2009-2010 NHL Season

[Don]

12 Bondra wins in a row!

fixed

[jkrdevil]

Johnny Oduya (damn right I do), draft pick, and hot garbage. Square. in. the. nuts. I'd hate to be the guy asking STHs if they're looking to renew.

Now to be fair Bergfors is probably the best player the Thrashers got. He has hit a bit of a rookie wall but he is going to be a good player (obviously not Kovalchuk good but a decent scorer). He has a good shot and is very strong on the boards. Now I don't know how Oduya will do if he will get back to where he was last year or not and you obviously don't know about Cormier and the pick.

BTW, the Devils and Thrashers also swapped 2nd round picks.

[Don]

Cormier shouldnt be allowed to see NHL ice.

[Sodboy13]

Cormier shouldnt be allowed to see NHL ice.

I dunno, I think he should be allowed to purchase a ticket to see it, just like the rest of us.

[BrySmalls]

Johnny Oduya (damn right I do), draft pick, and hot garbage. Square. in. the. nuts. I'd hate to be the guy asking STHs if they're looking to renew.

As someone who started following the Thrashers because of their affiliation with the Wolves, I concur, and am icing things down as I type. This franchise is dead, dead, done. Whatever trace elements of fandom were left in Atlanta will surely dissipate after this. I simply can not see a way that the Atlanta Thrashers exist by 2013.

Congratulations, Don Waddell. After years of escalating ineptitude, you've officially outdone Mike Milbury. I look forward to you ruining Sunday afternoon hockey telecasts in a few years' time.

Ladies and gentlemen, begin the Thrashers to Hamilton rumors!

Or is the faux rumor a slap in the face towards Hamilton?

[Neon_Matrix]

Ovechkin has recorded his 500th career point on his 38th goal of the season at the 19:51 mark of the 2nd period against the Rangers.

Just remember - Gretzky had his 500th point in only his 3rd season... but good for Ovie!

[Viper]

Incredible scene in St. Paul tonight... Wild goalie Josh Harding, starting tonight in spite of a hip injury, apparently aggravated the injury while getting scored upon by Edmonton, and got up very slowly - but stayed in the game long enough to make a spectacular save to keep the game tied 2-2. But that aggravated it even more and Harding had to be helped off the ice, albeit to a standing O by the home crowd for his effort.

Now instead of Nicklas Backstrom and Harding, Minny's goalies, both late of the Houston Aeros, are Wade Dubielewicz and the guy who just came in to replace Harding, making his NHL debut with the game still tied, Anton Khudobin. Heaven help us.

Update: Well, they're no angels, but Guillaume Latendresse and Martin Havlat did score to give Khudobin his first NHL win, for all of eight minutes in net.

[NJTank]

Wow this is a fantastic deal and the Devils are a win now team, Marty is going to be 38 in May.

I wont be shocked if the Devils bring back Scott Niedermayer before its all over this season.

[HedleyLamarr]

On paper, this deal seems lopsided. And it very well could turn out similarly to the Hossa deal of a couple years ago, but consider that the Thrashers essentially painted themselves into a corner. Waddell, in an attempt to avoid huge fan backlash, discussed all the various terms that Kovalchuk turned away. They couldn't risk holding onto Kovalchuk the rest of the year and get nothing for him. And the way this unfolded the last couple days, he put the team in a very awkward situation had they kept Kovalchuk on the roster and in games. And considering the terms Kovalchuk turned down, no team was going to give up top-notch talent for a rental player.

Furthermore, this was a bigger distraction to the team than anyone wanted to admit. The quicker this got resolved, the better, so that the team can move on.

But let's keep in mind, that the Thrashers and Devils play two opposite styles of play. The Thrashers will be banking that a more offensive style of play will work well with what Bergfors and Oduya do best. They're also players that are serviceable....and cheaper, and come in with contracts that don't expire this season.

Cormier, outside of his recent actions, seems to be a player that's nearly ready to contribute at the NHL level. From what I've read, he made the Devils roster, but was sent to the Juniors for more seasoning. There's an outside shot that he plays at the NHL level after the Olympic break.

And of course, the team now has two first-round draft picks. These are great bargaining chips in today's NHL. At worst, the team gets two picks in the top-30. At best, a pick gets dealt for a player that's ready to contribute now.

The Thrashers likely aren't done. Logic has the team dealing a goalie soon, and depending on how the next few games go...any other players that have contracts ending after this season.

[Don]

Ovechkin has recorded his 500th career point on his 38th goal of the season at the 19:51 mark of the 2nd period against the Rangers.

Just remember - Gretzky had his 500th point in only his 3rd season... but good for Ovie!

Gretz is a different player in a different era. Only 8 other guys have scored 500 pts before their 6th NHL season began and theyre all in the hall of fame.

[The_Admiral]

"Yeah well he's no Wayne Gretzky" is pretty weak. Nobody's ever gonna be Gretzky again, but Ovechkin's already halfway to a Hall of Fame career.

Hedley makes good points regarding the potential upside of the Kovalchuk returns, but having non-expiring contracts for previously miscast skaters is small potatoes compared to the fact that they traded the best and most tenured player they've ever had before they were out of contention for the season: three points out with 27 to play in a weak East is no time to hoist the white flag. Reasonable cases for rebuilding can be made; they always are. Getting people to buy in is another story, and I can see even farsighted analytical diehards like Hedley here deciding that it's not worth spending money on this team. Good thing they have the Chicago Wolves standing by to (correctly) not give a damn about developing Atlanta's prospects. Haha.

[Neon_Matrix]

"Yeah well he's no Wayne Gretzky" is pretty weak. Nobody's ever gonna be Gretzky again, but Ovechkin's already halfway to a Hall of Fame career.

Lindros?

[The_Admiral]

You know, lots of people are surprisingly saying that Lindros is a Hall of Famer. Not in my world, though.

Additionally, I don't think anyone's ever gonna be Lindros again, coming in with that much hype and not just failing to deliver the production but also being a total dillweed who makes teams better by leaving them.

[HedleyLamarr]

Hedley makes good points regarding the potential upside of the Kovalchuk returns, but having non-expiring contracts for previously miscast skaters is small potatoes compared to the fact that they traded the best and most tenured player they've ever had before they were out of contention for the season: three points out with 27 to play in a weak East is no time to hoist the white flag. Reasonable cases for rebuilding can be made; they always are. Getting people to buy in is another story, and I can see even farsighted analytical diehards like Hedley here deciding that it's not worth spending money on this team. Good thing they have the Chicago Wolves standing by to (correctly) not give a damn about developing Atlanta's prospects. Haha.

The team isn't giving up on the season. Sure, there aren't many Kovalchuk's in the NHL, but even he has his downsides....such as his lack of defensive prowess (not as bad as folks like to think, but not the greatest, either) and his tendancy to turn the puck over a lot. For what it's worth, the Thrashers went 3-3 when Kovalchuk was out with a broken foot. Even without Kovalchuk, this team can score goals.

Perhaps the team can thrive without Kovalchuk....most of the time, the team was too dependant on trying to create scoring opportunities for Kovalchuk during power plays.

And let's face it....the Thrashers did plenty of losing with Kovalchuk. Why not get some fresh blood and new faces and see what they can do? At this point, fans respond to results on the ice, and not necessarily who's wearing a Thrashers sweater. Wins speak louder than the name on the back of the jersey.

[Shane Does Art]

"Yeah well he's no Wayne Gretzky" is pretty weak. Nobody's ever gonna be Gretzky again, but Ovechkin's already halfway to a Hall of Fame career.

Lindros?

Why must you constantly disagree with everything?

[BrySmalls]

About the win:

500 career regular-season points for Alex Ovechkin. (Dan Steinberg has all the details on Ovechkin's one-handed goal.)

7 power-play goals combined in tonight's game.

5 points tonight for Nicklas Backstrom.

20 goals this season by Mike Knuble.

3.86 goals per game averaged by the Caps, most in the league.

1 The Caps' place in the NHL standings. Also: Alex Ovechkin's league rank in points, goals and plus-minus.

12 consecutive victories, most in franchise history.

Source: Caps Insider

[jkrdevil]

Wow this is a fantastic deal and the Devils are a win now team, Marty is going to be 38 in May.

I wont be shocked if the Devils bring back Scott Niedermayer before its all over this season.

I would the Devils can't afford Scott Niedermayer under the cap now.

[NJTank]

Wow this is a fantastic deal and the Devils are a win now team, Marty is going to be 38 in May.

I wont be shocked if the Devils bring back Scott Niedermayer before its all over this season.

I would the Devils can't afford Scott Niedermayer under the cap now.

If the Ducks fall out of contention, I won't be shocked if they arrange a way to avoid the cap problem, considering Rob is on the Devils.

[ElwoodCuse]

Are the Atlanta Thrashers owners still all fighting and suing each other? Surely that would have a huge impact on them moving to Kansas City or something.

[Corvus]

I'm not surprised the Thrashers didn't get a big return on Kovalchuk. You almost never get anything near what a star player is worth when you trade him. Add in that player rejecting huge contract offers, and being Russian which always brings up the possibility of them walking to the KHL, then you just aren't going to get much.

Unless this is one of those ridiculous situations like the Thornton to SJ trade where the GM doesn't even bother to call all other 29 GM's and see what's out there.