February 5, 2010, Ilya Kovalchuk follow up story for Hockey Primetime.com

Devils react to Kovalchuk's arrival

Written by Denis Gorman

Friday, February 05, 2010 18:26

Martin Brodeur was encircled by a media throng at his locker following the Devils’ early skate Friday morning. That is nothing new for Brodeur. Spend 16 NHL seasons authoring arguably the greatest career a goaltender has ever had and people want to talk to you. In this case, though, the discussion was not about stopping one of the NHL’s premier goal-scorers. Rather, it was about the Devils’ acquisition of one. “We all came in with big smiles to the rink,” Brodeur said of his and his teammates’ reaction to Thursday night’s blockbuster trade for Ilya Kovalchuck from Atlanta. The Devils received Kovalchuk, defenseman Anssi Salmela and Atlanta’s second round pick this year. The Thrashers received the Devils’ first and second round picks this year, defenseman Johnny Oduya, forward Nic Bergfors and prospect Patrice Cormier. “It’s new life. It’s oxygen that gets pumped into the organization.” In a conference call Thursday night, GM Lou Lamoriello compared this trade to the one he made in 2000 which brought Alex Mogilny to the Devils. Like Kovalchuk, Mogilny is a Russian sniper. With Mogilny the Devils won the Cup in 2001 and lost the Cup to Colorado in seven games in 2001. The Devils get one of the premier goal-scorers in the NHL in Kovalchuk. The native of Tver, Russia, recorded 31 goals and 27 assists in 49 games this season with Atlanta. Kovalchuk is the Thrashers' all-time leader in goals (328) and points (615). Perhaps as important as his goal-scoring, the struggling Devils get a boost. Dating back to New Year’s Eve the Devils – first in the Atlantic Division and second in the Conference – are only 9-10-1 in their last 20 games. Kovalchuk, expected to play tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, is awarded the opportunity to contend for the Cup – something he did not have in eight seasons in Atlanta. The Thrashers only made the playoffs once during his tenure and they lasted all of four games against the Rangers in 2007. “You play to win. He’s no different. You see him react when they won the World Championships, how excited he gets when he scores, the celebrations. That means that he cares,” said Brodeur. Right now, Kovalchuk and the Thrashers organization may not care for each other. The exasperated Thrashers took a shot at Kovalchuk in a press release Thursday afternoon. In the statement GM Don Waddell said, “Ultimately, we offered Kovy more than $101 million over 12 years, which would have been the highest contract signed by an impending unrestricted free agent in the history of the league. If accepted, this contract would have been the second-highest offer ever to any NHL player. We also met his desire to be the highest paid player based on average annual salary with a separate offer of 7 years at $10M per year ($70M). This offer is $0.5M higher per year than any other player. "If we went beyond these offers, we would not be able to retain the young players on our roster when it came time to sign them, or invest in other top-tier players needed to assemble a truly competitive team. Therefore, we are aggressively exploring all of our options as we move forward." The left wing, who instantly becomes the Devils' leading goal scorer and point producer, said he “had no problem with that.” But like a scorned lover, Kovalchuk responded to Waddell with jibes of his own. “I’m very excited. It’s the first time in my career that I get to play for a first class organization,” Kovalchuk said. “There’s a good system here. Adjustments, coaches – they know what they are doing.” Kovalchuk's new teammates don’t care about the "he said, he said." They don’t even care that Kovalchuk may only be a rent-a-player. “It definitely makes our team a lot more dangerous with him in the lineup. It’s definitely exciting,” center Travis Zajac said. The Devils’ No. 1 center could see time on the power play with Kovalchuk. A first unit of Kovalchuk, Zajac and Zach Parise should boost the NHL’s 11th-ranked PP. “It’s real exciting. I don’t know if I’ll get the chance to play with him or not. He’s a shooter and he scores goals, so just give him the puck.” There may be more good news in the near future. The Devils should get defenseman Paul Martin and forwards Patrik Elias and David Clarkson off the injured list following the Olympics. Those additions should deepen what is now one of the odds-on favorites to win the Cup. “Very excited. Get a top three goal-scorer, got to be excited,” Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek said outside The Prudential Center Friday morning. “We try to win a Cup every year. We think this will help the team. That’s why we do things.” http://www.hockeyprimetime.com/news/headlines/devils-react-to-kovalchuks-arrival