Kovalchuk For Ryan, Neidermayer, and a 1st?

Hearing rumors that Anaheim is closing in on a deal to land Kovalchuk. I don’t know any of the specifics, but just thought that it is interesting what the Ducks did this week which allows them to make this trade.

I have been hearing a lot of other BS rumors, teams like Vancouver, Los Angeles, or even Chicago don't make sense at all. You don’t make these huge trades when your team in on a winning streak with less than 30 games to go. More importantly, the teams trading for Kovie want to sign him in the offseason.

There’s no way any GM will want a $10M second-liner, and Kovie won’t sign to any team which doesn’t use him as a top unit. This rules out Vancouver.

Kings are winning a lot of games of late. The chemistry of Kopitar and Ryan Smyth is great, and you don’t swap your top LW to RW under these circumstances.

Chicago rumors are even crazier. They’ve signed Hossa just to provide that extra scoring power, they don’t need any more, especially when it will cost them more than $7M in cap space. To trade Hossa and his huge contract to Atlanta is out of the question, because there’s no guarantee on Kovalchuk signing back in Chicago.

On the other hand, the Ducks are really interesting. Just this week, Bob Murray traded away goaltender J.S. Giguere and his $6M contract to the Leafs, but picked up $8M back. A $4M Toskala and $4M Blake for $6M Giguere!? With Giguere, the Ducks can at least rotate him with Hiller, but who’d want to take a risk with a 3.66 GAA Toskala?

Of course, Toskala’s contract expires next season, so he’s just a tactic for Murray to offload $2M in cap and salary. Despite being overpaid, Blake's cap-hit will be dropped to 3M next season, and you can at least dress him, which is better than paying $6M for Giguere to sit at the bench.

But if you look closer, maybe it’s more than that. What if this is just a step to try to land Kovalchuk? We all know that Niedermeyer is worth nothing at this moment for the Ducks. The team is out of playoff picture, and Scott is 35 and an impending UFA.

If you do this:

Atlanta Thrashers
Bobby Ryan ($1.92M impending RFA)
Scott Niedermeyer ($6M impedning UFA)
1st rounder 2010

Anaheim Ducks
Ilya Kovalchuk ($6.4M impending UFA)

What you get is a somewhat balance shift of cap space, with $1.5M extra for Atlanta which they can easily absorb.

The Ducks get the best player, and a natural LW to play with Getzlaf and Perry, (boy that’s a scary line…) lose a high pick and Ryan.

Kovalchuk might not sign back, but with the off-loaded salary in the Giguere trade (saved $3M in 2010) and Niedermeyer ($6M in 2010), Anaheim can offer Ilya the maximum pay, a luxury not a lot of teams have.

Ryan is an RFA, so they need to negotiate with him anyways, and possibly match other people’s offer sheet, so trading him away may not be all bad. The 1st-rounder will be high, but the draft is only mediocre in 2010.

For Atlanta, they get a player which can immediately help their playoff drive.

Bobby Ryan is having a breakout season, 24 goals and 43 points in just 56 games. Ryan is just 23 years-old, and he can play both wings. He is an impending RFA, and Atlanta is insured to sign him, even if it  slightly overpays.

You also get a superstar defenseman in Niedermeyer who’s looking for a final shot at the cup. Yes, I think he has a no-movement clause, and he prefers to stay in the West, but for another chance at the cup, he might be able to waive it.

The 1st rounder from Ducks will be high, so that itself is attractive for the Thrashers.

It works for the players too, Ryan is often logging 2nd-line time in Anaheim, although he’s used in special teams he can surely enjoy top-line minutes. In Atlanta, he will be the franchise face with tons of ice-time. Again Scott gets his last shot at the playoffs, and Kovalchuk will choose which teams he wants to play as it is the case since the beginning of this whole mess.

So what do you think?