MONTREAL — Since the lockout, there has been only one team forced to trade a franchise player in a deadline rental deal, and that was Atlanta moving Marian Hossa to Pittsburgh two years ago following management’s extended and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to extend his contract.
History appears to be repeating itself this season with impending free agent Ilya Kovalchuk seemingly all but certain to be dealt, perhaps sooner than later, as a consequence of management’s inability to get No. 17 to sign an extension.
Regardless of the return gained by general manager Don Waddell in what surely will be no more than a 60-cents-on-the-dollar trade-in, if Kovalchuk does indeed get away, if he becomes the second marquee player to get away within three years in a cap league where few big-time players get away, what possible future is there for the NHL in Atlanta this second time around?
The return for Hossa, every bit the bauble, was a first-rounder, flawed prospect Angelo Esposito, grinding winger Colby Armstrong, and unproven center Erik Christensen, a package that didn’t turn out to be all that much of sacrifice for the Penguins or a windfall for the Thrashers. That’s the lone lend-lease, post-lockout model from which everyone will be working.
The market will not be teeming with buyers, not given the need to have enough available cap space to accommodate Kovalchuk’s $6.839 million, and not with the perceived opportunity to sign Kovalchuk as an unrestricted free agent beginning July 1.
But even if Waddell somehow manages to leverage Kovalchuk, one of the NHL’s few genuine game-changers worth the price of admission, into a decent return from, say, Chicago, L.A., Boston or the Islanders (the Rangers as constructed don’t have anywhere near the space to make a play), what would that bode for the future in Atlanta?
The liberalization of free agency under the hard cap CBA now in force has not, as originally anticipated, flooded the market with stars in or entering their prime. Instead, the league’s best and brightest have used the rules to gain lucrative, long-term commitments to eschew the open market and remain in place.
But not in Atlanta, where, to misremember the great Mel Allen’s signature call, Hossa is gone, Marc Savard is gone and Kovalchuk is going.
If Kovalchuk leaves, we are looking at the NHL’s version of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Curtis Joseph is a world-class individual and outstanding goaltender who rose to the moment more than once during his distinguished 19-year career that officially ended last week.
But I have to admit I was surprised to learn how much support there seems to be for his election into the Hall of Fame.
There is no absolute right or absolute wrong, except of course, in the case of Fred Shero, shamefully and mysteriously snubbed by the selection panel annually.
If the results of baseball’s Hall of Fame election are subject to increasing scrutiny, at least there is transparency to the open process. In hockey, it is closeted and confidential.
Tony Esposito is in without a Cup and so is Ed Giacomin, but they were perennial All-Stars who are exceptions to the rule. Joseph pulled two great first-round upsets for the Oilers in the late ’90s, but could never quite make a playoff run. Martin Brodeur outplayed him in back-to-back years at the height of the Devils-Maple Leafs rivalry.
And Mike Richter outplayed Joseph decisively in the best-of-three 1996 World Cup Final in which Team USA beat Team Canada by winning the last two in Montreal after dropping the first in overtime in Philadelphia.
It is indeed that tournament on top of 1994 that keeps Richter in the Hall of Fame conversation, which is where he belongs if Cujo is in the sentence.
Joseph distinguishes any arena into which he walks. It would be no different should the electors invite him into the Hall. The concept will take some time to grow on me, that’s all.
“Fluff,” right, that’s what John Halligan‘s beloved wife Janet called him all right, though I have to confess until I read a tribute to my friend in the Times, I thought it had something to do with his appearance from way back and not, as I learned, his penchant for handing out “fluff” to the writers as publicity man for the Rangers.
Halligan, whom we lost this week at the age of 68, was of a simpler time when hockey people had more fun, when the business wasn’t all business (except for the owners, but hey).
Halligan, much like Boston’s great Nate Greenberg — retired and enjoying life — was about building friendships, about greeting each day with a smile and each task as an opportunity to promote hockey.
He had everyone’s friendship. He had everyone’s respect. He had everyone’s admiration. The best part is, he knew it and so did his wife.
The NHL operates a Hospitality Suite for the media during the Stanley Cup Finals. When the Rangers were in Montreal for the 1979 Final, John and Janet Halligan co-hosted the Rangers’ Hospitality Lounge.
Let me tell you, there has never been a more hospitable Hospitality Lounge than the one hosted by the Halligans.
You could look it up.
Rest well, friend.