Every week during the second intermission of the CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada broadcast, they regularly have their “Hotstove” (Source:CBC.ca) segment, where trades and trade rumors are discussed. In last night’s edition they analyzed the Ilya Kovalchuk trade by Don Waddell of the Atlanta Thrashers to the New Jersey Devils.
The discussion was between host Ron MacLean, Pierre LeBrun, and Elliotte Friedman in studio with Mike Milbury via satellite from Washington.
The very fact that the CBC uses the opinion’s of Mike Milbury as an “expert” voice based on his previous role as GM of the New York Islanders is a joke in my eyes.
Here’s a quick summary of “Mad Mike Milbury” and his handy work with Ilses.. (Source: Wikipedia.com)
“He is a well-known figure in the National Hockey League for his controversial (and often quotable) style, as well as for his penchant for blockbuster trades.
During several of the years that Milbury served as Islanders GM, the team’s ownership mandated that he operate the team on an austere budget. In 1999 he was forced to trade star scorer Zigmund Palffy because team owners no longer wanted to pay his multi-million dollar contract.
However, Milbury has also been criticized for the many decisions he made in which payroll or orders for upper management were not factors. Many young players and prospects that Milbury traded away went on to have distinguished careers, often eclipsing those of the players he received in return. He has traded away defensemen Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Bryan Berard, Eric Brewer, Darius Kasparaitis, and Bryan McCabe; goalies Roberto Luongo and Tommy Salo, as well as forwards Olli Jokinen, Todd Bertuzzi, Tim Connolly, and Raffi Torres. Milbury has also come under fire for his draft day decisions such as choosing Rick DiPietro first overall in 2000 over Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik; as well as his decision to include the 2001 second overall draft pick (Jason Spezza) as part of the Alexei Yashin trade.
In June 2006, Milbury stepped down as Islanders GM to accept a position as Senior Vice President of Charles Wang’s sports holdings. In an appearance on Mike and the Mad Dog, Wang did not challenge a suggestion from the hosts that he “fired” Milbury. Milbury resigned from his Senior VP job in May 2007. He said that he missed making hockey-related decisions and would be open to a hockey operations job in another organization.”
You have to realize that this is television after all, and Mike does have a loud opinion. It’s no accident that he usually goes first with his out-spoken opinions, only to be slammed down by the rest of the panel. You can see for yourself around the 2:10 mark when LeBrun says “my opinion probably doesn’t matter, I wasn’t a GM like you Mike…” and you can see Friedman snickering at the sarcasm, just like the rest of us were snickering at home at the back-handed insult.
It really doesn’t matter what point Milbury’s trying to make or how legit it might be, I always find myself opposed to his opinion, like somehow I’ll find myself guilty of trading away all that youth in the Isle by association.
That said, I think he was trying to say that Waddel waited to long, essentially limiting Kovalchuk to being a rental player to prospective trade partners. I’m not sure what difference it would’ve made if he made the deal in August vs February, being as EVERYONE KNOWS that regardless of where Ilya Kovalchuk is playing come July 1st, HE WILL test free agency to try and maximize his profits, making him a rental player no matter what Don Waddell did or didn’t do.
Personally, I found it surprising that Lou Lamoriello of the New Jersey Devils would make a deal for a rental player, it’s not really his style, but he really didn’t give up much considering the potential impact a guy like Kovalchuk could provide for the Devils. On the other hand, if you take a look at Kovalchuk’s playoff record (which is limited of course) he has played in 4 games, all loses, with 1 goal and 2 points total.
I think we’ll have to wait and see if Ilya Kovalchuk can produce for the Devils in the playoffs before we can really say who got the better of this deal or what mistakes were made, Milbury’s opinion not withstanding.