Looks Like Kiwi Will Be Russia-Bound After All

According to Ben Wright…Joel Kwiatkowski will be playing in Russia after all.

Regarding the Great Kiwi/KHL Conflict, Thrashers’ Executive Vice President and GM Don Waddell said, “After agreeing to terms on a contract with Joel Kwiatkowski, we learned that he had already committed to a team in the KHL. Therefore we have rescinded our offer and have been told that Joel will honor his agreement with St. Petersburg.”

So…that puts an end to that little situation.

Prospect Camp Opens Today

Also going on today…the start of Prospect Development Camp. Here is the schedule of events that will take place between now and Wednesday.

In advance of this, Thrashers first-round draft pick Evander Kane made the media rounds yesterday. If you missed them, here is is the interview on 680 The Fan…and the one on Fox 5’s Good Day Atlanta.

I’ll be making the trek over to Duluthland tomorrow afternoon to check out the young-un. I hope to see many of you there as well.

Show Me The Money

According to hockeybuzz.com, the Thrashers’ current cap hit is about $42.3 million. However, that figure will climb higher once we come to know the salaries of Kari Lehtonen, Colby Armsrong, Boris Valabik and Chris Thorburn.

If Kari gets a contract somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.5 mil per year and Armstrong…who opted for salary arbitration last weekend…gets about $2 million per year, that alone would bring Atlanta’s cap hit to about $47.8 mil. Add in Valabik’s and Thorney’s and it’ll just get that much closer to the $50 million mark.

Did you ever think you’d see the day?

EDIT: As Toby points out…those numbers still reflect Garnet Exelby and Colin Stuart’s salaries. They now belong to the Toronto Mable Leafs. That would knock about $2 million off the projected numbers.