When the Thrashers traded Ilya Kovalchuk on February 4 to the New Jersey Devils for RW Niclas Bergfors, D Johnny Oduya, F Patrice Cormier and a first-round pick, many thought Thrashers’ GM Waddell was giving up on the season. A few days later, Waddell traded  away underachieving and oft-injured goalie Kari Lehtonen to Dallas for defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy and a 4th round draft pick.

Then a couple days before the trade deadline, Waddell acquired big forward Evgeny Artyukhin from Anaheim for Nathan Oystrick and a conditional 2011 draft choice before acquiring Clarke MacArthur from Buffalo right before the deadline.

The Thrashers now sit in the 8th and final playoff spot in the East (tied with NY Rangers and Montreal with 66 points each), and have gone 4-1-2 since the Kovalchuk trade.

Bergfors has been on fire since heading to Atlanta, scoring 5 goals in 7 games, while Artyukhin and MacArther both scored in their first game with the team. Meanwhile, Oduya has played steady defense, accumulating 3 assists in 7 games with a plus-4 rating.

It appears that Waddell’s smart moves leading up to the trade deadline could put his team into the playoffs for the first time since 2006-07.

First of all, let me just say that the two-week Olympic hockey tournament in Vancouver had some of the most exciting hockey games I have ever seen. With that being said, the NHL doesn’t belong in the Olympics.

In 1980, the Miracle on Ice took place with players that had been developing chemistry for months prior to Lake Placid. It is hard for a team to develop chemistry when they convene a day or two before their first game of the tournament, as is the case when NHLers play in the Olympics.

As exciting as it was to watch the gold medal game between USA and Canada, it was just an All-Star Game that actually mattered. I’d rather see national teams comprised of players who have been training together for months come together as a nation to capture a gold medal. Let’s face it, while obviously they would love to win a medal at the Olympics, most NHL players are more focused on winning the Stanley Cup.

As Kurt Russell said in the movie Miracle, “now that we have Dream Teams, we seldom ever get to dream.”

As long as NHLers continue to play in the Olympics, there will never be another miracle.

Chimera is in his second year of a four year, $7.5 million contract that pays him $1.875 million per year.

Clark, 33, missed most of the past two seasons with injuries, but had a break out year in 2006-07 when he compiled 30 goals. Chimera, 30, had 17 points this season for Columbus.

What the deal mainly comes down to is trading Chimera for Clark. The Blue Jackets win because they need to add leadership and defense to its struggling team, while the Capitals need to clear cap space to sign its young players and make a move at the trade deadline.

The NHL continues to make strides in bringing more exclusive content online as they launched the new NHL.com VideoCenter today that features HD video and three new channels.

“NHL.com is the first place fans look to see the best game highlights, live and feature videos, and original programming focused on the NHL,” said Andre Mika, NHL Senior Vice President for Creative.  “NHL VideoCenter expands the volume of video content offered on NHL.com, and greatly enhances and streamlines the user interface, creating the Web’s best destination for NHL video.”

The new channels include the NHL Press Room, which includes live pre and post-game segments from teams around the league, and NHL Library, which includes an extensive archive of all NHL content.

But perhaps the coolest new feature is the Shootout channel. Fans can currently watch shootouts from every game this season starting in December. Whether you’re a fan of the shootout or not, watching these videos is lots of fun. Plus, just think how much easier it is now for goalies to study shooters!

More expanded features include better search results, faster loading times, and expanded screen size.

The debate continues to rage about changing the NHL points system to include three points for a win, two points for an overtime win, and one point for an overtime loss.

Well, an easier way to solve everything would be to switch to a strict wins/losses system.

Revolutionary, I know.

“We should reward excellence, teams going for it and trying to win,” one NHL executive told ESPN.com last week. “We shouldn’t reward teams doing the rope-and-dope and waiting for overtime to get at least a point.”

Exactly! How about giving a team zero points for losing in overtime? The incentive for getting a ‘W’ instead of an ‘L’ should be enough motivation for the players, don’t you think? Plus, it would reward teams that consistently find ways to win, as opposed to a team with 20 overtime losses that would still get 20 points for those losses. Is there really that big of a big difference between losing after 60 minutes and losing after, say, 63 minutes?

For example, the top four teams in the East are Washington (18-5-6, 42 pts), Pittsburgh (20-9-1, 41 pts), Boston (15-9-5, 35 pts), and New Jersey (19-7-1, 39 pts). With a wins/losses format, the top three teams would be Pittsburgh (20-10), Washington (18-11), Buffalo (16-10), and New Jersey (19-8).

The shootout was created to stop games from ending in ties. By changing to a wins/losses standings format, wins will finally be rewarded. While every other pro sport goes by wins and losses, non-hockey fans continue to be confused by our already-confusing sport.

It’s time for the NHL to finally switch to an easy format that rewards winners and punishes losers.

Tlusty, who has scored 10 goals and 10 assists in 74 NHL games, will become an restricted free agent after this season, and amid rumors that he threatened to go to the KHL if he remained in the AHL this season, it was almost certain that he would not be wearing the blue and white in Toronto next season.

Paradis, meanwhile, has registered 19 points (8 goals, 11 assists) and 43 penalty minutes in 26 games with the Shawnigan Cataractes of the QMJHL this season. He has not signed an entry-level NHL deal yet.

At first glance, it appears the Leafs won this trade. However, time and time again underachieving forwards have been able to thrive in Carolina, and Tlusty should expect to see some significant playing time, possibly on the top two lines.

If both teams remain at the bottom of the Eastern Conference in the coming months, expect more moves to solidify the Leafs’ future and for the Canes to find more scoring.

Last season, Gonchar missed the first 56 games because of a shoulder injury. During that time, the Penguins went 27-24-5 and slid to 10th place in the East. After his return — which also coincided with former head coach Michel Therrien’s firing — the Penguins went 18-4-4 en route to a 4th place finish while Gonchar racked up 19 points in 25 games, then added 14 points in 22 playoff games while battling a knee injury suffered at the hands of Alex Ovechkin.

It’s really no question that Gonchar has been the Penguins’ best all-around defenseman the past few years, so the question now is: how much will the Penguins falter while Gonchar is out?

Last year, rookie Alex Goligoski filled in for Gonchar, so look for him to have an even bigger role while Gonchar is out. In 9 games this season, Goligoski already has 7 points and is a team-leading +9 while paired with Jay McKee on defense.

Kris Letang will also need to step up, as it appears coach Dan Bylsma will be using the team’s two young offensive defensemen in multiple situations to cover for the loss of Gonchar. Veteran defenseman Martin Skoula, who has yet to play a game this season, should also help fill-in for the loss of Gonchar.

Unlike last season, the Penguins are better equipped to handle the loss of their top defenseman, but with Gonchar eating up around 25 minutes of ice time per game, there will be a large gap to fill on the blueline.

Toledo, which returns to the ECHL this year as the Walleye, saw an average of 6,888 fans per game — or about the same as the Coyotes’ attendance for their second game of the year.

Elmira had a standing-room-only crowd of 4,128 for its opener on Friday while South Carolina had a sellout crowd of 6,812 to watch the Stingrays raise their record third Kelly Cup championship banner on Friday.

Stockton, Florida, Cincinnati, Kalamazoo and Wheeling will have their home openers this weekend. Look for the attendance numbers to remain strong as Stockton has led the league in attendance the past four seasons, while Cincinnati has raised attendance 68 percent since 2006-07 and Wheeling saw a 3 percent increase last season. Kalamazoo, which joins the ECHL this year, averaged 3,190 fans per game last year in the IHL.

The Coyotes sold out their home opener thanks to a $25 ticket promotion, but their second home game of the season only drew an announced crowd of 6,899.

The Coyotes are hoping fans will “Join the Pack” during five home games this season — the first of which is October 24 vs. Los Angeles — to be rewarded for their team’s performance on the ice. Fans will be given a voucher for a free ticket upon entrance to the designated “We Win, You Win” game.

While the Coyotes may be engaging in similar tactics as minor league hockey teams, which have instituted a similar promotion for Guaranteed Win Nights, the idea is a great way to generate buzz and get fans actively interested in the success of their team. With the Coyotes off to a great start at 4-2 and in first place in the Pacific Division, fans in the desert should be getting more than a few free tickets this season.

This hurts many Center Ice and GameCenter Live subscribers who bought those packages primarily to watch their favorite team that just so happens to receive a lot of coverage on the NHL Network.

Case in point: the Pittsburgh Penguins. They’ve already been on the NHL Network four times this season. Pens fans outside of Pittsburgh who do not have access to the NHL Network, but paid over $150 for either of those packages have been left in the dark when it comes to following their favorite team.

NHL Network is not a staple for many cable subscribers in the United States yet. Although Comcast just started including NHL Network in its Digital Classic package, many cable companies require upgrades to other sports programming packages to get the channel.

While the NHL should be commended for showing college hockey and NHL preseason games on NHL Network, they should still consider the fans who pay the price to watch their favorite teams on Center Ice and GameCenter Live.