Captain Kovalchuk

The NHL season is more than half way through their regular season and the Atlanta Thrashers just named their captain. Before the season started they named 5 players as Alternate Captains, but never named a Captain. Well on Sunday night at the 9th annual Thrashers Casino Night. Kovy, 25, was selected by the Thrashers first overall in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft and is the all-time franchise leader in games played (508), points (508), goals (269), assists (239), game-winning goals (33) and power play goals (98). He has been an Alternate Captain for the last two years. He becomes the seventh captain in team history and only the fifth Russian-born and trained player in league history to achieve this honor.
I think this a good move by the Thrashers organization in more ways than one. It is a nice reward for a guy that has grown into a great team player who has become a leader on the ice and in the locker room. Also, this gives Kovy a sense of ownership and pride and might just be the thing that keeps him in Atlanta once he becomes a free agent at the end of the season. We will have to wait and see if the move worked, but either way, it is an honor that Kovy deserves and seems genuinely happy and humbled to have the “C” on his jersey. Now maybe with a true captain, we can start winning more games than we have been lately and turn around the season.

Go Thrashers!