Chris Nichols

­Chris Nichols is Sportsnet.ca's fantasy hockey writer.

Fire & Ice has the latest word from this morning's practice for New Jersey, where new acquisition Ilya Kovalchuk skated with Dainius Zubrus and Jamie Langenbrunner. Good news for the latter two players, clearly, but keep in mind that the Devils aren't totally healthy yet and both Patrik Elias (concussion) and David Clarkson (leg) have the potential to figure into things before too long.

Elias was skating but was wearing a white jersey, so he may not be playing tonight. Either way, he's apparently very close to a return. He's someone that can play both wing and centre, but with the addition of a stud LW like Kovalchuk we may see Elias used at centre on that second line when he's fully up to speed. Brian Rolston is also capable of playing the pivot slot, although Jacques Lemaire was anxious to move him from centre to the wing headed into this season because - at the time - he felt that would better suit Rolston's shooting style of play.

Like I mentioned last night, we also shouldn't rule out the possibility of one of Zach Parise or Kovalchuk being moved to RW (like the Sharks have done with both Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley on the same line) either late in games or as a potential super line creation if Kovalchuk on L2 isn't working. Lemaire indicated he likes the two-line threat, but never say never...

"It makes you feel good," he said this morning of the trade. "I think he's a guy that can change a game, a player that can make other players, a strong athlete, good skater, a great shot. So, there's no doubt that he's going to make this team better. I talked a lot about having one line that is a threat when they're on the ice, but I think we'll be able to get two, which is good, like many other teams."

Anyway, here were all four line combos from this morning:

Zach Parise Travis Zajac Brian Rolston
Ilya Kovalchuk Dainius Zubrus Jamie Langenbrunner
Jay Pandolfo Rob Niedermayer Vladimir Zharkov
Andrew Peters Dean McAmmond Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond

The Devils host the Leafs tonight and Martin Brodeur will be between the pipes. Anssi Salmela, incidentally, who was included in the trade since the Devils gave up Johnny Oduya (along with Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier and a first rounder), is being paired with Mark Fraser off the bat on D.

Kovalchuk told Fire & Ice today that he's looking forward to playing for his new team.

"I'm very excited. This is the first time in my career that I've got a chance to play for a first-class organization that's won three Stanley Cups. You just look around the locker room and see guys like Martin Brodeur, who are legends in this game, and I'm very excited."

We'll see how things unfold in the coming weeks, but Kovalchuk will no doubt see plenty of ice time (regardless of line assignment) and oodles of power play minutes. His +/- was already hovering right around even before the trade, so going to a better defensive squad like Jersey will hopefully see that stat trend upward.

He and Parise are already used to seeing the top defensive checkers from the opposition, so with Jersey having them on separate lines for now that'll potentially mean more offensive looks for whichever of them is deemed the "secondary threat".

THE DEAL ITSELF
Ok, so we've got the immediate fantasy impact of the Jersey side of this deal covered headed into tonight's action. But did the Thrashers get enough for one of the best snipers in the game today?

Looking objectively at the talent-for-talent swap... of course not. But we really have to keep in mind that despite Kovalchuk allegedly repeatedly saying he wanted to remain with the Thrashers, his actions said otherwise. The beauty of unrestricted free agency is that the player has earned the right to make whatever contract demands he feels he can get away with and more power to him, but it seems a tad insincere to say you want to be with the team and then reject the kind of money they offered him.

Regardless, it's water under the bridge now. What's done is done. And can you really blame him for not wanting to be part of Atlanta's organization?

By having the situation unfold to what's relatively the last minute here with few trading days left until the deadline thanks to the Olympic trade freeze, Thrashers GM Don Waddell did a pretty decent job of getting what he could for someone who's likely just a rental for a few months and into the playoffs. Waddell has been getting roasted pretty badly in the media since last night, but given what little bargaining power he had for a player that teams could only count on for a short period of time... he did what he could to get tangible assets for his organization. It's a legitimate argument to say he never should have let it come to this point, but c'est la vie.

Niclas Bergfors is clearly the immediate key for Atlanta offensively and his 27 points currently rank him fifth in rookie scoring. The first round pick from 2005 only has one point since the start of January, but inconsistencies with rookies are par for the course. The Swede should become a fairly productive point-producer over time with the Thrashers, although as of this writing it remains to be seen on which line he'll play. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution noted that both Bergfors and Oduya were not going to make it to the morning skate today. They apparently will be available for tonight's game, for what that's worth.

Remember that the Thrashers currently have Bryan Little, Maxim Afinogenov and Colby Armstrong inside of the top nine on the right side. With a gaping hole on the left flank with Kovalchuk's departure, someone will have to flip wings. Evander Kane and Todd White (who is also a C) are also in the mix here, with Nik Antropov, Rich Peverley and either Jim Slater or Marty Reasoner as the other centre. Slava Kozlov has been a healthy scratch of late.

Oduya has more offensive upside than he's shown this season (four points) and he'll add depth to Atlanta's defensive pairings. He's also under contract for another two seasons. With Pavel Kubina and Tobias Enstrom on one pairing and Zach Bogosian/ Ron Hainsey as the other, we may see Oduya paired with Boris Valabik. Kubina is also a UFA this summer, so the addition of Oduya could mean Atlanta lets Kubina go to free up more money to spend on a forward in free agency.

We'll see the Thrashers play the Caps tonight and if the new guys are in the line-up, you'll see where they slotted in with the live blogging.