KOVALCHUK!

by Carlos Figueiredo
No cute little intro or anything…let’s get right to it.

Devils gave up:
Johnny Oduya- 40 gp: 2-2-4 +2 18PIM 0 pp goals – Will be missed, but is not irreplaceable.
Niclas Bergfors- 54 gp: 13-14-27 -7 10PIM 8 pp goals – Started out great, bu has slowed down drastically. As with Oduya, not irreplaceable.  
Patrice Cormier- We all saw that hit…except for Thrashers GM Don Waddell, apparently. Cormier may be a good player one day, but those elbows might keep him from ever playing long enough for anyone to find out. Still, not a bad risk/reward move.
1st Round pick in 2010

Devils acquired:
Ilya Kovalchuk! - 49 gp: 31-27-58 +1 45PIM 10 pp goals – He’s ILYA KOVALCHUK!
Anssi Salmela - 29 gp: 1-4-5 +4 22PIM 0 pp goals – Lou brings back the player he traded away for that other defenseman who’s name he won’t mention.

The teams also swap 2nd round picks in 2010. 

You can watch Don Waddell speak about the trade here: http://thrashers.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=656&id=59369

The announcment from the Devils can be found here: http://devils.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=516303&navid=DL|NJD|home

Now, how is this a bad deal? Because, there are LOTS of people, lots of Devils fans, who are annoyed, no…PISSED OFF…that the Devils made this trade. These people, I’m assuming, have never seen Kovalchuk play (kinda like anyone who lives in Atlanta).

Kovalchuk immediately becomes the top scorer on the Devils with 58 points. Parise has 57. Another fun fact about the newest Devil… since the Thrashers drafted him #1 overall in ‘01, he leads the NHL with 328 goals. Pretty nice, huh?

Yes, he may be (likely) just a rental. But if someone told you that you had to give up a few nice things…nothing of too much value…to get something you’ve really been working hard for, wouldn’t you do it? I would, and Lou Lamoriello just did.

Sit back and enjoy Kovalchuk, even if it’s just for a few months. We may send him off to free agency with a nice little parade.

Tags: Ilya Kovalchuk, New Jersey Devils, NHL