropov on the right wing. Also coming from Toronto was defenseman Pavel Kubina.

Kubina’s main job is to anchor a defensive unit that was one of the worse in the league last season. They allowed 280 goals, the second-worse amount in the NHL. Defense also has to be a team effort as the forwards have to play more two-way hockey and goalie Kari Lehtonen has to be more consistent. While the team in front of him did let him out to dry several times during the season, Lehtonen has to take the defense on his back and not allow as  many soft goals as he had.

Head coach John Anderson also has the task of improving the special teams. While they were a respectable 11th on the power play, Atlanta was 29th in penalty kill at 76 percent. Atlanta also surrendered 13 shorthanded goals, which is not acceptable to any NHL team. Again, this goes back to defense.

With their future prospects, none of the top-10 prospects ranked by The Hockey News are defensemen. Having six centers, two wingers, and two goalies isn’t the outlook Thrashers fans want to see of a team that’s as deficient on defense as they have been.

Overall, don’t expect Atlanta to do much this season. They are still 1-2 solid defensemen away from being a contender, but isn’t big spenders in free agency. Lehtonen has to be more solid in goal and not become as injury prone as he has been. A team with low attendance (29th in the league averaging 14,626 per game) in a non-hockey market, expect Atlanta to finish between 13th and 15th in the Eastern Conference.

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