Former Lightning GM and THN.com contributor Jay Feaster underscored that point last month when he wrote the Thrashers can’t afford to play a game of contractual chicken with the Russian star – at least, not up to and beyond the March 3 trade deadline – and the time to deal him is now.
As Feaster and I both noted, the opportune window to deal Kovalchuk has long since closed – and that’s why I believe the best Atlanta GM Don Waddell can hope for now is a deal that gets him 35-50 cents on the dollar. It won’t be Alexei-Zhitnik-for-Braydon-Coburn bad, but it’ll be close.