EHM The Blue Line

Glen Sather's plan due to the new CBA terms was to wait till next year and pick up a franchise player who would be the centre of the Rangers rebuild and team for years, players such as Lecavalier, St.Louis, Nash were on his list but have since all been locked up to long term contracts, but there remains one player under RFA who is available to a team that wants him enough

Ilya Kovalchuk



under the new CBA the Rangers would have to part with 4 Round one Draft Picks, which in my opinion considering Kovalchuk's age, skill, scoring, etc is well worth it!

Also the fact that we can aquire draft picks by trading the veterans we have picked up near the deadline, why not? if we have 4 round 1 picks theres no guarentee that we will select a Kovalchuk. plus with the new UFA rules there will be many young players available in several years to pick up so draft picks will lose value.

That is why the Rangers should offer soon a 5year deal at $7.8million a season.

he would be the Rangers future starlet and someone to build the team around, and i would scream with delight if it happened.

but what tells me this may happen, nothing. there are rumours ciculating like there were st.louis to Rangers, and Brad Richards to Montreal, but this one makes sense in some ways, i hope the Rangers do it!

oh and i hadn't logged in this is my post, please reply with your thoughts!

Reading thru the post, I thought this must be Dave.

I know I'm always giving you a hard time for being a Rangers fan, but honestly I kinda like the team, so yeah, I hope they sign him, you never know...

I'm an Atlanta fan, the MUST keep him

He said he'll play for Khimik Moskovskaja Oblast in Russian Superleague

Who knows, Atlanta does have Marian Hossa now but I can't imagine they'd go without bringing Ilya back...

In the new 'can't sign everyone we think of' NHL the Rangers are going to have to change tactics that's for sure. The way that things are shaping up picks are almost more valuable than players at this point. If you see a player traded for a pick now where it used to be a 2nd it's now more likley to be a 4th instead.

I think teams are realizing that the key to success long-term will be developing their own talent as it will be much more difficult to just go out and buy it (Rangers) and even trades where you take on big chunks of salary will be much more rare (Rangers).

I don't disagree that the Rangers are crazy enough to give up the picks but I do have to disagree with you on draft picks losing value; it seems quite the opposite.

Minstrel wrote:I don't disagree that the Rangers are crazy enough to give up the picks but I do have to disagree with you on draft picks losing value; it seems quite the opposite.

Well...ilya kovalchuk is, in my opinion, one of the top10 world best wingers and without any doubt the best player of his age. The chances to pick up another kovalchuk in the draft are really slim, especially if they will turn into a...i dont mean an elite team, perennial contender as the devils or the avalanche but maybe a regular basis playoffs. In this case, draft another kovalchuk in the next 4 years could be very, very difficult.
The end? Please Avs, sign him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He's my fav player

no chance the avs get him, why? basically a NHL team can now not throw $$'s to solve a teams woes or attempt to (NYR )

The Avalanche now like Toronto, Detroit, etc have to and must draft well in the next few years to build a youth backbone, and will not throw away 4 round 1 picks for kovalchuk,

But the Avs still in my opinion have a very good team even without forsberg, so u should make the playoffs easily, but its now about 2 to 3 years down the line teams must draft well now

but why shld a team like the Rangers throw 4 picks? because we will trade many veterans for picks thats why plus we need a young franchise starlet to build around, this is our opportunity and i hope before friday we here the Rangers have offered a sheet and not that Atlanta have tied him down