On this day in 2010, the Atlanta Thrashers traded Ilya Kovalchuk and Ansi Salmela for Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, a 1st round pick and a swap of second round picks.
Going into the 2009-10 season, the Thrashers wanted to re-sign Kovalchuk, but the star winger wanted to see improvement from the club, whose 76 points placed them fourth from the bottom of the standings in 2008-09.
One way to improve the Thrashers that was out there in the trade rumors was the potential for them to use their goaltending depth to address their lack of forward depth. The Thrashers had Kari Lehtonen, Johan Hedberg and promising 21-year old Ondrej Pavelec in their stable, and the thought that they might move Lehtonen or Pavelec for help up front was out there. That opportunity would be wiped out when it was learned that Kari Lehtonen would require back surgery and miss the beginning of the upcoming season.
All told, the Thrashers would have a relatively quiet offseason. Keeping all three of their goalies, they traded for Pavel Kubina from the Toronto Maple Leafs and signed Nik Antropov from the New York Rangers. They entered the 2009-10 season with minor changes to their lineup, and without a signature from Ilya Kovalchuk on a new contract.
With Kovalchuk unsigned (reportedly asking for a $100 million extension) and the Thrashers sitting out of the playoff picture, trade rumors started to pick up at the turn of the new year.
Pierre Lebrun reported that the Blackhawks might be in on Kovalchuk. The rumored names that would be of most interest to the Thrashers in a trade were a couple of 23-year olds in winger Kris Versteeg and defenseman Cam Barker.
The Bruins and Kings were reportedly in on Kovalchuk as well, with young goalie Tuukka Rask apparently being off-limits for the Bruins.
John Buccigross of ESPN suggested Kovalchuk trades for most of the teams in the league. Some notable packages:
Chicago Blackhawks: Kovalchuk for Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg and Dave Bolland
Boston Bruins: Kovalchuk and Johan Hedberg for Tuukka Rask, Blake Wheeler and the Maple Leafs’ 1st round pick acquired in the Phil Kessel deal
Los Angeles Kings: Kovalchuk for Jonathan Bernier, Alexander Frolov, Oscar Moller and a first round pick
New York Rangers: Kovalchuk and Pavel Kubina for Chris Higgins, Ales Kotalik, Evgeny Grachev and Michal Rozsival
New Jersey Devils: Kovalchuk for Dainius Zubrus, Travis Zajac and Andy Greene
As the calendar moved towards February and the pre-Olympic break trade deadline, most of the Kovalchuk buzz surrounded two teams: the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils.
Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported early in the morning of February 4th, that the Rangers were not going to meet the ask of a four-piece package from the Thrashers. According to Brooks, the Thrashers wanted one young NHL defenseman (Marc Staal or Michael Del Zotto), one young NHL forward (Brandon Dubinsky or Ryan Callahan), one promising prospect (Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan, or Evgeny Grachev) and a 1st round draft pick.
Later that day it would be announced that Kovalchuk had been traded to the Devils.
The Thrashers received Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors and Patrice Cormier from the Devils.
Johnny Oduya would play 145 games for the Thrashers franchise before being traded to the Blackhawks for a second and third round pick. Bergfors and Cormier would combine for 131 games with the franchise.
The story of Kovalchuk with the Devils had a lot of twists and turns. After the Devils were upset by the 7th seed Flyers in the first round of 2010, Kovalchuk went into the summer as a pending unrestricted free agent.
On July 19th, amidst rumors of Kovalchuk signing with the Kings, Islanders or the KHL, he and the Devils agreed to a 17-year deal worth $102 million. That deal, which was to pay him $550,000 in each of the final five years of the deal up to Kovalchuk’s age 44 season, was deemed cap circumvention by the NHL and was voided. He would later sign a 15-year deal worth $100 million after the NHL outlined exactly how much cap-cheating they would permit. The league would later announce a punishment of a $3 million fine and loss of first and third-round picks to the Devils for the first attempt. The fine was later reduced and a lesser first round pick was given back to the Devils.
In the second year of his contract, Kovalchuk put up 37 goals and 46 assists in 77 games, and 19 points in 23 games in the Devils’ playoff push which lead to a loss in the Stanley Cup Finals to the Los Angeles Kings. The third season of his contract started with a lockout and the schedule started in January instead of October. The contract wouldn’t see a fourth season, as in the summer of 2013 Kovalchuk and the Devils would agree to terminate the remaining twelve years so Kovalchuk would sign in the KHL.
