SI's Muir - Kovalchuk to Colorado - Why?

Only person who says Kovalchuk is getting traded is Eklund

That’s why I don’t speculate.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Spector did state the other day that the Avs are one of the few locations that currently have the cap space for a Kovalchuk.

But trading Kovalchuk when the playoff experience (whether Atlanta gets in or not and how well they do) could be what decides if he stays or if he goes (unlike Bouwmeester who didn’t want to stay in Florida last year).

Free agency is more likely if Atlanta doesn’t re-sign him.

I wouldn’t be willing to part with the amount of prospects that we would to land a player of his caliber. With the salary cap in effect, there is no room in the NHL for the type of free spending that the Avs did back in the late 90s and early 00s that helped bring 2 Cups to Denver.

I am more than willing waiting a year or 2 for us to REALLY be able to compete for the Cup. Giving up prospects and draft picks are no longer an option for a “chance” to compete for the Cup. Like was mentioned above, Ilya is definitely a gifted scorer, but he is too much of a defensive liability on the back end. Plus, adding a player like him would almost certainly upset any chemistry that the Avs have built thus far this season.

As much as I love watching Kovalchuk (behind Ovie, he is my 2nd favorite non-Av in the NHL) don’t bring him to Denver.

There’s every reason to believe he could be available in the offseason as a UFA, and then we wouldn’t have to give up anything. It’s not like Kovie is a missing piece for us to win the cup, he’d just be a damn nice thing to have, and we could get him without giving up any of our pieces.

I’d rather make trades at the deadline to get more picks and maybe move up in the 1st round, then if Kovalchuk is available in the offseason, sign him.

The Avs organization should be dropping stories about interest and the amount of cap space they have available though, and make it clear to him and his agent that we could give him a sweet deal come July.

Yeah, there’s no reason to give up anyone they have to get Kovalchuk. I personally don’t think they need him anyway. He’d probably get a lot of points, and potentially fill some more seats, but is he really a good fit in what the Avs have going for them right now? Maybe, but with Kovy on the payroll, how will the Avs pay Duchene and O’Reilly when thier contracts are up? Damn salary cap!

I see no substance behind this rumor whatsoever. It appears that a few “hockey journalists” spun this one out after they combed through a list of NHL teams that are doing alright right now and have cap space, and hit the Avs after considering their history of trading for big names at last year of contract to make playoff push. I’m with Dater on this one though: it’s not going to happen. It completely goes against our new philosophy and set us back more years in development after we finally made some right steps.

As for signing Kovalchuk during summer, I’m also against it if it costs us over 9m in cap space per year. I think if you sign someone for that money, he better be the star player who fits with your club philosophy and system and leads the team to the Cup every year, or else you end up with a massive, unhappy albatross (see Jagr, Jaromir, and Capitals, Washington). This was true before the cap era, and this is especially true in the cap era. I think the recent post by Dario on centers is very enlightening. I agree with him that the right way to build a champion is through strength in center, and that is with SoS, Duchene and O’RLY. If signing Kovalchuk means sacrificing our depth in center, then I think it’s a massive mistake.

Trading prospects and draft picks for superstar talent. . . Isn’t that what Lacroix just got done doing for the last 10-15 years? How many times did it really work out? How many bad trades were done? I say no to Ilya. As talented as he is, the Avs have talent that has not reached it’s potential, and deserves a chance to show it.

Why would Kovy even leave in the first place? Atlanta’s going to be a buyer this year, not a seller. They’re legitimately contending this season, they’ve got a strong, young core of players, and he’s thriving on his line with Antropov and Afinoganov. They’ve pretty much done everything right by him so far, even going as far as to sign Antropov on his recommendation. Plus he’s the captain and face of the franchise too. Atlanta’s definitely looking to hold onto him.

While he’s one of my favorite players and certainly one of the league’s most talented stars, he’s the type of guy who teams are built around, not a last second add-on. Plus like others have said, keeping our youth movement and locker room chemistry intact is more important. The deal doesn’t make sense for anyone involved.

I recall reading comments a while ago by John Buccigross in which he said that he looked at the 1995-96 Avalanche at the beginning of that season and said that he thought that they were a power forward, offensive defenseman, and goaltender away from becoming cup contenders. That year, they traded for Claude Lemieux, Sandis Ozolinsh, and Patrick Roy. And we all know what the result was.

In my opinion, looking at the team that the Avs have right now, their major needs (experience withstanding) are: another scoring winger (two if Hejduk is no longer around when the team again matures into a legitimate contender), a defenseman with a booming right handed shot that can quarterback the powerplay, and a faceoff/penalty killing specialist to anchor the fourth line.

Kovalchuk would definitely fulfill the immediate need for a scoring winger. But, at what cost would his addition be to the rest of the team’s needs?

It’s always nice to dream about your team adding another superstar. But, this team is just now starting to get put its own pieces together. It’s only when you have all of your pieces there can you really look at what you have and try to identify the missing ingredient. And For all we know, those major needs that I identified could be fulfilled from within. Guys like Stoa, Galiardi, and a healthy Jones show promise. As do guys like Shattenkirk, Cohen, Elliot, etc. This team still needs more time to bring in the rest of its own pieces before they start trying to identify pieces from the outside to add to the mix.

Are the ones that involve overpaid defensemen and a useless soft right winger leaving Colorado for…anything.