Now this is a tasty morsel, served up by the Toronto Sun. Yeah, yeah, I know. Toronto. Rumors. Whatever. But as the folks at TMZ might say, rumors make the world go ’round. So let’s entertain the notion for a moment.

The chatter is the Atlanta Thrashers are going to send veteran Mathieu Schneider to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for winger Maxim Afinogenov. Buffalo wants a blue-liner and hasn’t been able to give away Afinogenov because no other team wants to pick up his $3.5-million salary. (Toronto Sun, 01-18-2009)

I think I’d be fairly excited if this deal went down. Afinogenov is in a complete funk — for whatever reason — in Buffalo. One thing is almost certain, he could hardly do worse in Atlanta. As for Schneider, he’s a goner by the trade deadline anyway. Like Kovalchuk, Afinogenov has the ability to electrify. The Thrashers could use a jolt or two.

Question to you: Afinogenov in Thrashers’ blue?