The Devils In the Details

The tumultuous saga that is Ilya Kovalchuk's career took a new twist last night. Shortly after we learn that the Russian sniper turned down a 12 year $100+ million deal w/the Thrashers because of their inability to win despite his scoring prowess. Then, the team from the ATL sends him to Jersey for a pretty decent return. Niclas Bergfors, a rather slight Swede that has shown some scoring touch in the minors, Johnny Oduya, another Swede D-man (am I missing something or is Hotlanta a hot-bed for the Swedes?), a prospect that is suspended for the rest of this season and most importantly a first round pick (though this is rumored to be unspecified and I'm not sure how hard it is to get the facts straight.) Naturally the Devils have positioned this as a win now or else move since it's unlikely that Ilya will remain in NJ beyond this year unless the Devs upon up the coffers to retain the Soviet's services since there are rumblings that he is entertaining offers to return to the Motherland.