Ilya Kovalchuk Is A Devil!

At least for a little while. Thrashers GM, Don Waddell, has said that the Thrashers would definitely be buyers when the deadline came around. So maybe Kovy will be coming back! But, at the moment, Kovy is a New Jersey Devil!


Kovalchuk's impending contract re-signing/trade has been the buzz in Atlanta for weeks. At first, we were reasonably certain that Ilya would re-sign. This has been his home for 8 years. He and his wife recently built a large beautiful house. Both of his children were born here and his wife is very pregnant with their third child. Plus, Ilya said he wanted to stay. He said Atlanta was his home. Okay Ilya, we believe you.


Time went on and no contract. Don Waddell said he hoped to have something done by Christmas. The fans were excited.

Christmas as well as the new year came and went. We started thinking that it must be the damned owners, the much criticized, and rightly so, Atlanta Spirit. They own the Atlanta Thrashers as well as the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. They also own our venue, Phillips Arena. They are notoriously cheap and have been lamented as being horrible owners. That must be it. Kovy wants to stay, but the cheap bastards aren't willing to pay him.


More time passed and eventually Don stopped talking about it. Trade Rumors were running wild. One rumor was that Ilya wanted an obscene amount of money, like cap max money. This divided Blueland (Thrashers fans) into 3 categories:
1. Pay the man, he's Ilya-freaking-Kovalchuk.
2. Cap Max for Kovy?? Yeah, he's a scoring leader, but he can't back check for shit, he's defensibly irresponsible and he's not been that great lately. He's the face of our franchise, but we've been losing just fine with him for years. How are we supposed to pay other players to play with him if all our money is tied up with Ilya?
3. The typical douche bags that are just at the game to be seen or because they got some free tickets at work.


In the last few days we have found out that Ilya was indeed offered 2 very lucrative contracts, including one that was $101 million for 12 years, one of the highest in the league. He turned it down. Apparently all of that " I want to stay in Atlanta" stuff was an act. I think maybe he didn't want to look like an ass by wanting to leave, so he asked for ridiculous money thinking the Spirit would say no. Then they called his bluff and he had to answer.


So Ilya is now a Devil, I'm fine with that. The Devils are actually my 2nd favorite team. In return for Ilya and defenseman Anssi Salmela, we got Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfros, prospect Patrice Cormier (made famous by his seizure inducing hit in the QMJHL) and a first round draft pick. I'm a huge Oduya fan, so I'm excited. Even if Ilya does not come back to the Thrashers and his career takes him else where, I'll be a fan ( as long as he doesn't sand bag Atlanta fans or something). Good luck Ilya!

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What The Devils Have Reduced Us To

[Cross-posted to Interchangeable Parts]

After the way they've lost their last two games, with their disinterested, lackadaisical play, we've decided we hate all the Devils and want them to suffer minor painful mishaps between now and Friday's game with the Rangers that will cause them intense discomfort, but no serious injuries.

Like papercuts, burned tongues, earaches and the like. Even more than that...

We want them all to get parking tickets.

We want them all to discover their fridges have broken, or their toilets start leaking so they have to wait on the plumber.

We want them to get all embarrassed at the grocery store when their credit card is denied at the checkout after they've had 15 bags of groceries rung up.

We want them to get pooped on by birds flying overhead.

We want them to put on their favorite pair of pants and discover a hole in the knee.

We want them to have bad hair days when they're planning to have hot dates. Or better yet, to wake up with huge zits on their noses and foreheads before they're supposed to go out for hot dates.

We want them to be walking around the mall and discover they have little sharp rocks in their shoes.

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A Worried Report From The Devils Correspondents

Because we are not terrifically prolific reporters on all that transpires in the world of the Devils, we can only assume that everyone here has been waiting with bated breath to hear an update about our beloved team. Well, at this moment things look pretty good. After stumbling horribly to start the season with a lot of new faces, a new coach, a new system and a new building (not that we're making excuses or anything...), the Devils have figured things out and are rolling along at a fairly steady, satisfying clip. They are currently rocking a nice "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" vibe, all of which is backstopped, as usual, by a Marty Brodeur who gave us some scares that he'd lost his game at the start of the season, but who, it turns out, was only kidding. All in all, they kind of have a bit of the same character the 2003 team showed, where it's hard to figure out where the wins are coming from because no one guy (other than Marty) stands out, but the wins just keep on coming anyway. (Which is not to say that we think they're going to do what the 2003 team did, Hockey Gods. In case you're listening and looking for someone to smite.) In short, they're spunky, they're hard-working, they're traditionally low-scoring yet still fun to watch, and for the first time in 15 years there isn't anyone on the roster who is publicly making it known that he doesn't want to be there. We should be in a very good place. And yet, we're not. You see, trouble is lurking on the horizon, the kind of trouble that blows out its chronically-injured shoulder in a preseason fight and then gets in another fight in that same game to further demolish the woebegone joint. That's right: it's Cam Janssen.

The astute observer of the Devils last season would have noticed that the team was performing much the way we've described this year's squad above. They looked to be having a grand old time playing together, all full of camaraderie, brio, and a flair for pulling victory from the jaws of defeat with no small regularity. Then, one totally random evening in March, while the Devils were doing a workmanlike job of beating the Leafs, Cam Janssen threw his infamous hit on Tomas Kaberle, and the wheels fell off. The entire team deflated. They lost that game, blowing a sizable lead while doing so. And while they hung on to win the division, the character of the team was never the same. All season they'd seemed like a group of guys who collectively had a huge chip on their shoulder, who were driven to prove that while they were a kind of rag-tag group in comparison to Devils teams of old, they could still beat the teams the hockey media thought were sexier. But as soon as one of the season's villainous hits was laid out by one of their own, they stopped being scrappy overachievers and started being one of those teams that has to stand up for a dirty player. It sucked. And now, after a delightful half season during which Janssen has been both out of sight and out of mind for us, he's been cleared to play. Word is that the team is playing well enough that Coach Sutter won't want to mess with his lineup, that Janssen's going to Lowell, ne'er to return. We fervently hope so. But even with that hope, we're still very afraid of Janssen and his powers of creating dreadful turning points in otherwise successful Devils seasons. It could happen at any point, even when we least expect it. We wonder if anyone wants to trade for him. Anyone? Anyone?

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The "Ups and Downs" of Being a Coyote

Well it would seem that TGO has no clue who he really wants on the roster this year so he's perfectly content shipping off our players after a game or two and bringing up fresh meat... erm, another baby from the A, I mean. It's not even halfway into the season yet and already we've seen Auldy get traded to Boston (and play outrageously better there than he did for us, might I add) and Abby get loaned to Switzerland. Billy T and Brendan Bell both get recalls only to get shipped back down to San Antonio after a few games apiece and now Joel Perrault and Keith Yandle have been called up to play with the big dogs (no pun intended).

Funny story about Yandle - I believe it was Maloney who stated in an interview over the summer (and I'll try to find the link) that Keith Yandle is a fantastic player. 'His only problem is his defense... *short pause* and that's a big problem considering he's a defenseman." Ya think??

Anyway, we played the Islanders last night and it wasn't pretty. As far as I'm concerned they outplayed us and they shouldn't have; We made stupid mistakes and deserved the loss. What we didn't deserve, however, was DiPietro being a douchebox to Doan & the Joves. Don't get me wrong, I have always had a bit of a softspot where Ricky was concerned but as a fan, I tend to get a little miffed when people hit my captain... call me crazy but there you have it.

We're moving right on along the East to take on Pookie & Schnookie. Apparently they're ready for us... Bethany's been calling Brodeur every night with tips on how to beat her twins team (which I don't appreciate thankyouverymuch) and so we're going to have to come up with some crazy stunts if we want to get past him. No worries, though, he's not the only one getting tips whispered in his ear. I've been watching you Brodeur and I've got you all figured out!! Game on!

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A New Age of Gods and Monsters: A Preview of the NJ Devils

[X-posted to Interchangeable Parts]

We are hoping beyond hope that Lou Lamoriello drank a toast at some point this offseason to his new Devils team, just like Dr. Frankenstein in The Bride of Frankenstein -- "To a new age of gods and monsters!" And, well, if he didn't, we will. This year our beloved team is a really bizarre -- dare we say freakish? -- combination of familiar faces and a totally new look, and we're here to help you, Gentle Reader, anticipate who and what about the 2007-2008 Devils will be god-like and who and what will be monstrous.

GOD: Brent Sutter
From what everyone has been saying about him since his hiring was announced, we fully expect Coach Sutter to be able to walk on water. And the way everyone seems to think that he's someday going to be our new Lou, he damn well better walk on water. Of course, the way the coaching situation has gone for our boys since the lockout ended is reminiscent of "The Lord Of The Flies", only the kinds of players Lou has on the roster means they don't become a group of savages when they find themselves without a strong authority figure, but rather unleash a lethal passive-aggressiveness that drives good men to the brink of insanity. Sutter is talking a big talk that he's not going to stand for more of that craziness, and this preseason he's shown that he's inclined to back it up. Stripping Patty Elias of his C? Instituting an aggressive forecheck? Refusing to obsessively match lines? Breaking up Pando and Madden? He means business! We've spent the last few Springs watching the Devils fade out with a whimper in the postseason thanks to a stubborn insistence on being a passive, reacting team. Sutter seems to be the guy who's going to take us back to the glory days in 2000 and 2001 when the Devils swaggered around the ice, setting the pace and dictating tone. We're going to go out on a limb and say that we are not going to see a third Spring with Lou behind our bench.

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Parise Re-signs -- There Is Much Rejoicing

As the representatives of the Devils here on HLOG, we've been a little lax this summer when it comes to commenting on Devils news. We've seen big players go (Gomez, Rafalski), new players arrive (Zubrus) and have gotten a whole new coaching staff (Sutter, et al) and we've neglected to write about any of it. We will, however, take a moment to write about Zach Parise re-signing a 4-year contract, worth $12.5 million. The deal is an almost unheard-of thing in this season of huge contracts for mediocre players -- it's reasonable. For all parties involved. Based on what other RFAs have been given this season, Parise could have been expected to hold out for a lot more. So good on Lou, Zach and Zach's agent for taking a sane approach to the contract. With only one player remaining unsigned (next season's #1 d-man on the team, Paul Martin) the Devils are in excellent shape for the start of the season.

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