But that's the thing; shouldn't the fact that Atlanta could never win anything building around him tell you something?
Great teams are built strong up the middle (center) and on defense. That is where your money needs to be spent. There's a reason that the game's premier goal-scoring wingers (Nash, Heatley, Kovalchuk, Ovechkin) have no cups. Ovechkin may deserve to be in his own category as he's a tier above those other three, but I just don't believe 15-20% of your entire cap space should be spent on a winger. The idea is, a good center makes the whole line better. Look at what Crosby can do for guys like Guerin, Kunitz, Armstrong, Talbot... and look at what d-men like Chris Pronger and Rob Neidermayer can do.
As such, I'd love Kovalchuk at a 6.5-7 cap hit, as he's a gamebreaker, and the Kings look very organizationally deep at defense and center. But 9-10 cap hit he wants? No way. Only Ovechkin makes that much, and he's a much better player than Kovi is. Malkin and Crosby are the only other players making 8+, and they deserve it, too; they are game changing centers.
