February 5, 2010
Kovalchuk deal a hot topic among Bruins
by Douglas Flynn/
BOSTON – Ilya Kovalchuk isn’t coming through that door.
The star Russian won’t be the savior coming to Boston to help the Bruins climb back into the playoff picture. Instead, he’s headed to one of their Eastern rivals, as Atlantic Division leader New Jersey landed the gifted goal-scorer in a blockbuster deal Thursday evening.
The Devils paid a hefty price, giving up steady defenseman Johnny Oduya, talented young forward Niclas Bergfors and prized prospect Patrice Cormier, along with a first-round pick. All that guarantees New Jersey is 27 games of production from the soon-to-be free agent, plus what the Devils are banking on will be a long playoff run.
After that, someone – likely someone other than Devils GM Lou Lamoriello – will have to empty out their bank accounts to keep Kovalchuk around. Prior to completing the deal, Atlanta GM Don Waddell revealed that Kovalchuk had turned down offers of $101 million over 12 years and $70 million over seven years.
Those two costs – the package of assets Atlanta needed to move to acquire the star and the money and cap space it would take to keep him around – were enough to take the Bruins out of the running for Kovalchuk despite their desperate need for more scoring.
It didn’t, however, keep some Bruins players from wondering what could have been had Peter Chiarelli found a way to bring Kovalchuk to Boston.
“It’s obviously a great pickup by New Jersey,” said Bruins center Marc Savard, who played on a line with Kovalchuk in Atlanta before signing with Boston in 2006. “He’s a good scorer. We obviously would have loved to have him, but it didn’t work out. We just have to keep going with what we’ve got and hopefully it comes from in here.”
The party line Thursday night after yet another frustrating loss – when the Bruins could manage just two goals despite 47 shots and fell in a shootout to Montreal – was that the club has enough talent to score, they just have to snap out of their funk and start producing like they have in past years.
“(Kovalchuk) is definitely one of the premier scorers in the league and he knows how to put the puck in the net,” said forward Michael Ryder, himself the subject of trade rumors. “For us, we know that we have the capability of doing that. We did it all last year and we know that we can still score goals and it’s just a matter of us getting to that point. The whole season has been tough to get goals but I think it’s just a matter of time for us before we start filling the back of the net.”
That would be a lot easier with a sniper like Kovalchuk riding shotgun on the top line with Savard. Instead, the Devils, who are already entrenched in first place in the Atlantic Division, get to add Kovalchuk to complement the likes of Zach Parise, Patrik Elias and Travis Zajac. And at least one Bruin felt they did it at a modest price that won’t disrupt the Devils’ current lineup or chemistry.
“I don’t think that’s anything significant off their roster,” said veteran forward Mark Recchi when informed of the specifics of the deal. “I think that’s a pretty good trade for New Jersey.”
Recchi might have been a bit envious of New Jersey’s good fortune, but he quickly returned his focus to his own team’s current situation.
“Kovi’s a great hockey player, but he’s not here,” said Recchi. “I can’t worry about it. He’s a heck of a hockey player. I played with him in Atlanta (in 2007-08). But I don’t even know how much in the running we were or whatever. I don’t concern myself with that too much. I have to focus on what we do here and the players we have in this dressing room. If you start thinking about other guys it’s going to go south and we don’t want to go south here.”
It’s hard to imagine how much further south the Bruins could go considering they’ve now lost nine games in a row and are 1-9-3 in their last 13 games. But Recchi remains confident the club can turn it around, and insists there’s still time to salvage a playoff run.
“We believe in each other and we want 27 games to get ourselves into the playoffs and stick together through this,” said Recchi. “If they (management) do something, they do something. If they don’t, then this is what it is and we’re going to try to get through it.
“If we can get on a big run at the end and get ourselves in, who knows what can happen,” added Recchi. “Carolina did it last year. Pittsburgh did it last year. Pittsburgh after they let go of their coach went on a huge run and won the Stanley Cup.”
Recognizing that coach Claude Julien has been under increasing criticism as the losses mount up, Recchi was quick to add that any changes here shouldn’t follow the Penguins’ model exactly.
“I’m not saying that,” said Recchi, anticipating a question about Julien’s status. “Claude isn’t going anywhere. He’s a great coach. But it (the potential for a turnaround) is there. We’re right there. If we keep playing like this, then that could happen. We could get on a big run here.”
The Bruins still will likely need some help to get on such a run. The price for Kovalchuk was too high, but could one of the remaining scorers likely available like Carolina’s Ray Whitney or St. Louis’ Keith Tkachuk be in Boston’s price range?
“I can’t answer that,” said Savard. “Who knows? Right here is what we’ve got now. That’s up to management. I’ve got a couple years before I get into management. We’ve just got to keep trying and if someone comes in here, hopefully he’s a hell of a player and can score some goals.”
The one benefit the Bruins can draw from the Kovalchuk deal is that it should weaken at least one of the teams they’ll have to pass to reach the postseason, as Atlanta currently sits one spot ahead of 12th-place Boston. The Thrashers shouldn’t stay there for long without Kovalchuk, but the Bruins will still have to start actually scoring some goals and winning some games to pass them.
“They are ahead of us right now,” said Ryder of Atlanta. “They still got a couple of players in the deal that could help them. They maybe lost a little bit of scoring but it might help the whole team. For us, we have to go out again on Saturday and just play the same way and hopefully we’ll come out with the win.”
Douglas Flynn can be reached at dflynn@hockeyjournal.com.
