No decision by Kovalchuk, Kings re-interested in Gagne?

The delicate dance of free agency continues with Ilya Kovalchuk. On a day that started with his agent Jay Grossman announcing on Twitter that a decision was coming today for where Kovalchuk would sign, then evolved into the New York Post saying that it was going to be the Devils signing him for seven years and then backing off of that story fast has turned out to be absolutely nothing instead.

Ilya Kovalchuk choices have been narrowed down, details to be finalized but no announcement tonight....

Thank goodness today was a holiday for everyone in the United States or else some serious productivity in the New York tri-state area might’ve been lost waiting to see if the Devils or Islanders were going to be landing the most coveted free agent in the NHLs salary cap era. A funny thing about the Islanders supposed involvement in this whole thing though is that they apparently wanted a short-term deal with Kovalchuk (subscription needed), and not the hotly-rumored ten-year max contract.

While all that has gone on, the other team that at one point had interest in Kovalchuk, the Kings, decided to speak up today to say that they might not be against trying to obtain Simon Gagne from the Flyers. The twist there being that they had news come out that they were out of the hunt for Gagne. ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun sums it up succinctly for us via Twitter.

Now we’re told the Kings may still possibly have some interest in Simon Gagne... confusing. Like this day has been.

As the wind blows, and Kovalchuk’s news continues to not actually occur, situations with teams seeking to go with their post-Kovalchuk Plan B change too. What’s the most likely scenario playing out here for all parties involved? Tweaking the media and the blogosphere and the fans to help stir the reactions one way or another and do some negotiating through the media.

A leak here, a whisper there, a supposed contract offer everywhere and you’ve got yourself the perfect storm for figuring out just where and how fans and other teams will respond to things. The Kings say they’re out of the running for good (and LeBrun believes them) and reports of their re-interest in Simon Gagne surface just an hour or so after Kovalchuk’s agent Jay Grossman says a decision hasn’t been made about where his client is headed. Paint me as cynical here if you’d like, but these things don’t appear to be much of a coincidence to me.