Back from a Holiday

Hey folks...I'm back from my little holiday from posting. Of course, while I was gone the hockey season has carried on and so has the December doldrums that the Thrashers have been in, with losses to Boston, Tampa and New Jersey.

The Thrashers so far this month have plummeted in the standings and have struggled to scrape together any win. Actually we've only posted 4 of those so far this month. Along with the 1 overtime loss that's a total of 9 points out of a possible 28 that have so far been on the table. To say that it's not good is an understatement, couple this with the Kovy speculation and now you've got Jeff Schultz (who knows next to nothing about Atlanta hockey) saying that the reason that Kovy's contract isn't signed is because he doesn't think the team has improved after all.

Tonight we face Boston again for the last game of the year. Is it important to win? I believe the answer is a resounding HELL YES!! For many reasons, not just the standings. This team's confidence has to be wavering and they could use a positive result in the win column to restore a flagging confidence.

The fact is that the game played on Monday night versus the New Jersey Devils may have been one of the best overall performances of the team thus far this season. We did just about everything right, but when you're up against Martin Brodeur, arguably the best goalie EVER, you have to be damn near perfect. The fact is that we did everything we could to win that game and the players left everything on the ice. I was disappointed with the result, but for once this season I can say, I wasn't disappointed in the effort.

Of course the other reason we need the win is all about the standings. We're currently in 8th place, which means that if the season ended today we'd be in the playoffs. The thing is though, the season doesn't end now...we've still got a bunch left to play and this team has got to turn it around and there's no time to waste. With the Rangers, Bolts, Islanders and Panthers all nipping at our heels it's time we got busy and starting distancing ourselves from the pack. We're only 5 points out of 5th place. That's how tight this conference is.

So what's my prediction for the rest of the season? That's hard to say and it depends on a lot of things. I think that Kovy will re-sign, when I'm not sure. I'd like to be pleasantly surprised and see it announced during Casino night, as that's an event that Waddell usually loves when it comes to big news. The team will finish in 8th place in the conference and will make the playoffs, though I think that won't be decided until the last game or two of the season. Once the playoffs start it's anybodies guess, I'd like to think that we at least win some games, if not the first series at least.

I think that Kari will be back after the Olympic break and will re-assert himself as the team's starter. I'm not sure what that's going to mean for the other two goalies...we'll have to tune in and see. Kari has hit the ice in practice now and even traveled with the team over this last road trip. The word was that he still had pain after his first surgery but there was no pain after the second. If that's the real deal and perhaps his back was part of his other problems maybe this is what he needed to propel him to fulfilling the potential that the club has always seen in him.

We've still got a whole bunch of games left to play, let's see what we get, either way I'm glad I'll be a part of it.

Believe in Blueland

It's Christmas...It's The Hockey Way...It's Christmas the Hockey Way

Well Santa has landed and off loaded his goods. I hope that everybody got what they were wishing for. I, for one, sure did as Santa brought me tickets for Section 310 Row G Seat 14 for every home game for the remainder of the season, along with other goodies.

John Anderson hopefully got from Santa a manual on how to get his team to play a full 60 minute game each night. Don Waddell was hoping that Santa would deliver a signed Kovy Contract. Todd White still can't get a goal even when Santa delivers it. 

It's the 1st Day and it's the last of this installment and this has been pretty fun...so here goes to the last one and perhaps after this I can get back to writing about the team's performance on the ice. Thanks for everybody who tuned in for all the installments to this little series I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed bringing it to you.

1 Playoff Series - That's right only 1 but I have a feeling things are about to change. The team this year has looked far superior to anything that has heretofore been put on the ice since the last playoff team and honestly has started better than the last time we went to the playoffs. The team may be in a little bit of a slump at the moment but never to fear this team usually picks it up in the late Winter and early Spring.

#1 Moose - Johan Hedberg...the Moose...the Moosinator. Moose is emerging as the go to goalie for this team with his solid performances on the ice, his experience and cool composure have helped propel this team into the playoff picture and has given Atlanta some of the respect it deserves. John Anderson has been trying to start Pavelec lately, but as he's been struggling on ice the coach  turns again and again to the veteran goalie from Sweden.

Next To The Last Day...Day 2..The Hockey Way

It's Christmas Eve folks..it's also day 2 of The Hockey Way here at FanThrashtic. As we're getting close to the end it's getting tighter to find those juicy stats...so let's look in the locker and see what we can't pull out.

Team +/- Rating of 2 - The team has a combined +/- of 2 that ranks the team 13th in the league but ahead of more than half the league. Washington ranks first with a team +26 and of course Carolina this year ranks last with a -35. Atlanta and Washington are the only two teams in the Southeast Division that are posting positive numbers in this statistic.

2 Shorthanded Goals - Chris Thorburn leads the team in this stat with 2 shorthanded goals. Thorburn's excellent play on the PK has given him more ice time this year and he's made the most of it, garnering a temporary promotion to the 1st line in a recent Anderson line shuffle.

Tomorrow will be Christmas and the last day of all of these stats...and I want to take this opportunity to thank all 5 of my readers for continuing to tune in on my blog. I've enjoyed writing for everybody who does stop by and I want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas and hope that the upcoming year for you brings health, prosperity and happiness. To all my fellow bloggers that I've come to know; Bill Tiller, Virginia, The Blueland Chronicle guys, Mr Speaker and his much better half K-Belle, HildyMac, All the guys at BWA; Falconer, Aaron, Tim, Blueland Roar and Thrasher 411 writers Sean Grace and Lisa and Rose and all the great fans I've met too....Hodge and Sarah, Paminkski and Mr Paminski and all the crew from T.J's thank you so much for the commaradarie and fun..here's to a very merry Christmas..a Happy New Year and the Playoffs

3rd Day of Christmas...The Hockey Way

Today marks the 3rd day of Christmas and as the time draws closer to that special day we here at FanThrashtic continue to countdown with little factoids about the team.

The team's success so far this season has come from several areas overall that have combined to help us get to where we are now. Goaltending, the goalies have done a superior job up to now and have stolen several games for us. Special Teams, the special teams play, especially the PK have been marvelous this year and only lately has the PK's out of this world play begun to fall more to earth. The offense has also been cranking out goals at an alarming rate, quite literally almost an elite rate.

3rd  in the League in Goals Per Game Average 3.20 - The potent Atlanta offense has, of course, been fueled by captain Ilya Kovalchuk and his 20 goals but he's also chipped in for 17 assists making him the team points leader. Behind him, Rich Peverley with 12 goals and 21 helpers and then a phoenix from Buffalo. Max Afinogenov who has rekindled his game and possibly the joy of playing hockey once again by moving from the tundra of Buffalo to the warm embrace of Atlanta. Nik Antropov, who is finally heating up, now has 9 goals and 22 assists.

The team assist leader though comes from the defense,  in Tobias Enstrom with 26 helpers. The defense in all has been responsible for 23 goals and 63 assists. The large numbers of goals scored per game helps to offset, on most nights, a somewhat porous defense.

Tonight we're back on the road and face Boston in a MUST WIN game. This road trip will be the biggest test so far this season on what type of team we really have and if they have the stuff it takes to make it to post season play.

Tomorrow will be Christmas Eve and the 2nd day of Christmas...wonder what I'll come up with? Please stop by tomorrow and we'll both find out.

4 Days to Christmas..We're Doing It The Hockey Way

That's right shoppers there is only 4 days left until Christmas, and if you're family is anything like mine and opens gifts on Christmas Eve you've got even less time. I have to admit that when I started this little ride with doing the 12 days of Christmas I didn't anticipate how it was going to become more and more difficult as the days counted down. Finding those little kernels of fact about this team related to a specific number is not as easy a task as I believed it would be. I will say though, it's been pretty fun...and educational.

I bet for a second, while reading that last paragraph you were expecting me to say.."I looked and looked and I couldn't find anyting for #4". Well if you're expecting that statement...this ain't the blog for you...I got something...stupid and inane maybe...but it's here.

4 Overtime Losses - We've been to extra frames now 9 times total and we've only dropped 4 of them. Not a bad margin. Of course last night pushed the number to 4 and I'll talk about the Montreal loss in another post for sure..I have a bunch I want to say about it both good and bad.

4 Wins versus Atlantic Division Opponents - We've faced Atlanta division opponents a total of 9 times so far this season and only walked away with 4 wins. The reason I bring this up isn't just to throw in SOMETHING with the number 4..though that helped make this kind of relevant. The biggest reason I bring it up is to remind you of the schedule. We're about to face the Atlantic Division another 5 games over the road trip and we're going to have to rack up more wins are we could be in for a stretch run fight to make the playoffs. We face the Bruins twice and then the Devils,  Pens and Islanders. There is no soft night in this up coming trip.

Tomorrow is number 3 and I think I've actually already got it figured out. Stay tuned..at this point I don't know if you should tune in to see what it is as much as to see if I can find it..

The Hockey Way presents...The 5th Day

As I said yesterday...this was going to be Shorthanded goals...but the Pevs dispenser went and wrecked that...and by doing so made finding the number 5 in all those stats a little tough...but never to fear..your obscure stat man is here...

5 Overtime or Shootout Wins - That's right...so far this year we have prevailed 5 times when the game has gone to the extra frame or to the shootout. The exactitude of that stat is 3 shootout wins and 2 OT wins. The Thrashers have been  pushed into extra hockey a total of 8 times thus far this year and have prevailed 5 of those times giving them a .600 winning percentage when going into overtime.

Of course two of the big keys for our shootout success are Slava Kozlov with a lifetime 25 goals in the shootout and a 58% success rate in the shootout and Johan "Moose" Hedberg with a 15-3 record in the shootout and a .826 save percentage. The highest in the league amongst goalies who have been in more than 5 shootouts.

Interestingly enough we also had 5 wins in the month of October giving us an overall record of 5-10 in the month of October for a .500 winning percentage. The only October that has been better for the Thrashers since the lockout was the October of the 2006-2007 season where we won 8-13 with a .615 percentage.

Tonight we face the Montreal Canadiens for our last meeting of the season with them. Our record this year against the Habs is 2-1 so you can bet they will be looking to tie the season series up and stretch their winning streak to 2 games. The Habs are also sitting in 10th place in the conference but a win tonight would propel them back into the thick of the playoff race with the Florida Panthers.

It's very important for the Thrashers to win this game as well as they are now sitting in 6th place behind Ottawa and with Boston nipping at our heels as they have the same number of points we do, with the same number of games played so it's coming down to goal differential...that's too slim a margin to leave to chance.

The Thrashers will be looking to rebound after a disappointing loss on Saturday in Blueland where we dropped a 3-1 lead to the #1 New Jersey Devils and ended up surrendering our 2 points with a 5-4 loss.

It's the 6th Day of Christmas...The Hockey Way

Yes it's the 6th day of Christmas, and after following that frustrating loss to the Devils I thought this would be a pick me up. I'll opine more on the devils loss in another post maybe...let's just keep this to the festive holiday hockey cheer.

6 Shorthanded Goals - This of course, was going to be my big number 5 until Rich Peverley broke out the other night and wrecked my plans by potting another shorthanded tally against the Dallas Stars. As it is...I'd rather adjust my numbers than lose a game and we really NEEDED that goal.

The Thrahser are tied with Chicago for the most shorthanded goals by a team so far this season with Chris Thorburn leading the team individually with 2 and then Colby, Evander, Rich and Zach all getting 1 apiece. The number of shorthanded goals is a testament to how dangerous this team can be when on the penalty kill as they won't hesitate to jump on or to sometimes, make opportunities to score even when down by a man.

Tomorrow is the big number 5...what's it going to be? Well I'm not so sure since Peverley bogarted my original 5...but I'm sure I will find something so stick around..

Day 7...The Hockey Way

Day 7 of Christmas the Hockey Way and today's stat is a little more obscure...that's right...it was trying  to hide folks but we here at FanThrashtic will spare no expense to bring you the obscure statistic, the totally irrelivent and meaningless numbers available in all of the hockey world. Why do you ask? Do you think that 5 days into this little thing I'm going to let one little number throw me off track...oh hell no...I'll dig until I find something no matter how stupid it might be...so without any more delay...here it is

7th in the league when Out Shooting Opponents - That's right folks when we out shoot our opponent we have a .571 win% and that makes us 7th in the league. How many times have we done that so far this year you ask....well that's interesting also we've out shot our opponents a total of 7 times this year..and our record is 4-3.

So as you can surmise just by doing some simple math, we've been out shot more and won more games in that fashion than we have out shot other teams and won. Does that mean we have a better winning percentage when being out shot? Well once again another fine question...and the answer is NO. We are .560 when being out shot our overall record being 14-8-3

That means, quite simply folks, that the percentages say that when we out shoot our opponent we stand a better chance of winning than if we surrender more shots to them. What a concept huh? This is not a concept, by the way, that is new to the Thrashers; listen to some of their comments to the press and they know it. The coaches certainly know it...and lately even the players are getting on board with that concept.

Tonight we got the Devils, who are smoking hot right now. They are a league leading 49 points in the standing with a 24-8-1 record. We won the 1st meeting against them this season back on October 16. I caution you fans, this is not the same Devils team we played in October, they got their shit together and they are as tough as you're gonna see right now in the NHL. Their scoring punch is not what makes them so good, remember this is a team coached by Jacques Lemaire which means defensive responsibility first. This team scores goals and then puts the other team on lock down. Martin Broduer is also searching for his record setting 104th career shutout.

Tomorow is the 6th day of Christmas...don't worry folks I won't have to go searching for that obscure stat...I already know what this one is going to be...unless it changes tonight..

It's The 8th Day of Christmas....The Hockey Way

On the 8th Day of Christmas the Thrashers gave to me...

8 Kovy Power Play Goals - During last night's win against the Dallas Stars Kaptain Kovalchuk tallied his 8th power play goal of the season. That goal, along with power play goals by Nik Atropov and Max Afinogenov helped to elevate yesterday's 9th ranked power play unit to 4th place in the league with a 22.8% rating. Kovalchuk's 8 power play goals leads the team, with Rich Peverley following behind him with 6 power play tallies of his own.

8 Home Wins - Last night's win brought the tally to 8 and helped to bring the home record this season back to .500 or slight there above if you count the 2 overtime losses as more than a loss because we got a point out of it. It was also the first time this season that we won a Thursday game...thus breaking the alternate jersey curse.

Tomorrow brings lucky #7...tune in to see what that could be.

On The 9th Day of Christmas The Hockey Way Gave To Me

 
9 points from 1st place in the division. That's right folks we're 9 points out from the division leading Washington Capitals. Of course that sounds like a lot, but in reality with Atlanta holding 2 games in hand it's not as much as you'd think. A hot streak by the Thrashers coupled with a Capital cold streak and the positions could reverse pretty quickly.

9th Power Play in the League - The Thrashers also hold the 9th most effective power play in the league at the moment with a 21% efficiency rating. The Thrashers are sandwiched between the Devils and Montreal in that column. That power play has lost some of it's edge lately but has shown to still be among the leaders in the league and when our currently slumping scorers revive their touch it's going to be ready to jump off and explode.

Player #9 - The rookie from Vancouver..you know who I'm talking about..Evander Kane. Evander Kane has proven why he went so high in the draft and has become a staple in the Thrashers top 6. Evander's high energy approach to the game and diligent work have quickly made him a fan favorite and a Calder hopeful. Kane has, since the beginning of the season, been a regular on the much improved penalty kill and is now beginning to see some time on the power play as well. Head coach John Anderson recently commented that he was going to have to find more time on the ice for Kane. So far this season the rookie has put up very respectable numbers posting 8G 6A and a very impressive +8 showing he's a defensive asset. His +/- number, by the way, is 3rd on the team behind Toby and Pavel Kubina's extremely impressive +15

Tonight brings the Dallas Stars to town for the only meeting of the season between these two clubs. Atlanta will look to recover from the last minute defeat at the hands of the Panthers last night and stop the Thursday alternate jersey conundrum.

Tomorrow will bring the 8th day of Hockey Christmas...what's in store? Hell...who knows...tune in tomorrow and we'll both find out.

Day 10 of the 12 Days of Christmas...The Hockey Way

Day Ten dawns and finds the Thrashers on the road...facing Florida once again on their ice. The last meeting ended in a shootout just 11 days ago, with Atlanta trying to rebound from the beating they took at the hands of the New York Islanders..honestly mostly by Matt Moulson.

10 Road Wins - That's what the Thrashers have amassed so far on the road. The Thrashers have one of the better road records in the Eastern Conference, with only Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Washington also recording over 10 road wins so far. Their record also stacks up with many playoff quality teams in the NHL as a whole. The Thrashers didn't reach the 10 road win mark last season until February....you guessed it....10th.

The Thrashers still face a tough challenge ahead of them from December 23 to January 5th of next year. That 7 game road stretch will be very decisive for the course of the rest of the season. The Thrashers will face Boston twice, the reining Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, division rival Tampa Bay. Along with those we will also face the Islanders, who have manhandled this team twice this season already, also the red hot Buffalo Sabres and Ryan Miller. To say that this road trip won't be important is to not know anything about hockey.

The Thrashers seem to be slowly emerging from their early December doldrums and have put some more points on the board the last 2 games and a win in sunny South Florida might be just what's needed to start a winning streak that will propel Atlanta back to Phillips and finally snap this season's Thursday alternate jersey curse against the Dallas Stars.

If you're curious how we've looked month by month over the last few years since the lockout check out my post on Crash the Crease and check it out. The numbers are interesting..but the nice part is that the longer the season goes, the more the Thrashers heat it up...

Day 11 of Christmas...The Hockey Way

Continuing on the 12 days of Christmas we come to 11. Quickly scouring the team's numbers and stats, individual stats, what we've been doing and what we haven't been doing, I've come up with a statistic so simple..yet with a lot meaning

11 Losses - I know what you're thinking..."Why are you pointing out losing?"...well because we've remarked before how at certain points so far, along the season how we compared to last year's performance in the win column. Well let's take a look at the loss column..there's really more to smile about than you might think.

Our total Non-Win tally is 11-3 right now...do you know when we hit 11-3 last year? Well I'll give you a hint...it was before December. We hit that mark on November 26 of last year...we also had only tallied 8 wins at that point. So how many wins had we racked up by November 26 of this year...try 11.

Numbers don't lie..and the numbers alone tell us this is a better Thrashers team. Some hockey pundits early on said that we were just hot and we'd cool down into the sub-par team they thought we should be..but that just hasn't happened, and now with the mid-season mark soon approaching it looks like the hockey critics have changed their mind about this team and realize what we in Thrasherville have known since pre-season...this is a much improved hockey club.

Tomorrow is 10...what could it be? I'm not sure either...but I'll do my research and see what Santa brings me.

12 Days of Christmas The Hockey Way

There are 12 days left until Santa Claus delivers his toys to boys and girls around the world. Thrasher fans, of course, are hoping that Santa puts a signed Kovy contract in Don Waddell's stocking. The Blueland Chronicle has a report on that..so you should stroll on over there and check it out.

With there being 12 days left I thought I would start a countdown for the next 12 days the Hockey Way by giving a fact a day about the Thrashers. So without further adieu here we go.

12 Little White points - That's right Brian Little and Todd White both only have 12 points apiece at this point in the season...and they must be twins this year..the totals break down the same 3 goals and 9 assists for the both of them.

As a little comparison let's take a look at where they were a year ago. As of the December 13 game last year..the totals are quite different.

Brian Little - 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points with a +4 rating
Todd White - 8   goals and 16 assists for 24 points with an even rating

Todd White, by the way, right now leads the team in minus rating with a dismal -9 and that's after having a +2 game against Montreal.

To say that both the guys are struggling is a bit of an understatement. The upside is that Brian Little seems to be finding his game slowly but surely, even when he hasn't scored lately he's been having strong shifts with good scoring opportunities. The same cannot be said, however, for Todd White who continues with a hangover from last year's career season.

Tomorrow will be 11..wonder what it will be? Tune in tomorrow to find out

Just What the Dr Ordered

Last night's 4-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens was just what the Dr. ordered. With the Thrashers offensive production ailing coming off a 4 game road trip where they collected only 2 points, the boys in blue returned home to a favorable crowd to secure an exciting win.

What made this win so remarkable was the shot differential between the two teams 34-19. Now here's where I blow your mind...Atlanta had the 34 shots and held it's opponent to only 19 shots the entire game. In fact in both the 2nd and 3rd period they were held to 4 and 5 shots respectively as Atlanta exerted it's will on Montreal on both sides of the ice. Despite the score which I feel gives more credit to Montreal than they deserved, Atlanta outshot, outworked and outplayed the Habs in every aspect of the game.

Montreal started the scoring early with a powerplay goal on a crosschecking penalty on the young Evander Kane, who took exception to a hit up ice just seconds before the infraction. Former Thrasher Glen Metropolit slipped the puck past Moose to put the Habs on the board. Montreal would go to the dressing room for the 1st intermission leading 1-0. Atlanta, who I feel played a good 1st period went into the dressing room and decided it was time to turn up the heat on the visiting Habs and see if they could hang with the us The Hockey Way.

Montreal struck again  at 6:44 with a hot shot by Kostitsyn and then Atlanta decided it was time to roll up their sleeves and go to work. Christoph Schubert broke the Montreal shutout with a goal coming off his own rebound. Less than 3 minutes later Colby Armstrong off a feed from Evander Kane drilled the next goal in to tie the game up. The Habs, undaunted by the Atlanta surge came back and answered with another go ahead goal  by Kostitsyn. Now this is where our boys lately may have folded or let up off their game..feeling a little disappointment by battling back only to give it up again...but not tonight..not this team. Two minutes and five seconds later Nik Antropov knots the game at 3 to keep the Thrashers right in the game.

Atlanta dominated the 3rd period play and spent most of the time in the Montreal zone, the Habs, on the strenth of Carey Price's excellent play were able to fend off a furious 3rd period attack by Atlanta and send the game into overtime. Unfortunately for the Habs the former Thrasher Glen Metropolit, the very same fellow who opened up the scoring for the night found himself in the penalty box for high sticking in the dying seconds of regulation.

Ilya Kovalchuk struck with just 3 seconds left in the powerplay to win the game. Strangely enough this was his first game winning goal of the 17 he's scored so far this season.

On to the GBU

The Good - Atlanta's forecheck. With such  a lopsided shot differential  you can tell that Atlanta outworked the Habs

The Bad - The powerplay still struggled tonight for the most part going 1-8 for the night with several powerplay opportunities looking almost wasted. In particular the final powerplay of the 1st period where we barely were able to gain their blueline for the entire two minutes.

The Ugly - Ilya Kovalchuk's overall effort on the night. He's one of my favorite players on the team and I couldn't imagine the Thrasher without him...but when you don't play hard I have to point it out. I watched on several occasions last night from my seat in section 310, where Kovy was just coasting out there, both in the defensive zone and in their zone as well. He wasn't moving his feet at times and looked like he wasn't completely "In" the game. Yes he won the game with a great shot but I am given to wonder that if he gave 100% effort out there every second of every shift what the score might have been.

Several other things I'd like to point out. First..I could have sworn that we scored two goals that went in and out so fast they never got counted...did anybody see that too or am I just imagining that? The guy next to me agreed also as we both cheered and then were stunned to see that there was nothing in fact to be cheering for yet.

Second..I have to tip my hat to Carey Price...his save on Eric Boulton was AMAZING and as a hockey fan you just have to be able to appreciate a play like that...it also doesn't hurt we ended up winning the game, so it's easier to give him credit for such a great play.

USA Today Reports...Kovalchuk Talks Are Positive

Perusing around the intertubes and came upon this and can't believe that I haven't seen it floating around the Thrasher blogosphere.

Thrashers still have a shot at keeping Kovalchuk

Posted 12/7/2009 11:17 AM EST

    If you are an Atlanta fan hoping that the Thrashers can keep Ilya Kovalchuk, please note that no news is not necessarily bad news.
     The Thrashers still have optimism that they can work out a contract extension. Although there has been much speculation about what is happening with Kovalchuk, here is the truth:
     * GM Don Waddell and Kovalchuk's agent Jay Grossman have conducted genuine negotiations. There has been a back-and-forth exchange of numbers. The situation has been cordial, and the aim of both parties seems to be to get a deal done.
     *  Negotiations have centered on a deal that would keep Kovalchuk in Atlanta for the rest of his career.
     * Atlanta ownership hasn't yet weighed in on what its limits would be on terms and dollars. Certainly that will be an important aspect of the proceedings.
     * Waddell has not made a single phone call about trading Kovalchuk, nor has he had any team call him with an offer.
     * Last summer, he did have GMs tell him that if he can't work out a deal with Kovalchuk, they would be interested.
     *  If the Thrashers can't get a deal done, I'm aware of at least two Western Conference contenders who will make a strong pitch.

When Waddell said "Long Term"..I guess he frickin' meant that shit..

Hope this helps calm the Kovy nerve we all have twitching.

Do We Let the Moose Loose?

 

One of the most surprising turn arounds so far this year for the Thrashers amongst many is the goaltending. With Kari still absent there was a huge question before the season kicked off if the goalies would be able to backstop the team effectively. So far the question has been a resounding yes. Even when the team doesn't play well it's rarely a fault of the goaltending so far this season.

The Czech youngster Ondrej Pavelec has been the "starter" so far this season and has seen the larger amounts of starts...and has done very well actually..especially considering his prior track record in the NHL and the misgivings of Thrashers fans prior to the season's start.

The real goaltending story though is Johan "Moose" Hedburg our silent, diligent Swede who has become both a locker room and fan favorite. So far this season Moose has played extremely well when called upon both starting games and having to relieve the young Czech goalie on several occasions. Moose has also only gotten the hook himself just once so far this season and that was during the San Jose game here in Atlanta on October 24.

With several questions surrounding the goaltending situation in Atlanta including what to do with Kari Lehtonen when he returns another valid question for both fans and the organization is what to do with Hedburg. Moose is in the final year of his contract and with the questions about Kari's durability combined with his play thus far this year you have to believe that a contract renewal even if it's year to year with the veteran Swede is beginning to look better and better to General Manager Don Waddell.

There's no doubt that there's little room on this team for 3 goalies and that somebody has to go. Conventional wisdom says that you let the aging veteran walk and resign your drafted goalie and put Pavelec as his backup. But the situation here is far from conventional so what's our GM to do? Let's look at a couple of facts here.

• Pavelec so far, has played about as well as Lehtonen has and is projected to finish with just about the same numbers as we are used to Lehtonen putting up, with most likely little to no downtime due to injury
• Lehtonen has only played what would be considered 1 full season so far with the Thrashers. He has a 3 million dollar price tag and an expiring contract this summer. With his lingering durability problems he's quickly becoming a liability for the Thrashers
• Hedberg has played very solidly his entire career here in Atlanta, though not up to the standards to be the #1 guy. His salary is modest at 1 million and some change and his contract also expires this season.

Moose has so far posted some very impressive numbers ranking 5th among all NHL goalies with a GAA of 2.16 and a league 2nd in save% at .933. Granted he's only played 12 games but he's looked very sharp on most outings and has already racked up his first shut out of the year.

The Thrashers have several other options in prospects such as Peter Mannino and Drew McIntyre or they could retain the services of either Lehtonen or Hedberg to pair with Pavelec. I think there are a few things that can be counted on and one of them is that Pavelec is staying..and he's going to stay up with the big club.

What do you think the Thrashers should do? Personally I'm thinking that finding a way to let Lehtonen go and resigning Moose would be the more economical way to go with the least amount of liability out there. Moose has proven he's durable and he's always ready to answer the call..he's a competitor and a good mentor for the young goalie Ondrej Pavelec. Some of Pavelec's rough starts come from nothing more than he needs to mature into the job, which goalies do later in their careers than skaters.

Let me know what you think...should we Let the Moose Loose? Or send Lehtonen packing and Finnish the story?

WTF? 2nd Period FTL

There's not a whole lot to say about the stinker that the Thrasher laid tonight in Toronto. Come on folks..it's frickin' Toronto..they have not looked that good so far this year and they made us look downright terrible in that 2nd period. I don't even know where to begin..Ondrej was hung out to dry on a couple of those goals..he should've gotten some of the others..the defense was caught flat footed several times..nobody was moving their feet...I think I actually saw John Anderson puke in disgust behind the bench.

What's more troubling than the 2nd period egg that was laid is the disturbing trend over the last few games...this team is not playing like it did in October and early November. I'm afraid that we may be in a slump...I don't know what's causing it...but even as we've been winning lately they have been scraping by to do it.

Games like this one will not get you very far in this league...we move on next to Alberta to take on Calgary..now that's a good hockey club...we act like that and the score will be more like 7-2 or worse. Atlanta's record is now 15-9-3 and our road record moves to 9-3-1. Atlanta needs to get back on track and see what we can't do to salvage the rest of this road trip with some points.

Could Moose be Arrested for Theft?

Saturday night in Sawgrass the Moose stole that one. He got a little help from his friend..Mr. Crossbar but what about that cross crease stick deflection in the overtime period against Stephen Weiss. He committed a felony with that play as he totally robbed Weiss.

Moose has been playing out of his mind lately, well...to be honest both goalies have been playing well but it seems to me lately that Hedberg has been just a hair better than his Czech pupil. I know that technically Pavs is the starter and Moose the backup..but the way he has played lately it's hard for Anderson to not start him. Do you think it's just that he's been getting the timely scoring support that Ondrej hasn't gotten?

Tonight we face the slumping Maple Leafs in a return to the Air Canada Centre of longtime Leaf turned Kovalchuk disciple Nik Antropov along with Pavel Kubina who was the product of probably the most lopsided trade of the off season. The Leafs have a terrible home record but have been playing better hockey lately on the strength of Phil Kessell and his 10 goals and 5 assists since returning from surgery on November 3rd.

The game will be on Sports South tonight at 7pm...I'm sure you won't miss it.

Believe in Blueland

Beat Us Once, Shame On You..Beat Us Twice....

Shame on us!!..The Thrashers last night got a triple helping of Matt Moulson and deserved every lump they took. Unlike other Thrusday efforts where the team comes out flat and then has a tremendous 3rd period the Thrashers decided they'd flip the script by starting the game off with energy and a high octane game..only to finish on a an empty tank.

Jumping out to a 1st period lead on the strength of a Slava Kozlov goal that was more credited to Brian Little's hard work, the Thrasher fans felt some confidence..hell we were 10-0 when scoring first and with the jump the team had in the opening sequence there was a lot to feel good about.

Is this jersey the Devil?

How quickly things change..with the sounding of the 1st period horn the Thrashers walked down the tunnel to the locker room for the first intermission...and changed places with their alter egos..The Trashers.

The Trashers came out and played the rest of the game with listless emotion and little effort, most notably by the captain Ilya Kovalchuk who was directly responsible for the 1st goal of Matt Moulson's natural hat trick. About the only people that can't be blamed last night for the loss would be Ondrej Pavelec and that guy that wears the Michael Meyers mask up in 319.

Luckily that team wasn't fooled by last night's performance any more than we were and called themselves out during the post game press scrum. The question remains though...how do you get a team fired up to play in the front of their own people? I guess maybe it's a catch 22..it's hard to get fired up for a few thousand..and thousands won't come out until they can fire it up..

We're getting set to hit the road for a 4 game stint..where we'll face the Panthers on their ice after handing them a last second loss on Monday and then up to the great white north where we'll square off against Toronto a red hot Calgary and a tough Vancouver team featuring the united Sedin twins and Roberto Luongo.

With a 8-2-1 road record it seems we might be ready for a heaping helping of road..maybe we can get back on track. Let's hope that they can bask in the warmth of a win as well as the sun in South Florida.

December Arrives..'Tis the Season of Rumor

As December begins and the NHL season rounds turn 1 the rumor mill begins to crank up into a higher gear and nobody is a hotter subject this season so far than our own Czar and Kaptain...Ilya Kovalchuk. Lyle Richardson posted his blog at The Hockey News with a much more ominous title than the entire article turned out to be.

Atlanta Thrashers GM Don Waddell recently commented on the ongoing contract talks with superstar left winger Ilya Kovalchuk in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Waddell said there was nothing new to report other than they're still trying to agree on the length of a new contract and once that's established they'll move on to the money.

That's provided fodder for the rumor mill to suggest talks have fallen through and has conjured up plenty of trade scenarios, but the reality might not be quite so dramatic.

Some pundits suggested Waddell wanted to get Kovalchuk under contract by the end of November and didn't want to let talks drag on, but the hitch could still be Kovalchuk's concerns over the future of the franchise.

It's believed the Russian superstar wants assurances the Thrashers are building toward being a playoff club and he might prefer waiting until later in the season before committing to a long-term deal.

For now, Waddell's comments punch holes in the theory Kovalchuk will soon sign a 13-year contract worth nearly $10 million per season, but it doesn't mean the Thrashers GM intends to move him for picks, young players and prospects.

 What can you say to this? We keep talking about how anxious we all are for this deal to be done...I'm beginning to think that the only person NOT anxious is Ilya. Sometimes you gotta wonder what it's like to hold the hopes of that many people in the palm of your hands.

Overall I don't think Atlanta fans are overly concerned that he WON'T sign..but we're getting a little jumpy about WHEN he'll sign.

I've heard and read more than one Thrasher fan comment that they will pull out the crowbar and throw down real dollars when this deal is done...so what is your position out there folks? Is that what you're waiting on? Attendance has been less than stellar this year and yet we're playing an exciting brand of hockey right now..is that the overall reluctance by Atlanta fans..they want the assurance that their cheering of Kovy is going to continue after the trade deadline.

What do you think folks..let me know


Side Note - I've joined the Crash the Crease team also..please check out my blog and the great content on the site. I have a link on the side of this blog come on over and take a visit..

Believe in Blueland

December Is Going To Be Busy

The Thrashers had a busy November and December offers more of the same. After having a slow and sparse October schedule the boys in Blue ramped it up in Mo-vember and now with their Ron Burgandy mustaches behind them it's the season of Santa and the scheduling is tighter than ever.

What do the Thrashers have to look forward to? Well it's going to be a month with some stiff competition. They'll be living out of their suitcases for a good bit of the month, and not a ton of rest for the guys either, as there is no more than 2 days off between games all month.

The Thrashers kick off a 15 game December by hosting the NY Islanders on Thursday December 3rd. This will be yet another attempt to shed the Thursday curse and see if we can't give the Isles a little payback from the beating we took at their hands up there in New York.

Here's what the rest of the month is going to look like broken down in bullet form for you

• 15 games
• 10 road games and 5 at home
• 2 sets of back to back games on 9th and 10th and then again on 16th and 17th
• One of those sets of back to back is all on the road and one is a road and then home
• 3 Division games
• 12 Conference games
• We will face the Panthers, Bruins, Devils and Habs twice in the month of December

We're looking at having to play several top teams this month including the Devils, Flames and Bruins along with playing tough opponents such as Vancouver, Dallas and Tampa Bay

The Thrashers enter the month of December with a good road record of 8-2-1 which we hope will serve us well as a foundation for another 10 on the road. The Thrashers improved their home record to 6-5-2 with the win over Florida on Monday.

What should we expect? What do we want and need out of this month? Well..I would like to see us get at least 10 of the 20 available points during our time on the road and win 3 out of the 5 at home that would give us 16 points conservatively at the end of the month. That wouldn't be a bad month either. Of course I'd love to see us go on a 15 game tear and kill the entire NHL but let's be realistic here.

Looking at games that we should be on the inside track to win includes the two meeting with Florida the game against Toronto and the home game against Dallas. I think we stand a good shot against the Habs but they are a tough team and would like to split our meetings with both the Bruins and Devils.

Overall the month of December is going to be busy and it's going to be tough for the Thrashers but with 2 months of the schedule behind us we've seen enough of this team to tell that if they play good hockey we can emerge on the back side of this month with better than half the points available to us and stay in the hunt for a playoff berth.

What do you expect from this month? What would you like to see?

November's 3 Stars

At the end of each month I try to take a look back and pick 3 stars for the team. The month of November was a good month overall for the club and there are many who stand out. Being the unconventional guy that I am..when making my picks don't always look for them to be an individual..sometimes I will point out a group of players or something else...anyway...it should be interesting.

1st Star - Goaltending!!

• Ondrej Pavalec and Johan Hedberg have combined for a 2.68GAA and .924 Save% along with 3 Shutouts (All in November)
• Though at times this team has not played well at all it has been the goaltending that keeps the team in games so the rest of the skaters have a reason to bust their ass in the 3rd period
• The goaltending tandem led the team to a 9-3-2 record for the month of November

2nd Star - Penalty Kill

• The Thrasher Penalty Kill finishes the month of November with a 84.4% Penalty Kill ranking them 4th in the league. Quite a dramatic improvement from last year's 29th ranked PK
• Over the month of November the Thrashers were on the PK 57 times but only let in 9 goals 
• Because of the exemplary play by the PK night in and night out the Thrashers are able to keep or swing momentum in games to generate offense and keep them competative

3rd Star - John Anderson

• Coach Anderson is the person directly responsible for the 2nd star (If the PK sucked we'd hold him personally responsible for that..so he gets the glory too) It's no mean feat to turn something like a embarrassing PK to one that is as formidable as what we have now. 
• We are staying in games even when we lose and he has put pieces together with line combinations that work..he's also not afraid to tinker with the formula when it seems like it's not working
• He's playing the goaltenders smart..giving them rest when needed and working them when needed. Both goaltenders are playing with confidence and not having their confidence shaken when they are benched in favor of the other...these are all a direct reflection on John Anderson's coaching 

So those are my 3 stars...what do you think? Who would you put in there?...I know I almost chose Max also...but that would have been too obvious..tell me what you think

Minimum Investment...Maxim Return

Wow!!..what a back and forth game last night. Overall the Thrashers played a much better game and I felt like they gave a full 60 minute effort, though there were a few mental lapses (I'm looking at you Pops and Schubie) that cost us.

The Mr. Clutch award goes to Max Afinogenov...damn!!...this guy is just killin' it lately and you can see his energy, enthusiasm and confidence have returned and he's going to put up numbers like his earlier "career" year of 2005-2006 when he posted 22G and 51A for 73 points. In fact, I predict he's going to bust that number with more goals scored. We're barely a quarter of the way into the season and he's already amassed half the goal total of that 2005-2006 season so far.

Last night's game was a good effort with contributions from some not so regular scorers in Mark Popovic (his 2nd career goal) and Chris Thorburn (3rd goal of the season...1st at even strength). Eric Boulton was great for the team with an assist and dominated at both ends.

Once again a solid performance by the Moose...he took many shots from point blank and turned 25 of the 28 taken away. The defense helped to clear the crease and for the most part made timely clears to lessen the pressure on the Swede.

Last night's win extended the Thrashers winning streak to 4 and puts us in 5th place in the conference and firmly in 2nd place in the division as Tampa also fell last night. Not bad for a team that was predicted to dwell at or near the bottom.

The final word on the Vokoun injury was that his ear was cut and his tests were clear and he would fly with the team last night. I'm glad to hear he's fine..because it was scary when he went down last night from my view in 310. I feel for Ballard..you know he never meant for that to happen and if he could take it back or trade places he would...it was stupid what he did...but he never meant to hurt anybody..I'm sure he feels like crap..that's punishment enough.

Kovalchuk and Company get set to welcome the Islanders of New York...led by Jonathan Tavares to Phillips Arena on Thursday in hopes to extend the streak to a season record 5 games. I'm hoping that the Thrashers will be able to shed the Thursday curse that hangs over this team so far this season..as the Thrashers are winless so far this season when wearing the alternate jersey.

Believe in Blueland