The Thrashers have already been very active (Kovalchuk, Lehtonen, Oystrick) in the last month but other players (Kozlov, Armstrong, Afinogenov) could be moved before the Wednesday 3pm deadline. Who might the Thrashers target in terms of acquiring? Yesterday I suggested Wolski (COL) as a trade target.
What if a team called up and made a great offer for Maxim Afinogenov who is likely to depart this summer? The Thrashers would need to restock their scoring wingers. One guy who has not been mentioned a lot is Cory Stillman of Florida. I suspect that Stillman could be landed for a modest price. He's not fast, but has goal scorers hands and he is not afraid to stand in the crease area during a power play. He might make a nice addition to the power play unit.
A second possible trade target is Marek Svatos of Colorado. Svatos put together a nice 30 goal season after the lockout but has fallen on hard times in subsequent seasons. He struggled to get ice time and this year he has struggled to find the net. A bit of a project, but if the price is right he might benefit from a change of scenery.
Big Picture: The Thrashers are in the playoff hunt and are playing a very exciting brand of hockey since Kovalchuk was dealt. But I have a hard time seeing the present roster going too far in the playoffs, so it makes little sense to expend precious resources this particular trade deadline. On the other hand, just making the playoffs would be an important step forward for this franchise and adding a player like Stillman (or Wolski) might help in that effort.
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