Ilya Kovalchuk's Got It Bad

There were a couple times last night when Thrashers superstar Ilya Kovalchuk controlled the puck with ease as he danced around the Flyers. There were also a couple times when he told referee Mark Joanette to go bang himself. Not even player friendly Pierre Shampoo would stand for that, much less Joanette. Kovalchuk earned himself two misconduct penalties in a row after an errant pass was intercepted by Mike Richards and the Flyers scored a short-handed goal on the ensuing rush. Most coaches would be furious with Kovalchuk's behavior. And if the Thrashers had fans they would have been pretty pissed too. But can you blame him?

How he has managed 254 goals during his six seasons in that hockey wasteland is truly unbelievable. And I'm not even talking about how it must be difficult to get pumped up for games in front of a less than half full building. The Atlanta management has shown no commitment to building any sort of team around Kovalchuk. Last night I saw him out there with offensive threats Colby Armstrong, Todd White, Bryan Little, and Marty Reasoner. Are you kidding me? These are the best compliments the Thrashers management can get for one of the best scorers in the past decade? In seasons past they used to give him at least one stud to play with, but since Danny Heatley and the remnants of his trade left town he's been flying solo. You could argue that Marc Savard was a pretty decent linemate for Kovalchuk, but then you're getting into a chicken or the egg discussion. During Savard's breakout season with the Thrashers in 2005-06 his assist to goal ratio was almost 3:1. 52 of Savard's 69 assists were probably defensive zone faceoff wins to Kovalchuk who cut through the opposition all alone on his way to scoring a career high 52 goals.

The Thrashers are one of the worst teams in the league, with some of the stupidest jerseys in the league, and a GM who would trade Braydon Coburn for Alexi Zhitnik and a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for Keith Tkachuk only to get swept in the first round of the playoffs. And he's still there. Picking up $6M guns like Mathieu Schneider. Next season is Kovalchuk's last season with the Thrashers. I will guarantee you that they day 2010 calendars hit the stand in the mall Kovalchuk was the first to buy one and immediately rip it open and circle the day he hopes that he'll be dealt out of Atlanta as a late season rental.