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again... none are comparable.
Ryan Smyth was 30-years old when he was traded and none of the others were the franchise talent, and none were as directly tied into the team's revenue... Selanne and Bure were both also being traded for the second time in their careers.
only Joe Thornton has scored more points since the lockout.
this may honestly be a special case.
bure was a couple of years older than Kovy is but they are virtually the same player. you are saying Bure wasn't the franchise talent in Florida when he was dealt? in his first full year with FLA he led the league in goal scoring and set franchise records in goals and points.
he led the league again in scoring the next year.
other than being a few years older how is he not a good comparison? he was traded once before (different) due to a contract issue (same). he's russian, plays on a relatively bad eastern conference team and scores 50+ goals.
selanne had also been traded once but that was because winnipeg couldn't pay him. again, he was a little older than Kovy is now but the situation is the same. high scoring winger being rented.
remember, the team trading for Kovy is trading for him for 2 months so the age factor is irrelevant as all three were/are major goal scorers. it could be argued that kariya was the franchise player in Anaheim but you couldn't make the same argument with Bure in FLA.
And he got traded for 3 NHL Caliber players in a salary dump.Originally Posted by gescom
at the draft party a couple of years ago, and under a considerable haze, i heard Birdman yell out the following (about 4 or 5 times, i think) - "don't marry yourselves to players!" he went on to reiterate that idea more than once on the boards, and i believe it to be absolutely sage.
---gescom
I posted to this thread some time ago, and I got bashed by about 10 people and got thanked by about 5..well...You may be kicking yourself in the ass for saying this. Just last week on HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA, 2 Reporters from the panel spoke on the Kovalchuck contract talks, and all talks have broken off once again for the 5th time. Tom Waddell also said he is now listening to offers, but nothing is for sure, and he said, he seems that Kovalchuck doesn't have the passion to play here anymore. I WONDER &#^$*&#^ WHY???
The Toronto Star Reporter went on to say he spoke to Atlanta's GM , Tom Waddell and he asked what type of Contract Kovy was looking for, and he said, he is looking for something in the range of 8.5 - 9.0 million for 8 - 9 years. Now Kovalchuck is 27, and in 8 years that would make him 35, and 9 would make him 36. Man, I think that is a great deal for someone with his package and skill.Even when Kovy is 33 he will still be a SuperStar!! The contract could be made up to suit his retirement like all of these other new ones like Ovechkins.
He is a 40 - 50 goal scorer on Atlanta, imagin him in LA playing with Kopitar, Brown, Smyth, etc. Look at his help, all of his linemates are 30 pt players. Man...he has never had any help, and I mean not 1 damn Star player to help. He could've been one of the best hockey players of all time. We are always talkinga bout Ovechkin, but look who he has, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin, Brooks Laich , Mike Green, and on and on. Then the reporter went on to ask who and where he thought Kovy would end up, and he asked if he thought he would be moved by the deadline, and he for sure, because the contract would certainly not get done get done before the March Deadline, not a chance he said.
The Host asked where he thought he would end up and, and his first answer was, THE LOS ANGELES KINGS. They asked why..because he wants a long contract, and the kings have cap space, and he wants to win a cup, with a team that has the skills and young talent to do so , some team like what pittsburgh has done over the last few years. I just read a thread on Frolov not being able to be signed, Do you think having a Russian here would help Kovalchuck stay? I say, no way, Kovy speaks perfect English, and needs no help or no Russian to feel comfortable, hes been in the league long enough to know the game and how to bond.
I'm not saying this is going to happen, but it was damn good news to hear..I tell you one thing, since we are 1 pt ahead of 9th place Detroit, and tonight we play Buffalo, and then we play Detroit next, who is in
9th place. We need to play our b est two games of the season right now. But 4th to 10th is so tight, thats why LA is going to be extremley active this trade deadline and even before it. Ray Whitney just waived his no trade contract, and since he did this now, im sure he will be moved, he could certainly help us out. Another thing, Bernier is amazing and deserves a shot, even if he is our backup for a while, he has never had a shot ever since that first year. Quick is amazing and so fast, and makes big stops, but do you remember that goal he let in against Detroit and cost us that pt when it was tied 1 -1 and Darren Helm scored to win the game with like 9 seconds left. I say call up Bernier, and yes keep playing quick, but when you have 2 hot goalies going, you can go on a damn good winning streak , and right now is the right time to go on a 12 - 3 run or something before the olympics. After the Buffalo and Detroit games, if we can even win 1. We h ave some real easy games coming up to be had, Toronto, Columbus, etc.
I know I dipped into a coupe differernt topics, sorry about that, just speaking my mind since I having been around for a w hile. My Uncle was in Hati and My mind has been else where. Anyways folks...Pray for my Uncle, has he has yet to be found, he was over there helping out a program that helped building Schools. He was 39, and I pray he is ok.
I really think we can get Kovy, if we dont get him, someone will at this trade deadline, but even if we dont...Ray Whitney, Matt Stajan, Slava Kozlov, Maxim Afingenov, Trevor Daley, Shawn Horcoff, Jussi Jokinen, Ryan Malone, Vincent Lecavalier or even Martin St.Louis...TB may break it up if they can't get in. All of Edmoton, Carolina, and Dallas , and Toronto will be dismanaled.
Thanks Captain Brown for the nice post. It really sounds good and somewhat promising, but if it is one thing I learned with DL as our GM is never get your hopes up on a player. We had 2 chances already and DL didn't pull the trigger so I highly doubt we will land Kovi either. Martin St. Louis looks good too but not expecting him either.
As much as I am trying to get hyped up for something big to happen, I just am setting myself up for disappointment again. I guess I should have learned my lesson 34297842 times ago already.
The only letdown I'll feel is if DL trades a bunch of quality players for Kovalchuk. He is NOT the answer.
That ALONE is reason enough not to trade for Kovalchuk.
Talent doesn't win Cups. The RIGHT talent wins Cups and Kovalchuk is NOT the right talent.
Not exactly. Boston needed to overhaul their lockerroom. Thornton was the face and heart of the franchise and when he constantly folded in the playoffs and then AS THE CAPTAIN had the nerve to slink out the back of the lockerroom and leave his teammates to answer not just the questions he should have been answering but also all the "Where's your Captain?" questions...well, they needed a change and a big part of that was trading Thornton.
They didn't need to dump his salary.
Three yrs ago I would have laughed at myself saying this, but a guy like Ray Whitney or Cory Stillman.
I disagree that it's all that important to have that kind of gamebreaker, especially one who is so one-dimensional and flat-out loses interest in playing his best for months at a time. That's fine for a guy like Frolov who you can dump onto the 3rd line, but it doesn't work for a guy you're paying $9M to.
Just look at the Devils and Sabres. They have no Kovalchuk-type gamebreakers. You could argue that Elias WAS, but he sure isn't anymore. Yeah, they've got great goaltending, but that's ok - the Kings need that level of goaltending too (as do most Cup winners).
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