Does Trading Ilya Kovalchuk Mean Saying Goodbye To The Thrashers?

A mere 10 years after Atlanta made their NHL debut, the Thrashers could very well see themselves on the move.  This would not be the first time a hockey team were to move out of Atlanta.  Back in 1980, a financially strapped Atlanta Flames team was forced to be sold and were moved to their current home in Calgary.  It appears that 30 years later, the same fate will befall these Atlanta Thrashers.

The Thrashers problems started almost immediately in Atlanta when GM Don Waddell picked Patrick Stefan 1st overall in the 1999 entry draft.  Stefan was a bust for Atlanta scoring only 59 goals and 118 assists in his six seasons for the Thrashers.  Atlanta finished with a league low 14 wins and 39 points in their inaugural season.

In the next two entry drafts the Thrashers selected two NHL all-stars, Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk.  With two of the top scorers in the NHL, one could expect the Thrashers would be on the road to building a successful franchise.  The Thrashers never made the playoffs with Heatley and Kovalchuk in four seasons.  Dany Heatley was then traded to Ottawa for sniper Marian Hossa. Still, the Thrashers struggled only making the playoffs once and were ousted by the Rangers in four games.

Hossa was shipped out to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the trade deadline in 2008 for a pack that included two average NHL'ers, a prospect yet to play an NHL game, and a pick.  Now Kovalchuk has been traded away for a rookie, a good defense-man, a prospect that won't play another QMJHL game this year due to suspension and a draft pick.  There is no star in the mix coming back from these teams, like when the Atlanta received Hossa for Heatley.

The Thrashers were in big trouble when they had Kovalchuk, averaging over only 13,000 fans per game.  If you've seen any Thrasher games on television lately, those numbers look to be greatly exaggerated. All of these signs point to the Thrashers leaving Atlanta sometime soon.

You have to ask yourself, if a guy that was drafted by Atlanta, was offered over $100 million dollars to stay in Atlanta doesn't want to play in Atlanta, who will?