MCKENZIE: WADDELL DID WHAT HE COULD WITH KOVALCHUK DEAL
For those who are saying the Atlanta Thrashers didn’t get nearly enough for Ilya Kovalchuk, what exactly did you expect?
A lot, apparently.
And for that, we are all guilty to varying degrees.
Atlanta GM Don Waddell told teams he wanted a top six forward, a top four defenceman and a first-round pick and/or a prospect. And who can blame him? You have to start somewhere, might as well be at the high end.
We all reported that, but did we honestly, really, believe he would ever actually get that?
Did we actually think Patrick Sharp or Kris Versteeg or Cam Barker – or all three as some reported – would be the yield on an admittedly superstar offensive player, but one who is going to unrestricted free agency and just turned down one of the most lucrative long-term contracts in NHL history? One hundred freakin’ million dollars large?
Did we honestly believe Wayne Simmonds and Jack Johnson would be packaged? Or that Brandon Dubinsky or Marc Staal or Ryan Callahan were Atlanta bound?
http://www.tsn.ca/columnists/bob_mckenzie/?id=309019