Tomatoes at those at whom tomatoes should be thrown

With Kovalchuk being traded there really isn't a lot of joy in Red Mudville right now. And a lot of people are dumping on Waddell yet again. "He'll never get what Kovy is worth in a trade. He just isn't capable." etc. But the thing that everyone saying that seems to be overlooking is that there is no such thing as a fair trade involving a superstar. They're like goaltenders in that regard: there simply is no equivalent value in terms of skaters.

So Waddell getting what he got for Heatley was phenomenal: he actually got back a player who could be classed as a superstar. However, getting what he got for Hossa was probably about par for the course, even though it effectively trimmed the fat out of Pittsburgh's pipeline. Waddell has had some real stinkers in his time: Stefan (but at the time he was the consensus; had it been almost any other GM it would've been put entirely on the player) for starters, goalie carousels for years, Kari Lehtonen's injured (and out of shape?) self taken way too high in the draft (see also: DiPietro, Rick. My point here is that at least he wasn't signed to a ludicrously lucrative contract), Coburn-for-Zhitnik (again, a good move at the time: Zhitnik actually helped put the Thrashers back into the playoffs in a way that Coburn wasn't, whether due to coaching [Hartley always did seem to favor veterans even when they'd outlived their usefulness...] or his own faults as a young guy who'd had his brains scrambled a bit by Mike Rupp in a fight he should've declined) to merit pause for thought and even consideration for termination of employment. Hossagate gets lumped in there, but it doesn't belong there. Again, there quite simply IS NO EQUIVALENT TO THE VALUE OF A SUPERSTAR IN TERMS OF OTHER SKATERS EXCEPT ANOTHER SUPERSTAR.

Don's a great guy from everything you can read about him from people who've actually met him. He seems to have a very affable personality and is a very personable guy. He doesn't get upset when asked a question he has stated he will not answer. He hasn't ever curtly said "Next question." when asked an uncomfortable question by a disgruntled fan in a Town Hall meeting. He even takes the time to talk with fans even when he's clearly on business. I've honestly never hear or read of a time he got huffy with a fan and told them to leave or left them himself. And many people agree that on the whole he's been pretty good with the money end of things for the Thrashers (even though the team seems to be leaking oil like Exelby would be after playing two and a half minutes and then having the puck iced) and has competently run the Atlanta Thrashers from the business side of things. However, he has more critics than Ian Laperrierre has bends in his nose when it comes to the hockey side of things. Those critics will often say things like "He didn't even have any measurable success in the IHL. He can't possibly be successful in the NHL, even if he were handed an all-decade team." and it is somewhat true, he's never really had much measurable success (read: PLAYOFFS/CHAMPIONSHIPS) but he has built a good team from next to nothing twice in Thrashers history, and this last time it took only a couple of years. And as Daculafan said, the owners deserve a very large portion of the blame for these things. I feel like Waddell is at least a slightly above-average NHL GM who has an ownership group that is so piss-poor at everything they do (except in-fighting in court or almost anything Atlanta Hawks) that they bring him down so much, he could probably build a consistent playoff-caliber team with a solid and stable ownership group. And so with that in mind, I say let's see how the Atlanta Thrashers look in the Post-Kovalchuk Era before calling for Waddell's head.

To me, Don Waddell has just always seemed like the Dutch kid with his thumb in the dyke.

HEY-oh!!