How the Atlanta Thrashers Created the Winnipeg Jets

Before reading this refer to this post about goalie trade value and what it means to the return for Kari Lehtonen. http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2010/11/1/1779550/goaltender-trade-value

I got bored about a week ago and tried to figure out the players that the Thrashets still have in their system from three trades: Lehtonen, Hossa, and Kovalchuk. The reason for was a picture of Lehtonen sitting on top of his net.

The Atlanta Thrasher had two young goalies at one point. One who showed promise but got injured often (Lehtonen) and one who had barely played in the NHL at the point of the trade of Lehtonen. Furthermore, Lehtonen had just back surgery and Atlanta had no real need to rush Pavelec as he was not setting the world on fire in the AHL. But Don Waddell went through with the deal and got back a former first round pick Ivan Vishnevskiy who played part of one year for the Chicago Blackhawks before leaving for the KHL where he still plays. The fourth round pick turned into Ivan Telegin who has no stats for this year listed online and struggled with a hand infection last year in St. John's playing for the IceCaps. In all the return for Lehtonen does not deserve much criticism but the timing of the trade (Lehtonen eventually had to have another surgery before being healthy except for the odd groin injury) should draw criticism because Waddell sold low and lowered his potential return as a result.

After Lehtonen I looked at Marion Hossa. Hossa came to the Thrashers in an excellent deal for Waddell by trading a disgruntled Dany Heatley to the Ottawa Senators. When it became apparent in 2008 that Hossa was not going to re-sign with the Thrashers Waddell set forth to trade Hossa. there was a bidding war between two teams in the end; the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Waddell ultimately went with the Penguins and received Angelo Esposito who has since torn his ACL twice never had a season that measured up to his rookie season in the QMJHL where he played on a line with the now exhaled Radulov. If Waddell had instead chosen Montreal instead he would have received something along the lines of Alexei Emelin, a solid top four defence man, and Chris Higgins, a respectable top nine player, but alas it was not meant to be. The first round pick that was received in the trade turned into noted bust Dalton Leveille who is playing badly in the ECHL. And than there is injury prone Colby Armstrong who suffered from "Crosby can make anyone look good"Syndrome. He put up decent possession numbers in his role on the Canadiens fourth line last year and is now playing in Sweden. Of course Pascal Dupuis was also involved in that trade and is still with the Penguins even if Hossa is not.

The final trade I looked at was Kovalchuk to the New Jersey Devils. Note that Rick Dudley was the GM and made this trade. I am not going to include what the Devils had to give up due to penalties from the league for the illegal contract they tried to sign him to so there are fewer picks involved than if you look at it that way. The actual return was Johnny Oduya (who plays for Chicago and returned Winnipeg a second and third round pick), Niclas Bergfors (who was traded to the florida Panthers for Radek Dvorak in the Thrashers last season of existence), Patrice Cormier (who looks more suspect than prospect at this time), a first round pick that will be addressed later and a second round pick. Both these picks went to Chicago and were used on players who are not yet playing pro. Those picks are not of much matter though because the first round pick was used to acquire Byfuglien in a massive trade that the Thrashets did well in because Byfuglien is good. The Thrashers also traded for Andrew Ladd from Chicago the same year for Vishnevskiy and a second round pick the next year. That pick was Adam Clendening, a good defence man currently playing in the AHL.

As you can see if Don Waddell was never the GM of the Thrasher, there may have been more in the cupboards for the Jets when they came to Winnipeg. We do not know if Emelin would have some over like he did for the Canadiens if he was traded but Dudley's work ensured the Jets had a good captain and a good if not sometimes frustrating defence man.