Atlanta Business Daily

How can Atlanta stop a team from signing Kovalchuck to a long term deal?

I read that if Kovy was to get traded that Atlanta would not allow any discussions for a extension. Is this possible? If it is how is it possible? Atlanta has no control over who signs Kovy after he is traded so how can they not allow any discussions for an extension?

Public Comments

1. if kovy gets traded atlanta cant stop anything thats it..he will get traded because otherwise he'll sign somewhere else and they will have no one to replace him
2. What you likely read is that they will not allow teams to work out an extension with him PRIOR to trading for him.......some teams may be willing to trade for him with the caveat that it isn't a rental and that they can work out an extension contract first.......in order for this to happen (since he is still a Thrasher) Atlanta would have to grant permission.
3. Don Waddell still believes he can Kovalchuk, and he has refused all teams requests to talk to his agent. They've agreed to a 9 yr, $81MM deal.....Kovalchuk just wants it front loaded to the maximum ($11.62MM for the first 5 years) while Atlanta refuses to pay more than the cap hit at that level. Because they can't agree on that...Kovy refuses to sign....but he says he doesn't want to leave Atlanta.