Ilya Kovalchuk has been the center of attention in the NHL for some time. He doesn’t want to be a distraction to the team, but at this point, he has been a distraction for the fans. Everybody is trying to predict where he’ll end up or if he’ll stay in Atlanta.

According to NHL.com the GM of the Atlanta Thrashers, Don Waddell, told Ilya Kovalchuk to expect a trade either within the next few hours or the next few days. This would end all of the Kovalchuk drama that has been unfolding since the beginning of the season.

There have been a lot of rumors surrounding Kovalchuk. I actually wrote a post about a week ago that talked about some of the rumors that have been floating around. I have heard about 30 different rumors regarding Kovi, one for every single team in the NHL. There was also another rumor that said he was going to go to the KHL in Russia, which had already made him an offer.

However, at this point there are a few key teams that are interested. The Boston Bruins, LA Kings, New York Rangers, and Chicago Blackhawks are all frontrunners, however, it looks like Boston and LA are the two that are most likely.

Los Angeles isn’t having a bad year offensively, but every little bit helps. Kovi would give them some more goals, and would give the fans a little bit more to cheer about. They are in a playoff race right now. They are fifth in the Western Conference and have been thrown up in the standings from some solid recent play. Kovalchuk would all but assure them a spot in the playoffs.

Boston needs Kovi more than LA does. They are 28th in the NHL in offense and badly need a player that can put the puck in the net. Offense is the only thing stopping them from making a run to the playoffs. Kovalchuk would give them the talent they need to stop some of these low scoring games.

New York and Chicago don’t really look as likely as LA and Boston, but they still have their uses for Kovalchuk.

The Rangers would use Kovalchuk and Marian Gaborik, who has been the biggest producer in New York this season. They could use another all star on the team to spread out the scoring. A team with two of the league’s best goal scorers would be worth watching come playoff time.

The Blackhawk are already pretty much assured a playoff spot and would be using Kovi to make a Stanley Cup run. They already have a potent offense that can score a ton of goals on just about any team, but another player like Kovalchuk would be a strong asset. With him on the team, they would most likely stack their roster and overload other teams with a ton of goal scoring threats.

No matter where Kovi ends up, he’s going to be important. You can bet that every team would be willing to shell over some talent to get him on their team. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

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