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 Posted: Thu 6:02, 22 Aug 2013 Post subject: Islanders making serious push for Kovalchuk |
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Islanders making serious push for Kovalchuk
The general reaction to the news that the New York Islanders have offered Ilya Kovalchuk $100 million US over 10 years? "You can't be serious," as one NHL GM put it.
As it turns out,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the Islanders are.
According to multiple sources, Garth Snow is among the most aggressive general managers in this free-agent season. He enlisted Doug Weight to help recruit players. He outbid everyone for defencemen Dan Hamhuis,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], though all of them decided to play elsewhere.
Ben Hankinson, Martin's agent,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], said his client was extremely impressed by Snow's approach. This will not come as a huge surprise to Islanders fans, but among Martin's biggest concerns was the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum - the dreary Long Island arena where the Islanders play their home games.
That prompted Snow to deliver a classic line: "You're not sitting in the (bleeping) crowd, you're sitting on the bench."
The GM also promised that if Martin came to Long Island and didn't like it,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Snow would agree to trade him. The Islanders are stuck in the Coliseum until 2015, which means that even with a five-year deal,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Martin was never guaranteed to play in a new building - if one is ever built.
Snow declined to comment Saturday morning,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych].
In the middle of all of this is "The Lighthouse Project." That's the name of Islanders owner Charles Wang's $4-billion attempt to rejuvenate the Coliseum and the 77 acres surrounding it. He wanted approval by the start of the 2009-10 season,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], but didn't get it. He is still waiting for the city government to come up with a proposal of its own, but it will be nothing like his vision.
The House that Ilya Built,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]?
There were rumblings this year that Wang was so fed up with the entire situation, he wanted to walk away from the franchise.
Now, it appears as if he's trying something else. Just like Eric Lindros built the Wachovia (now Wells-Fargo) Center in Philadelphia and Sidney Crosby built the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Wang hopes Kovalchuk can fulfill the owner's fantasy.
And there is no doubt the owner is calling the shots. Wang can be impulsive - he was the driving force behind Alexei Yashin's groundbreaking 10-year,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], $90-million deal (which the Islanders will pay off until 2015) and Ricky DiPietro's 15-year,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], $67.5-million contract (which could be similarly disastrous). stunt or an attempt to appease fans who think Wang is cheap.
Snow's confirming his interest in Kovalchuk to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun also raised eyebrows. The GM is generally very secretive of his plans (and I say that with respect). He pulled off the Ryan Smyth trade a few years ago in silence,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and kept his decision to select John Tavares first overall in the 2009 draft quiet from most of his staff. Snow actually had three different Islanders jerseys - one each with Tavares, Hedman,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],and Duchene stitched onto the back - to keep people off-guard. Hearing him admit he's involved in the Kovalchuk sweepstakes only adds to the conspiracy theories.
Right now, the Islanders are about $9 million below the salary floor,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], which is why this offer makes some sense. It's also why there was,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], at last season's trade deadline,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a belief that they might be willing to acquire goalie Cristobal Huet from Chicago.
Russian players do like it in the New York area,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], so Snow's got that going for him. But Kovalchuk is trying hard to prove he's more than a money-hungry mercenary and badly wants to win. The fact he hasn't already accepted an offer is an indication of that. The Kings and the Devils remain ahead of the Islanders as favourites because they are in a better position for future success.
Snow has an answer for that, too. According to Hankinson,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], when it was mentioned during the Martin talks that Pittsburgh looked to be a better team,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the Islanders GM replied, "We're going to win,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], too."
According to HNIC's Elliotte Friedman, the biggest news in the city of Markham, Ont., Tuesday night was former NHLPA boss Paul Kelly saying the league wants to expand to 32 teams, citing Quebec City and Toronto as "most likely" candidates.
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