Ice Scoopz: Saturday Evening

*-> The Ilya Kovalchuk situation hasn't gotten any better as of late and the speculation is several teams have called Don Wadell and let the Thrashers know their interested should he become available. The talks have halted and it looks like Kovalchuk is not willing to take a discount and wants full value. Now Waddell has been through this before with Mr Hossa. He didn't exactly get what he was after in the end but still got a good chunk of change. Kovalchuk will bring in a lot more and his team is aleady showing signs of improvement. The question is though will the Thrashers survive without him. I truely think that Kovalchuk has them by the balls so to speak. He is an elite player just hitting his full potential. He can make or break a game and will be consistently in the top 10 in scoring. Unfortunately for the Thrashers the KHL exists and has already said they are willing to offer him over 12mil$ per season to play. That sets the bar right away as he can allways fall back on it. Ether way he'll hit max dollars on the NHL market so the Thrashers are screwed. He wants to remain in Atlanta if the direction is right. It looks to be on track but how can you convince Ilya in the next few years they'll be contenders? Its a tough call but the easiest way in my opinion is to make a few win now deals that could sway his mind. Some players that can help put the Thrashers over the top and into the post season without sacrificing the future too much. If the Thrashers don't make the playoffs or retain Kovalchuk it could be costly. The playoffs play a big picture on whether or not they trade him as well. If their in the picture I doubt they'd want to trade him unless its for a couple of contracted players gaurentied to help them and fill the void. If they are indeed out of the race then they might be willing to take prospects and picks as well as s couple of average players. As the deadline gets closer and closer the rumors will continue so stay tuned. What do you guys think will happen? I'm leaning more towards deal deadline day then resigning as a UFA.