Two Words You Don't Want To Hear Together: "Kovalchuk" and "Snag"

((HT: TSN/AJC-Vivlamore))

Those of us at OSG HQ have long maintained that the Atlanta Thrashers have always played with fire. On a sport played with frozen water, that's never a good combination. It looks like Atlanta Spirit, LLC is on the verge of alienating their fan base once and for-by-God-all...

It happened in the past when the team could not spend any money and was at the bottom of both the NHL spending basement-ranking 3rd lowest toward the bottom cap number. The team's on-ice performance matched that monetary output.

It happened when they traded Marian Hossa for half of the Pittsburgh Penguins roster- only Colby Armstrong is an active part of that move.

And now it could happen as the team's version of Armageddon now that Chris Vivlamore is revealing an impasse, disagreement, stopping point, or any other poor combination of words in regard to the negotiations for a new Ilya Kovalchuk contract.

"Our position is different than his position right now," Waddell explained to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Their position is fixed years with money and we have a different side of that.

"That's what we have to work through. We've gotten through every thing else, now we have to make it through that."

Oops...

According to the Journal-Constitution, Kovalchuk's agent Jay Grossman met with Waddell in Atlanta over the weekend to continue talks. Kovalchuk is scheduled to become a free agent on July 1.

The HQ warns a this point on two fronts...
Beware the trade deadline and beware the fan base...

"It's a business," Kovalchuk told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I think every player goes through that. It's the first time for me. It's (management's) decision, but I like everything here. Like I've said a lot of times, I want to play with one team all my life, but you never know."

For, what seems like, the 3,800th time here at the HQ, if the Thrash don't re-sign Kovalchuk the franchise is done in Atlanta. We don't mean to be that harsh for, what has proven when the team wins, to be a supportive-bordering-rabid fan base. But it's that whole "fool-me-once" thing...

They won't take it anymore and the Spirit may as well check in on Hamilton, Kansas City, or Winnipeg for buyers...

Yes, it'll be that bad...
And this is what the town will be missing...
((HT: RDS/NHL))