Squashing Kovalchuk to Philly
The Flyers have little interest in acquiring Ilya Kovalchuk, the Thrashers' best asset, at the trade deadline. Atlanta visits the Wachvoia Center tonight.
Squashing Kovalchuk to Philly
With a little more than a month to go until the trade deadline, now is the time to start hashing out deals for your favorite players.
Just don’t include Ilya Kovalchuk in a Flyers uniform.
Despite numerous reports to the contrary, including a Twitter post from USA Today yesterday, multiple team and league sources have told the Daily News that the Flyers are not interested in acquiring Kovalchuk from Atlanta.
That means tonight – unless Kovalchuk lands somewhere in the Eastern Conference – is likely Kovalchuk’s one and only appearance at the Wachovia Center this season.
Kovalchuk is slated to be an unrestricted free agent come July 1 and said he is finished negotiating a possible extension with the Thrashers, who have made the playoffs just once in franchise history.
Kovalchuk, 26, has racked up 613 points in 591 career games – all as a Thrasher, since he was picked No. 1 overall in the 2001 Entry Draft. He leads Atlanta with 30 goals this season.
If the Florida Panthers’ handling of Jay Bouwmeester – a similar soon-to-be unrestricted free agent – before last year’s deadline serves as a lesson, Atlanta GM Don Waddell would be wise to move his most valuable asset.
Sitting just points out of the playoff race, Florida didn’t receive offers with pieces they saw fit for Bouwmeester and decided to keep him for the stretch run. They lost a tiebreaker with Montreal for the 8th and final playoff spot.
They ended up moving Bouwmeester to Calgary for basically nothing: Jordan Leopold, also an unrestricted free agent, and a 3rd round pick during last summer’s Draft.
Atlanta, just one point behind the Flyers heading into tonight’s game, can’t afford a similar fate. It would cripple their already weak franchise.
The bottom line: Kovalchuk is simply too rich for the Flyers. They would need to tear apart their roster to fit Kovalchuk’s $6.389 salary cap hit.
And that’s just to use him as a rental for the remainder of this season.
As Toronto general manager Brian Burke said yesterday on the radio, “I’m not making that phone call.”
Burke said that Kovalchuk has reportedly declined a 10-year extension worth $85 million.
USA Today hockey writer Kevin Allen tweeted yesterday “If the Philadelphia Flyers want Kovalchuk, I believe they can be first in line. They have prospects and veterans they can move.”
Any team, at this point, could be first in line. The interest has seemingly, like Bouwmeester, a lot of hype. Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago are a few of the other teams rumored to be interested in Kovalchuk.
Atlanta has not – and will not, according to published reports – give an interested team the option of negotiating a contract extension before the trade is made.
He has always seemed destined to test the free agent waters at his first opportunity to leave Atlanta, a city that averages just 13,348 for hockey.
It is worthwhile to point out that though he is Atlanta's captain, Kovalchuk has never been heralded as a good teammate. That's important for a team looking to add him to the mix.
Would it be worth the Flyers sacrificing a few prospects (in an already bare cupboard) – and throwing the chemistry that has accumulated in their locker room – up in the air to land Kovalchuk for the final 20 games?
That’s a tough sell, even for a team that's always interested in the NHL’s biggest names.
Follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DNFlyers for the latest updates.
All our Vets have NMC's or NTC's. Not gonna happen.— Downie27- We need another defenseman before we need Kovalchuk.— uncle meat
- As long as Carter & Richards play well, we don't need him. When those two are on vacation, our offense needs help.— beefbr
- This trade won't happen. Not enough cap space and we can't move the whole team to get him. Although the idea of him on the Flyers PP would be stupid awesome, it's not a smart business or hockey move. What they to do is pick up a vetern defenseman or right winger. Something along the lines of the Bill Guerin deal for Pitt last year. A solid vet who can still play minutes and make smart plays; or to tell Richards that it's OK to shoot when you an open shot. Too much passing Cap'n...— MH
- Simon gagne 5.2 million & Mike Rathje 3.2 million = wasted $.If we can dump those 2 salaries we could have him.Simon is afraid of any contact & i'm not sure the rule's with Ratje's salary.— hazer
- If we move Carter, the night life in Center City will lose money.— Ferrell31
I'll send them Briere and Asham for Kovie.- Kovie makes no sense on Flyers. He declined 8.5 mill a year contract, would never fit under the cap and the Flyers are not going to rent a player for a year. The Flyers need a 5th and 6th defensman more than anything. Would love to move Briere's contract considering he still has 4-5 more years on it, to bad about the no trade clause.— kingback
- hazer - Gagne... wasted? you obviously are in need of some Hockey 101. He is the best foreward on the Flyers. He has not been the most durable.. but his worth is apparent when he's out of the lineup.— JesseH
Comment removed.- Mr Chubby, you got it exactly wrong. If we had Ilya we would be looking to get Briere and Asham for him. We have two great teammates who do their respective jobs GREAT. Why would we ever pick up a problem child? Asham and Briere will be our hottest players in the playoffs, and they will turn it up a notch when we play (and win) in the Cup finals this year. GO FLYERS.— LuckyDog
- Remind me how much Briere makes? Isn't his salary close?
- The Flyers would ABSOLUTELY trade Briere, but we gave him a no trade clause....DUMB!! I'd send Gagne and Coburn for Kovalchuk!!— Tar Heel 1
- extremequeen.. What are you talking about, "faking an injury?" Nothing even came out about it until after the series was over. That's not faking you tard.— ItsOnLikeDK
- Frank, what's more moronic than Philly hockey fans are the writers who even bring up these scenerios...Briere and several of the high priced Vets have NO TRADE CLASUSES which they're not waiving to go to Atlanta, they make too much $$$$ as it is, and they have ALL been injured in the past year with abdominal or head injuries = NOT EVEN WORTH TALKING ABOUT. why don't you talk about how JAy McKee was available to the Flyers as their 7th D-Man and Holmgrem went with loser OKT instead? McKee looks awesome once again and will be a valuable addition in the playoffs. Loading up on some many young defensemen at once (Coburn, Jones, Parent, Syvret, Bartulius) has the Flyers over-valuing and misusing their young D Men on a D that could have been even better. their lack of cap space is incredible...Rathji? Randy Jones? Terrible.— MichaelZoe
- Frank, agree that Kovie doesn't make sense in Philly. But Jordan Leopold isn't "nothing." Florida did well to get him. He has comparable stats to Bouwmeester this year, likely a better cap number and the Panthers are no worse for the switch (7th in the East as of today).— e.p.r.
- I think we need another winger but it doesnt have to be a prime time winger like Kovalchuk. I think a good guy to have would be Ray Whitney...wouldnt have to give up as much and he could add depth and experience at winger since Gagne and Hartnell have been invisible for most of the season.— Crosbysucks
- Keep him!— RJM16
- Way too Russian/European for the Flyers! Don't you know that were only interested in 2nd rank Europeans?— my3cents
- He's Russian!!!!! everybody knows the Flyers organizations attitude towards Soviet/Russian players.Just another example of the cold war mode the Flyers are stuck in as long as Bob Clarke and (Teflon) Ed Snider are involved with the team.Those two are like the two-headed Al Davis of the NHL,except that they are not quite as senile as Davis.They make the calls,not Homer.— philly fan in cheyenne
- People that know hockey realize how good Gagne is. A great two player that is effective even when not scoring.— brian2706
- holmgren is the worst gm in the nhl— soliteryman
- Comment removed.
- MichaelZoe, Frank brought it up because the rumors are out there, and as the Flyers' beat reporter, it makes sense to address the rumor and the possibility of its accuracy rather than ignore it.— Raggamonkey
- LuckyDog. Drinking too much Kool-Aid again, I see.....— delder
- Agree about McKee, but Rathje's salary doesn't count against the cap.— Danno
- The name, "Frank Seravalli" sounds like a fake name I'd use when making crank calls.— davekrieg
- The Flyers dont need Kovulchuk. The Flyers will make the playoffs, and whoever they play...that team best be prepared. Go orange and black!— oldhat
- never happen— kj22
- According to the Amaro Model, We will pass-up on Kovalchuk, trade for Staal, Staal will light up the city, Get Kovalchuk in the offseason, and trade Staal...— SuPrimeau
- Hahahaha SuPrimeau......but which Staal???? Maybe all 3?— hero
- Our 8 million dollar man Briere--Yea no trade clause. 2 goals one night no goals for 8 games. The only team he scores goals against is the Canadians, like he's got something to prove.— kolocop
- Gagne's salary is hardly wasted and Rathje has been on IR so he doesn't have a cap hit. Step away from the keyboard until you get a clue. You don't move Carter who is your top offensive player (2nd in the league in goals last year) who will still be under contract for a rental. Problem with trading Briere is I'm not sure that is what Atlanta wants. They want top prospects that we no longer have now that JVR and Giroux are playing and Sbisa turned into Pronger. The other thing is with a team that sometimes turns it off for a period or a game or a week, Kovalchuck is not the guy you want in the locker room. He has unlimited talent but very limited drive. He is pretty soft when he doesn't feel like playing, sort of like the Randy Moss of the NHL.— richards4captain18
- Michael Zoe, and what's even more moronic than those 2 are the guys that don't watch hockey and post anyway. Rathje* and Jones are not on the cap. Jones isn't even a Flyer anymore, he plays in LA. Also their D men have a pretty good mix of vets and younger guys. Coburn is young, but has been around a few years. Pronger and Kimmo are obviously the vets, Carle is like Coburn, and you can hardly complain about the way Bartulis has played since being signed. If OKT over McKee is their biggest misstep on D, then we are in good shape. The 7th Dman won't make or break a season.— richards4captain18
- You love to think about just 'adding' a 50-goal sniper like Kovalchuk to the existing lineup (even swap him out for Briere) and what fun you'd have watching it, but it would mean completely restructuring the focus of the team from Carter-Richards, Gagne-Brier to now "Kovalchuk is our Ovechkin." I don't think teams like ours were meant for players like him. Imagine Bure instead of LeClair. Just wouldn't 'fit.' The lineup as it is right now 'should' be a contender, final four at least. Getting them to perform like one and stop this "Can we hang on to 6th place?!" nonsense is what needs to be addressed. No big deals are needed.— aezoll
- It would be very difficult to add Kovalchuk without changing the whole dimension of this team. And the Flyers aren't ging to do that. Personally, I don't think they should. Get a defenseman with some skill and make a run at the playoffs with this team.— madnvocal
- Bob Clarke doesn't like russians...it's too bad because Kovalchuk is a star and we don"t have one...Stars win stanley cups.— jmg7738
We don't trade well anymore. Lets try to get Umberger & Upshall back.- "Philly fan in Cheyenne" you're right-on with this...— jmg7738
- Or talk about how they could have Manny Fernandez(who I think is better than boosh anyday and isnt playing anywhere)instead of having this debaucle of a goalie situation.
- wow richards4captain18 for someone calling people a moron you should know when you stick a player on waivers and a team picks them up you are responsible for half of their contract. As far as I understand.
- Why would the Flyers want to change their highly successful formula over the past 35 years and actually sign a superstar? They have done so well with all the lunch pail-type guys they've employed instead. Snider would never allow a Russian to be the star of his team even if the Caps gave him Ovechkin. Stubborn old fool.— schnitzelboy
- Comment removed.
