Question: Which Russian NHL player helped lead the Atlanta Thrashers to their first playoff appearance?

The 1970 Miami Dolphins season was the team's fifth, and first in the National Football League (NFL).  The 1970 season marked the team's first winning season, and their first playoff appearance.  The 1970 season was also the first season under head coach Don Shula, as he would be the head coach of the franchise until 1995, a span of 25 years as head coach.  The team improved on their 3-10-1 record from 1969, and finished the season 10-4, second in the newly aligned AFC East to only eventual champion Baltimore.  The Dolphins would get off to a fresh start, starting 4-1 before losing 3 straight to even their record at 4-4.  However, Miami would whip off 6 straight to end the season and clinch their first ever winning season and playoff berth.  In their first playoff game, they lost 21-14 in the Divisional Round to the Oakland Raiders, ending Miami's season. <SEP> The 2011–12 Winnipeg Jets season was the 13th season for the National Hockey League franchise and the first in Winnipeg, Manitoba, after 12 seasons as the Atlanta Thrashers.  The franchise played in Atlanta since the 1999–2000 NHL season, and relocated to Winnipeg following the conclusion of the 2010–11 NHL season.  The relocation of the Thrashers to Winnipeg was confirmed by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on May 31, 2011, and approved by the NHL Board of Governors on June 21, 2011.  The 2011 season also marks the first appearance of the Winnipeg Jets name in the NHL since the previous franchise moved from Winnipeg to Phoenix in 1996.  At the end of the year, the team failed to qualify for a playoff spot. <SEP>  He debuted in the Vysshaya Liga with Spartak Moscow, before continuing his career in the National Hockey League (NHL).  Drafted first overall in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft by the Atlanta Thrashers, he began his NHL career with them in 2001–02.  After eight seasons with the Thrashers, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils in February 2010, and later signed a 15-year, $100 million contract during the off-season after a 17-year, $102 million was rejected by the league as being an attempt to circumvent salary cap restrictions.  Three years later, he retired from the NHL on July 11, 2013, having played 11 seasons.  Kovalchuk is fifth all-time in overtime goals scored (14), and 18th all time in goals per game average (.511).  He is the seventh highest scoring Russian in NHL history. Ilya Valeryevich Kovalchuk (Russian: Илья́ Вале́рьевич Ковальчу́к ; born April 15, 1983) is a Russian professional ice hockey left winger currently playing for SKA Saint Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League. <SEP>  With NHL superstars Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk and a healthy goaltender, Kari Lehtonen, the Thrashers clinched the first playoff berth in franchise history following the Toronto Maple Leafs' 7–2 loss to the New York Rangers on April 1. The 2006–07 Atlanta Thrashers season began with the highest expectations in franchise history, even with the off-season loss of their second-leading scorer, Marc Savard, to the Boston Bruins.  Veteran centers Steve Rucchin, Niko Kapanen and Jon Sim were acquired in hopes help fill the loss of Savard.  The Thrashers had a highly disappointing playoff series against the New York Rangers, as they were swept with losses of 4–3, 2–1, 7–0, and 4–2.