FanThrashtic

My glass is half full...how about you?

2010-12-17T10:16:00.000-05:00

Ok so we dropped a second straight shootout loss last night, both of them we surrendered the lead, both of them to divisional opponents. Not a great showing, but....and here's where I'm probably going to get some disagreement...not that terrible either.

First off, both teams we played are good teams. The Lightning have been in the top half of the conference this whole season pretty much and have been in the middle of the divisional fight the whole way. Carolina is one of the bubble teams that quite honestly if some teams in the top half get cold they could surrender their spot to Carolina quite easily.

Though we surrendered the lead and that's not good look at it from another direction. If the roles had been reversed and we had come from behind to win the games in a shootout as fans we'd be pretty darn happy right? There would be some comments, of course, that we shouldn't have fallen behind to begin with or that we should have converted on chances we had during the game. How about giving some credit to the fact that we played a couple of darn good teams...and honestly both teams, on both nights played their asses off.

I dont' think anybody could be disappointed with the effort level of the Thrashers for either game this week and for the most part people played pretty darn good I thought. If any one thing that happened in both games that needs to be addressed it would be the turnovers. In fact, every goal scored in regulation time against the Thrashers on both Wednesday and Thursday were directly due to turnovers.

The other thing that was a little disappointing was the Power Play, a little flat this week. The fact is though folks, that the team played well..and you're not going to win every game..nobody is that damn good. We came away with a point for each game..and that's still better than getting nothing.

So for all the doomsayers out there...take a look at the standings..watch how well the team really is playing...overall...we're doing just fine.

On another note...ESPN actually showed some footage of Thrash being arrested...we're getting national attention for the marketing campaign..it really is creating a buzz.

Holy shit folks!!!...do you know what all this means??...We may actually start becoming a legitimate hockey organization...where's my heart medication??

So how about you...is the glass half full...or half empty in regards to this week?

Hello Marketing Dept.

2010-12-16T11:09:00.000-05:00

The Thrashers fans for the past several weeks have been saying on different blogs and message boards that the marketing department needed to do something to draw more attention to the team, especially since the team seems to have turned a corner.

Well, it seems the marketing department may have actually been working on hatching up a scheme and it looks like yesterday they put that plan into action. As most of you fans know now Thrash, the team's mascot, decided to steal a Zamboni from the Duluth Ice Forum (the Thrashers' practice facility) and drive it down Satellite Blvd., where he was stopped by Gwinnett County Police and arrested. The judge later arraigned the bird and summarily imposed a sentence that he sell 5,000 tickets for the rest of the month to get out of the clink.

It's nice to see that the marketing department for the Atlanta Spirit Group is actually doing something to draw notice to the team. I guarantee that many non hockey fans saw a big ass Zamboni going down Satellite and that sparked interest and conversations..and hopefully that will translate into ticket sales. I didn't get to see the local news so I don't know if it got any coverage, though I doubt it, but that would have been nice to help get the word out.

Ultimately it's nice to see that ASG marketing is doing something about trying to get the word out to more than it's already loyal followers. There is no need to preach to the converted but for years it seems that's exactly what they have been trying to do.

What scheme...what plot....what plan is next for the marketing department...those genius ad guys employed by the ASG...who knows??

For Ramsay Accountability Isn't Just A Catchphrase

2010-12-13T10:43:00.000-05:00

This weekend after a tough loss to the Colorado Avalanche the Thrashers had to pretty much immediately board a plane to go to Long Island to face the NHL cellar dwelling New York Islanders. Head coach Craig Ramsay had more on his mind though than just the team's travel plans. He made the decision to scratch Nic Bergfors and Ben Eager based on their performance during the Avalanche game.

In Atlanta the players are learning that accountability is everything...and this coach is willing to enforce it. This is the second time this season that Bergfors has been given a time out and for Eager it was his first to feel the wrath of the red pen put to the roster.

Bergfors, who had a goal Friday night, still got scratched. The coach stated to the AJC's Chris Vivlamore that he had not battled hard enough for loose pucks and had not worked hard enough in the game. In the past no player who scored one night would be benched the next night because of performance.

Ramsay has shown through both his words and his actions that there will be no slacking on his team, not even one shift. As a fan I have to say it's nice to see..and it's nice hear what he has to say during his pressers, especially if we lose. You no longer hear stuff like "We're just fragile right now" or "I don't know why we weren't ready to play tonight". Now what we hear is "They didn't play hard enough" or "The other team wanted it more than we did and that's not acceptable"

Not only is he telling the press it's not acceptable to lose he's telling his team..and not just with his mouth...he's telling guys who aren't playing hard enough to sit their ass down and watch while a teammate of theirs who is willing to put in the work does.

The effect on the team this year has been remarkable. It took a little while for the team to start to catch on to what Ramsay was teaching, but now they've got it..and it's brought them success which in turn breeds more success. Part of Ramsay's philosophy though, has been accountability to the coaches and to each other in the locker room...and more importantly for the players to police themselves and maintain that accountability.

Ramsay's formula has so far been pretty successful and I'm thinking that the ride is just beginning.

December Historically Dangerous for Thrashers

2010-12-08T12:33:00.001-05:00

Well the Thrashers were red hot in the month of November. That isn't exactly out of the ordinary for the Thrashers though. The month of November has been kind to the Thrashers for quite a while. As the fall leafs give way to the call of Santa's sleigh bells the Thrashers have a trend of cooling down just as the temperature does.

Atlanta has compiled (since the lockout) a pretty impressive November record of 37-24-6 (not including this year) or 47-28-7 if you do include this year. Some other notable things to include in the statistics about November are the following:

No record less than .500 for the month
10-4-1 this year
9-3-2 last year

December, on the other hand is not as kind to the Thrashers. Since the lockout the Thrashers have compiled a 29-35-9 record for the month. The Thrashers last two Decembers have been almost too painful to watch with identical records of 4-9-2 for the month. They did post an 8-7-1 record in the 07-08 season when they won the division championship though.

Last year's record I think was partially due to the mounting Kovy drama but there seems to be a general let down and malaise that comes over the team during the last month of the year.

This month has started well with a record of 2-1 so far with a total of 16 games to play for the month, but this month is just getting started and it's going to be a grueling month for the Thrashers. Check out some of the bullet points on how tough this month is going to be:

4 back to back sets
All back to back games are home/away
2 Western Conference opponents
3 divisional games (2 Tampa and 1 Carolina)
5 games vs opponents in the top half of their conference
Home/away sets with Boston and Tampa
Pittsburgh away (again!)

On the bright side we've got games against Toronto, Ottawa, New Jersey and New York Islanders that could provide some lift hopefully as long as we continue to play our game.

Historically December has been fraught with danger and disappointment for this team but with Craig Ramsay now firmly in control of our boys in blue I'm beginning to feel a little better. The fact is you can see it's a different brand of hockey..it's team hockey..the way the hockey gods have always said it should be played.

We've got some tough opponents ahead of us...beginning with another match up with Colorado who always play us tough..and they are most likely looking for payback from the squeaker we pulled out in Denver last week.

Open Letter to ASG: As One Fan Sees It

2010-12-07T12:40:00.002-05:00

Dear ASG:

I have been a long time fan and 3 time season ticket holder of the Atlanta Thrashers. I am writing to you to in response to team president Don Waddell's comments following last night's win versus the Nashville Predators.

Mr. Waddell basically alluded to the fact that the fans need to come out and support the team. I want to say I totally agree, but let me give you some insight as to why the fan support may be a little slow in coming and some ideas on how you may be able to improve the fan experience at Phillips Arena.

First of all, I would say that the team has been playing great hockey lately and as a fan I'm extremely excited to see what the team is doing on the ice. The problem you have though is that with Atlanta being a non-traditional hockey market most people simply aren't aware of what the Thrashers are doing, nor that they have become an improved product. As for those of us who have been following the Thrashers we're still a little reserved in our judgment because we've seen hot streaks before only to be followed by disappointment in the overall product on the ice. I will say that personally, I am still holding my judgment for a little more proof, though I see where the team is headed and the type of hockey is sound and looks more promising than it ever has.

As I'm sure you're all aware, the financial future around Atlanta is shaky at best and many consumers just don't have what they used to or, as I find myself in the position of having to reconsider my spending to make sure to hedge for the future. Because of these financial realities people aren't going to pay for entertainment that simply isn't entertaining. Well, that's becoming less the problem for the Thrashers, but the problem you do now have is that the brand had become known for not being entertaining. Therefore, you now need to change people's thinking about your brand.

Your marketing department needs a serious overhaul. Your television advertising seems to usually be on channels that you televise your games on and during the broadcasts for those games. You are then advertising to people who already are interested in your product. Those aren't the people you need to reach...you've already reached us. Your marketing on television needs to be on the other local channels watched.

As for fan experience, I have a few complaints that come from being a long time customer. These complaints are actually minor and more of the inconvenience type. First, please get better ushers in Phillips Arena, there is nothing more frustrating than trying to watch a game but you can't see the action because people are moving around in their seats or they wait until the face off to get up and go get another beer. In other arenas the no movement during play is seriously addressed and people aren't allowed to move around during play but in Atlanta it's a joke. An usher standing at the top of the isle with a retarded little stop sign waiting until the play stops does not make crowd control.

It's too late for this season, but you seriously need to consider moving the start time to 7:30 PM. This will give fans more time to get from work and gather up the family and make it to the arena. 30 minutes extra is not going to kill the schedule and will make a world of difference in attendance.

Get concession personnel under control at the very least. Spending an entire intermission in line to get food that is overpriced and quite frankly not that great doesn't appeal to people. Which of course, leads me to the next which is find a vending company with lower price points or much better quality. Paying 12 dollars for a hot dog and fries is highway robbery and makes it almost impossible to bring an entire family to a game.

Finally, and I know this may seem petty to some, but can we please keep the caps to our drinks? I know there are some irresponsible people in this world, but many many more of us are mature enough to handle capping our drinks. This is an especially nice thing for those of use who bring children as young children have a tendency to spill drinks and capping them makes that much less likely.

I know I've taken up a few moments with this long letter and this isn't meant to be comprehensive but I wanted you to know that the fans will come with sustained on ice success (which I believe is going to happen finally) and if you will take a look at some customer service in your arena you will see that the level of customer satisfaction will rise and in turn your revenues should also.

Thank you.

Pavelec keeping Promise Lehtonen made?

2010-12-06T12:20:00.002-05:00

It's no secret if you've been watching the Thrasher's lately that a great deal of the success the club is having rests at the feet of the red hot goalie Ondrej Pavelec. Pavelec has gone 7-2 since he relieved Chris Mason with a total record now of 8-5-2 with a NHL 2nd best GAA of 1.70 and save% of .948.

Over the course of the last eight games he's stopped 253 of 262 shots and blanked Washington and Montreal. He was named 1st star of the week last week for the NHL and he's still on fire.

Over the off season the Thrashers signed veteran goaltender Chris Mason to fill out the tandem of stoppers for the team and also acquired the services of Clint Marlachuk as goaltending "consultant". I was pretty convinced, based on last years performance, that Chris Mason was being brought in to be the #1 stopper and mentor to Pavelec. Then Ramsay had Pavelec starting the season against Washington and just 2:25 into the game Pavelec fainted and Mason had to take over.

Chris Mason filled in for the next 9 games and did an admirable job, especially given the amount of rubber that was flying at him each and every night. When Pavelec came back he of course, had a bit of rocky start, after all he had to get back to game shape.

Then came the game against the Panthers...you guys remember it...the game where the team literally gave up in the 2nd period. The game where Craig Ramsay called out the players afterward for their efforts. Well they came out in the 3rd period and tried to rally but it was just not enough time to get the job done.

Since that game several things have happened, among them we named Andrew Ladd as captain, the team started playing...can you believe it?? A TEAM GAME and last Ondrej Pavelec caught fire and it's harder to get a puck past him than it is to get dawn past a rooster.

I said all of that....to say this....Is Ondrej Pavelec the fulfillment of the promise that Kari Lehtonen was supposed to be?

Kari was picked in the first round and was to become the man here in Atlanta with superstar written all over him. The big Finn never materialized as the dominant stopper that all had believed he could be. With the exception of the 2006-2007 season he never completed a season without a prolonged absence for injury. He certainly stole some games for us during his tenure with Atlanta, but all Atlanta fans I believe would speak in unison in stating that overall Kari was a dissapointment.

I know it's early...and I realize that any goalie can catch fire and just be unstoppable for a period of games..and maybe it's too early to say for sure...but it's not too early to ask if perhaps Pavelec is all the Lehtonen was supposed to be. He's certainly looking great so far this year. Is this just a hot streak??....I'm inclined to say no...

I think he could cool off some, but I don't think he'll get ice cold at all. He looks more positionally sound this year...he's not leaning forward on his skates, which causes a goalie's ankles to lock, making it much harder to make saves at times. He's staying square to the puck and he's not giving up nearly the amount of second chances so far. I think that Clint Marlachuk is certainly having an impact on the play of the young Czech stopper and his ability to play top level hockey.

So my question is...do you think that Pavelec is just hot now...or is this the product we were promised so long ago with Kari Lehtonen finally coming to fruition?

Expect The Unexpected

2010-09-20T12:21:00.000-04:00

With day 3 of this season's training camp opening up one thing has become quite evident from coach Craig Ramsay and his staff and that is to expect the unexpected. For the fans that means thinking outside the box, not defining any player, it seems, by a previous position or role with this club.

The Rammer came into the organization and before the players ever took the ice in a "official" team function the decision had been already made to take Dustin Byfuglien and move him back to defense. Moving Buff back seemed rather elementary from management by the way they tell it, but nonetheless, it was a move that I don't think the ordinary fan was expecting. Then we get to camp and see that he's moved Little back to center and put Peverley on the wing.

I think that the message to us fans should be that he's seeing more skills in a player than just a single position, he's willing to break out of preconceived molds and try something different. I think that you'll see, before the camp is through that Ramsay will move other players into positions or roles that we as fans hadn't considered before. I'm not saying they'll stay there..but I think the Rammer is looking to see just what skills these guys have and how to get the most out of them.

Akim Aliu's Label Is Wrong

2010-09-07T11:18:00.002-04:00

With rookie camp getting ready to kick off BWA has started a look at the new rookies and their prospects for making big boy camp...and possibly the NHL roster for this season with the Thrashers.

So they review Akim Aliu and of course the Steve Downey incident is brought up along with the fact that he's been labeled a trouble maker. I looked at pretty much every scouting report and all other source material about him that I could google and OTHER than the Steve Downey incident I found no mention of him being a problem with other players or with coaches. He's not prone to on ice difficulties with opponents that would be out of line with hockey players either.

So why is he labeled a trouble maker?

Just to recap for you, in case you're not familiar with the Downey incident. Basically it works like this..

During the 2005/2006 OHL season Downey was suspended for 5 games for cross checking Akim Aliu in the mouth and knocking out 3 of his teeth...was Aliu an opponent??...no...he was a teammate. Why would he cross check a teammate? Well maybe because Aliu refused to take part in a hazing incident earlier in the season whereupon he was ordered to stand naked in a tour bus lavatory with other naked rookie teammates.

Because he refused to take part in a humiliating and degrading hazing incident Downey decides that he needs to live the rest of his life sans his 3 front teeth in front of a crowd, during a game...and Aliu gets the label as trouble maker? Is it just me or is this not making sense.

If you think he is a trouble maker for not participating then my question to you is would you stand naked in a bus lavatory with other naked people of the same sex? If you answer yes then you're either mindless or really secure with yourself...let's just leave it at that.

I, for one, would have refused also; and given the fact that Downey acted the way he did..he's lucky that Aliu didn't use his stick to take his frickin' head off his shoulders like he deserved.

Aliu doesn't seem to me to be a trouble maker...it seems to me he just has a brain, some principles and is willing to go against the grain when it doesn't meet his moral standards...boy those are terrible traits to have...

Outside Looking In

2010-09-02T08:48:00.000-04:00

The Kovy saga continues as the NHLPA and the NHL have both agreed to extend the deadline on making a ruling on the contract between the Devils and Kovy until Friday at 5pm EST.

I for one am glad that I'm just a spectator of the ridiculous goings on between Kovy and the NHL and not the fan who is waiting until this all shakes out. Quite frankly I'm glad that my team isn't about to shell out close to a 100 million to a one way player.

I thought that the 17 year contract first submitted was beyond ludicrous and I thought the arbitrator did the right thing by throwing it out. The word on the street is this is roughly 100 million over 15 years instead of 17 and it brings their cap hit up from 6 million per year to 6.6 million. Please can we split hairs any more? The biggest problem the NHL has now is that it has allowed 15 year contracts already, so it's going to be harder to convice people that they have a problem with the term as other players contracts would expire at the 42 year range.

The only thing that may make them able to turn down the contract is if it is still so heavily front loaded and too light on the back end. The idea that he was going to make less than 3% of his contract over the last 7 years is what basically nixed the last deal, if Sweet Lou tries to slide that same thing through again you may see Bettman and Company toss it back in his face.

Either way...as a fan of his former team...I'm glad Kovy took his circus to another town..that way it doesn't affect my club..

Dudley Putting His Stamp On Thrashers

2010-08-03T10:18:00.000-04:00

Rick Dudley continues to put his stamp on the Atlanta Thrashers in another move yesterday by trading away center Todd White for Patrick Rissmiller and Donald Brashear. Dudley then straight away put Brashear on waivers. A move that will ultimately end with the Thrashers buying out his contract at 1.4 million for this year, this will put a 700k hit on for the next 2 years. The move was designed to both free up space for an up and coming forward like Cormier and to dump White's bigger salary.

This was nothing more than a maintenance move for both clubs. What is interesting is that it is yet another move that shows that Dudley is totally retooling the organization. Rick Dudley has made some sweeping changes to the club, both in it's roster and behind the bench. If nothing else Duds has spent the summer doing everything he can to undo all the Waddell (damage) that was done to the club. He's building a young club and he's keeping contract terms low both in money and term.

Dudley so far has put together a roster that has some good size to it and will also be more physical. So far the only thing that this team really lacks is a big name scoring threat. Dustin Byfuglien is a big name, but it's not like he's going to light the lamp for 40 goals per season. I think that Dudley's vision for the team though is to grind out the win if you're playing responsible hockey on both sides of the ice you don't have to be an offensive power house to win hockey games. Lest we all forget the real "keys to the game" is to score more goals than the other team...that's all.

What has been your overall impression so far about Dudley? So far I'd have to give him a B+ for all his efforts. The only criticism I have really is that I think he should have signed Max, I think he's being a little tight on his contract. The guy did a great job for us last year. I don't think 4 million for 2 years is too much but I guess Dudley does.

New Offense Not Near As Potent

2010-07-21T11:39:00.000-04:00

I've been taking a cursory look at the revamped Thrasher line up and though I feel that there is a lot of potential and I'm excited to see some of our roster moves, I still feel like there are some pieces missing and that Duds job is not done.

Last season the Atlanta Thrashers combined to score a total of 639 points, this includes all scoring done by any player donning an Atlanta Thrasher's uniform last season. With trades, unrestricted free agency moves, the upcoming arbitration that will most likely see the departure of Clarke MacArthur and the trades bringing in the Blackhawk contingent you are currently set (based on last years numbers) to see 136 less points scored than last year. That's a lot folks.

The Thrashers could cut that margin to 75 less goals with the signing of Maxim Afinogenov, who finished the season as the second highest scorer on the team behind center Nik Antropov. The problem with this seems to be that Dudley has in his head to only pay for one season and the Afinogenov camp wants a little more security. For the record I think Duds is being cheap on this one and he needs to cough up a 2 year 4 million dollar contract. Don't tell me that we don't have it, and if we can pay 2 million this year for Todd White's waste of space than I think it's only right pay somebody who contributed 61 points to your bottom line last year.

Another reason we could use the services of one Mr. Afinogenov, how about the fact that for the moment we only have 3 legitimate Right Wingers on the team. We've got a glut of Left Wingers and if management stands pat then you can expect somebody to have to move to the other side of the ice. Now that's not an impossible task for most players, but it takes time to re-tool your game to the other side of the ice and that means a possible reduction of production until you come up fully on line...and who do you ask to make the switch?

We've added a lot of size, youth, and grit; and those are all good things to have, but if you're not depositing the puck in the back of the net then it's going to do you no good to shove your opponent all over the rink. I do expect that with the size and speed and grit we've acquired you'll see a certain amount of space open up for our forwards that have scoring hands and maybe a jump in the offense of other players but I don't think you're going to make up 136 points worth.

We also lost a significant amount of points in defense that have as of yet to be made up. With the loss of Pavel Kubina to free agency we lost 38 points, for a defensive player this is a nice little chunk. We're basically replacing him with Brent Sopel who was good for a total of 8 regular season points last season. What this means is that we're losing offensive potency from the blue line also.

The argument of course is that though we are losing some potency on the offense we will be gaining some on defense. I'm a little skeptical right now that the improvement will be enough to sustain the loss in offense.

What are your thoughts..are you ok with the Thrasher roster so far? Do you think we are still missing a piece? Do you think our new defense will overcome a drop in offensive production? Let me know

It's Been A While

2010-07-17T09:42:00.001-04:00

I bet you'd thought I'd forgotten about my loyal reader, or the Thrashers. I bet you'd thought that I had given up on the blog, not so. Honestly with little going on for a while I went out and got busy on other projects and then when things started to finally kick up I just didn't have enough time to sit down and write stuff down, well...and honestly...maybe a little laziness set in too.

Well I'm back on the beat and hopefully I can keep my schedule clear enough so I can pull out my soapbox on at least a regular basis and make my feelings known on the current state of the Thrash.

Since I've been gone there's actually been a lot of things happen on the front lines in hockey and with the Thrashers. We traded Marty the Party away and saw recent Stanley Cup Champs Dustin Byflugien, Brent Sopel, Ben Eager, Andrew Ladd and prospect Akim Alieu join the organization. We solidified our position in goal with the signing of Chris Mason. We resigned Jimmy Slater and Eric Boulton, saw Pavel Kubina and the Moose find new homes. Got a new coach, and two assistants. Handed out our qualifying offers and oh..lest we forget drafted Alexander Burmistov in the first round.

Prospect camp just wrapped up and the vibe in Duluth is good that several of our prospects are going to give the new coaching staff something to think about when they come to skate in September.

Oh..and then on the broader hockey front lets not forget we're getting ready to enter into week 3 without Ilya Kovalchuk having signed with any NHL team. The reports are still that he's talking to L.A. about signing there but the best offer they've given him is approximately 6.5 million/year for 13 years. Not exactly close to the 100 million dollar offer that Don Waddell offered up back in February. I said it then and I'm glad it actually seems to be born out as true, his agent, Jay Grossman had way oversold him on his value to NHL teams. In fact at this point the team that seems to have valued him the most was the first one he snubbed.

So as we've seen in my little recap there's plenty of happenings to talk about and I'll probably make some posts in the next few days and weeks trying to kind of summarize and recap those moves, but mostly they've been talked out so I'll spend most of my effort at this point moving forward.

We're moving into the dog days of the off season when there's not much to talk about, other than the aforementioned Kovy watch. It seems to me that the Thrashers are probably close to finished with any off season moves, I'm thinking at this point anything they do will most likely be considered depth signings.

Stay tuned for my next post, where I'll actually focus on one aspect of the team and talk about it..and no it won't take another four months before I write it. To you my loyal reader..thank you for not forgetting that I'm out here..and I apologize you had to read this.

Free Agency Pt 4

2010-04-19T10:34:00.000-04:00

In the final installment of the my free agency run down we'll take a look at some of the people that are out there available come July 1 and see who the Thrashers might want to target, what it might take to get them, and what their chances of landing some of these fish will be.

First off before we dive into the pool I'll lay out what some of my thinking is. Obviously the biggest piece the Thrashers may want to look at once the feeding frenzy begins will be for a winger that can fill in for some of those 40 goals that left when we traded Kovalchuk. Now we got Bergfors, who should be a solid 20 goals next season, so we don't really need a 40 goal man...just another solid 20 goals or so would be nice. We don't need a center, we've got a glut of those, but we need a good solid winger, left or right should do. I'm excluding anybody above the 35 year old range for sure and let's see what we can come up with.

Ilya Kovalchuk - Ok...I couldn't do a UFA post without mentioning the biggest fish in the pond come July 1. Before I go too far, I am a realist and know our chances of signing Kovy to a contract are slim to none...and slim just left town. Now, let me regale you with what, as a fan, I would love to see happen; I know this is as probable as me taking a stroll on the surface of the moon this afternoon...but go with me...as a Thrasher fan it will make you feel good. I want to see New Jersey knocked out in round 1, this of course is two fold, it gets Kovy out of the playoffs early as I don't want him rewarded with post season glory, and it gets us an earlier draft pick. When July rolls around I want him and Jay Grossman to listen to all the offers and none to be as good as what the Thrashers offered him to stay in February, I would love to think that NHL GM's figured he was overpriced. On July 2 the Thrashers sign Kovy for about 9.5 for 10 years, so in the end we get Kovy at a reasonable price, Bergie and a 1st round pick. Will this happen? Yeah...when monkeys fly out of my butt..

Now for realistic choices...

Patrick Marleu - LW - A consistant 30 goal scorer. The San Jose Shark is probably the stand out player on a great team of players. He will command almost as much, and in certain instances perhaps more than Ilya Kovalchuk this coming season. I expect that San Jose will position themselves to meet his salary demands and for him to be resigned. If he choses to look outside the Shark Tank then expect his salary to be hefty, with a no trade clause and for long term. I don't think he will seriously be on the Thrashers' radar and more importantly I can almost guarantee that the Thrashers aren't on his.

Alexander Frolov - LW - A 20-25 goal scorer. The L.A. King sniper is part of an up and coming, exciting King's squad and, like Marleu, I expect him to be resigned by his team. If he choses to look outside the L.A. market expect him to go for 5 to 6 million per year for a minimum of 4. I think the Thrashers would have a low percentage shot at him.

Alexei Ponikarovsky - LW - 20 goal scorer. This is a winger that will get looks from many clubs, including the Thrashers. He's a solid 2nd or 3rd line winger with some upside. He should be a fairly economical pickup at around 2.5 to 3 million per year for a 4 year deal. He's played with Antropov and Kubina so he would have familiar faces on the club, no to mention the strong Russian presence we have on the roster could be tempting. I think he should be on the short list of players that Dudley will have in his sights, consider him in the mix for UFA signing talks.

Ruslan Fedotenko - LW - 15 goal scorer. Fedotenko is at best a 3rd line winger and we have those already. He should be a fairly inexpensive addition to whatever team picks him up. I don't see him being on Dudley's shopping list.

Those should be the top wingers available. Note, this is not supposed to be a comprehensive list..just a few for thought and who I think will be the under 35 wingers that will be ones to look at.

This will conclude my 4 part series on FA's...next we'll talk about the vacated "C" and who should maybe get it.

Free Agency Pt 3

2010-04-15T11:23:00.000-04:00

In the last 2 posts about the Thrashers' free agents we discussed all the skaters and I pretty much laid out what I though there. To wrap it up basically I'd like to see Max, Pavel, Slater and Artyukhin return, I think we have about a 25% shot at Army. We know that Slava is gone. I think you'll see either Schubert or Popovic resigned, but not both and I think the Thrashers will most likely pass on Eric Boulton.

That leaves one last guy to talk about...Johan Hedberg...Moose..

This may also be one of the biggest FA decisions to have to make and I'm afraid that whatever decision is made is not going to make the majority of fans happy. Moose is a special case on several levels..so let's dive in and take a look at the popular Swede and explain why either way this goes...it's probably not got a great ending...

Moose has been pretty much a career backup goalie, he fills the position admirably, and is a hard worker. He's also a fan and locker room favorite and I've yet to hear anybody in the NHL either fan, player, coach or executive say anything bad about the guy. That's is what will make it hard if the Thrashers decide to pass, it's always hard to fire the nice guy. On top of all that, this past season's performance would make it hard to let him go also..the fact is that he started as the back up and became the starter by the middle of the season and had if not the best year of his career, the second best. We might not have made it to the playoffs, but you can't fault the goaltending at all for that.

So why is the decision going to be so difficult? Well there are a couple of things that are going to be hard to get around. The first is Moose's age, the man is going to be 37 at the beginning of the season and this is still typically a young guy's game. He's in great shape and has a awesome work ethic so we can count he'll be ready to suit up, but time is not on his side. Second, as a career backup this season should most likely be taken with a grain of salt. I'm afraid that Moose played over his head, now before anybody beats me with those words let me explain. I'm not saying that I don't think the guy is good..I'm one of his biggest fans...I love the guy to death..but I'm afraid he had a career year and peaked and that he wouldn't be able to produce that again if pressed to do so. Third, the farm is getting choked with promising goaltending talent. We've got Manino, Carrozzi, and MacIntyre that will all be looking to make a break into the NHL too, albeit this is more a minor point than the other two.

Here's some reasons why they should say yes though. I'm going to try to give you both sides..don't worry...I like him too much to just shoot the whole thing down. Ok...so here's why you sign him. It's obvious that Pavelec is going to be the goalie of the future (at least for now) so why not just sign Moose to be his backup just like this year, the fact is the man has a small ego and can accept that role and do it well, and if like this year he's called upon to step up you know you'll get everything that he's got. He'll be fairly cheap, though I'd give him a bit of a raise based on this season's performance. You can sign him to a short term deal, perhaps either just a year or 2 at the most.

Yes there are going to be some bigger name goalies hitting the FA market this season, including names like Nittymaki (if you can't beat them..join them maybe), Turco, Theodore, Emery and so on..but like I said the goaltending wasn't the problem this year...maybe we should just stand pat.

In conclusion, personally I wouldn't have any problem with them holding their cards on this and giving the Moose a 2 year deal at 1.5 mil per season. What would you like to see...let me know...

Free Agency Pt 2

2010-04-14T11:42:00.000-04:00

In the first installment we looked at Slava, Armstrong, Artyukhin, Slater and Boulton. Now we're going to take a look at some big names from this season and several impact players that the Thrashers will most likely be talking to soon.

Maxim Afinogenov - Mad Max was brought in during training camp this last season on a pro tryout and made the team, with a 800k contract for the season. With his reputation damaged and his career flagging, he was looking for a fresh start and it looks like he found one in Atlanta. The big Russian winger played all 82 games this season and set a new career high 24 goals along with 37 assists for a total of 61 points total. This was his first season in the NHL where he played the full schedule, his best before this year's campaign being 2001/2002 season where he played 81.

The Thrashers have a good chance of retaining the speedy Russian winger, earlier this week he made comments in the paper that look very good for the Thrashers.
“I like it here a lot. We’ll see what they are going to do, but I really like it here. That’s what I told [ Waddell].” Overall that bodes well for the Thrashers. If I were Dudley I would make signing Max a priority and I would like to see the deal done before June. I think an offer of 2-3 years at 2 to 2.5 million a year is about right and should get the deal done.

Pavel Kubina - The big veteran defenseman is among the first players that should be addressed this off season. GM Rick Dudley needs to make Pavel a priority and sign him quickly. His size and experience on the blue line make him a must sign in my opinion. He finished the season with 38 points, which is his 3rd best effort since being in the NHL, also finished the season even on +/-, given the overall goal differential of the team that's not bad. Kubina is 33 and still has time on his side. I would like to see a 4 year deal that would be close to the Antropov deal.

Christoph Schubert/Mark Popovic - I'm going to cover the two of these guys together. Both are depth defensemen and with the likes of Arturs Kulda, Paul Postma and Ivan Vishnevskiy in the wings there is a good chance that the Thrashers may only need 1 depth defenseman this coming season. If the decision were mine I would retain Schubert for one more year at the same money he made this season. Schubert has a little size on Popovic and a bit more of a scoring touch, along with the ability to play on the wing if really needed.

Next installment will be all about the Moose..and what we should do about that situation...it's going to be interesting.

Ch-ch-ch-Changes

2010-04-14T11:07:00.001-04:00

The Thrashers made some pretty big changes just 4 business days after the end of their season. The Thrashers have promoted Don Waddell to team President and have hired Rick Dudley, their former assistant GM as the new General Manager and have let go the entire coaching staff.

To say we as fans didn't see any of that coming would be wrong. I was a little surprised by the coaching staff changes but it's understandable. The incoming GM wants to put his stamp on the team, if you're going to be held accountable you want to put the people in place under you.

On a personal note, I've had an opportunity to speak with the entire coaching staff from time to time and they are all very nice guys and very classy...I hate to see that for them on a personal level...but this is not just sports...but a business and that's what happens in the business world.

I'm not the worlds biggest expert on what coaches are even available. I know that Craig McTavish is out there and I would love to see him come to Atlanta. It would provide instant credibility to the organization and could make us much more attractive to the free agent market.

Many folks will be happy that Don will not have a immediate impact on the team but are still a little disappointed that he will be in a position to still have influence. I think most people would prefer to see his influence on the team limited to whether or not he bought a ticket like the rest of us.

The moves made by management at least show that accountability may be the new watchword in the Thrashers organization and they are looking to make some big changes.

Free Agency Pt 1

2010-04-13T12:18:00.000-04:00

With the off season comes the end of contracts, and their subsequent renewal or the player's release. The Thrashers are on the brink of a huge turnover, with 10 rostered players and 6 farm system players up for free agency. Let's take a look at the rostered players and make some predictions on which are going and which ones are staying, and if they are staying..what their price may be. I'll go over some pros and cons for the players and try to detail why I think the Thrashers should either bid them goodbye or sign them back up.

Slava Kozlov - The 38 year old winger is gone, we all know this. There is now a public feud between head coach John Anderson and Slava, along with an all too apparent directions to not resign the veteran winger. Pragmatically I think this is the right decision, even if Slava would resign. He's in decline and I think his best hockey is certainly behind him and we need to move on. Sentimentally I hate to see both the public rift between the player and the coach and I hate to see one of my favorite Thrashers move on...but it is best for all parties. I hope he catches on at another club and has a good year next year.

Colby Armstrong - Colby is a physical 3rd line winger with a decent scoring touch, good for about 12-15 goals a year on average, he plays very physical and could be considered an agitator along with his grinding skills. He has a very upbeat personality and fits in with just about any locker room. I think if the Thrashers make a run at him they have about a 25% chance of landing him. Basically, like Marion Hossa before him he was traded to Atlanta and watched the team he used to be on win a Stanley Cup while he played early off season golf. I'm sure he has doubts as to the club's ability to make a serious playoff run after seeing this season unfold and I'm betting he'll want to find a team that will be playing April hockey next season. If I were Rick Dudley I would certainly make a run at him, and I'd make a serious offer, one that made him have to think and I'd do it before the end of June. The Thrashers should offer him a 4 year deal at 3.5 per year, that's not to say he'll sign...but anything less and he wouldn't even entertain the offer.

Evgeny Artyukhin - Aquired from Anaheim in a trade with Nathan Oystrick, the 6'4 255 pound winger is surprising fast for his size and brings tenacity and grit on the ice. Evgeny is good for about 20 points a season total, so he's not a scoring machine. He's shown a willingness in the past to drop the gloves and go at it and his size and speed bring a certain amount of intimidation. The Thrashers have a big decision to make with regards to him and Eric Boulton as the team will be looking to pare down the number of tough guy types it has on the club. I'm thinking that the Thrashers would be better served offering a contract to Artyukhin rather than Boulton. He has size and speed and a tad bit better scoring touch over Boultsie along with a couple of years. The Thrashers should offer a 3 year deal for about 1.5 to 1.75 million per year. This past season he was earning 950k so this would be a slight pay raise without breaking the bank.

Jim Slater - The former 1st rounder began this season as a press box regular, and didn't really get an opportunity to show much until after Kovy broke his foot and they needed to fill the hole. Jim showed why he belongs here by making it almost impossible for John Anderson to send him back to the box once Kovy had recovered. Slater had a career year in goals, with overall point production being at his previous levels. Jim also showed fire and determination by a willingness to get physical and throw some punches when needed. Overall I think the club was thoroughly impressed with Slater's year and will offer him another contract. I expect the term will be 2 years with a possibility of as many as 4 years. He made 840k last year, I would say a modest bump to say 900k or so would be in line. I think he wants to stay here...this should be an easy one.

Eric Boulton - The gritty 33 year old winger has been the Thrashers enforcer for the last 5 years. Highly respected in the locker room and a fan favorite. He's improved his fighting skills and his scoring skills are pretty consistent with about 10 total points a season. Of course he's not here for points, he's a physical and gritty skater with average speed. As a pure business move I think it's time for the Thrashers to move on. As a fan I like him and wished there were room for him on the roster, but the fact is that Artyukhin does everything that Boulton does, only faster and with a little more skill and he has size on Boultsie. Therefore, I would let Boulton explore other options on July 1 and thank him for his service to the Thrashers and Atlanta. As a fan I hope he catches on with somebody else and he's able to play more NHL hockey.

That's it for this post...with so much commentary this thing will run way too long if I keep going. Look for Part 2 when we talk about Max, Kubina, Schubert and Popovic. Part 3 will be a look at Moose and the prospect UFA's and then we'll finish up with Part 4 looking at the UFA market as a whole and see who the Thrasher might want to target for signing.

Front Office Follies

2010-04-12T16:14:00.000-04:00

If there has been one subject talked out over the last 5 years more than a change in the General Manager's position here in Atlanta I don't know what it is. I thought with the entire off season now staring us in the face that we should discuss the ups, down and all arounds of the general manager's position and what we'd like to see happen.

The end of this season marked the end of the 10th season of NHL hockey here in Atlanta since it's return and with it the 9th season with no post season. Now I'm sure that most of you guys were probably pretty realistic when hockey settled back in the A town that we wouldn't have a post season team for several years. After all we were an expansion club and were drafting from unprotected players and such..had no farm system...no depth...we knew it would be bare for a while. I really wasn't expecting much in the way of "winning" hockey for the first 4-5 years. After year 5 I expected to start being a contender for winning seasons and to make the playoffs. Honestly, for the most part, we were pretty much on that schedule. Somewhere along the way though we fell off the tracks.

I'm not going to go over some of the big disappointments and failures of the past..it's a storied history and any true Thrasher fan is well aware of the headaches and heartaches we've endured with this team. The big question is of course should the Thrashers retain the services of Don Waddell and if so, in what capacity?

I know like 99% of you are going to say send him packing, and I wouldn't blame you or argue with you. In the hyper competitive sports world to have the track record that we do would most certainly doom you to lose your job in any other market. Don has a special brand of kool-aid and the Octocluster loves the taste. The Falconer reported that a rumor is swirling that will send Don to the president's office and make Rick Dudley the GM. I think IF the Thrashers are to retain his services it should be in that capacity.

So...let's run with the premise that Rick Dudley is the new GM in Atlanta and that Don Waddell let's him take the control he needs to do the job..(i.e. staying the hell out of it)..so what should he do. Has he got a 5 year plan...I hope not...because he hasn't got 5 years. The fans may give him 1 year, but that's probably all the leash the fans are willing to give at this point.

What should Dudley do then? Well here's a few suggestions for him..

1) Sign Kubina and Afinogenov - Kubina was a top three leader all season in +/- and his veteran presence on the blue line was a highlight of an otherwise lack luster defense. Afinogenov was also a huge boost to the offense and with the huge 40 goal void that walked out of Atlanta when we dealt Kovy we're going to need some veteran scoring presence. C-Viv posted that both are receptive to staying in Atlanta and I think with a relatively young team that some veterans that have good skill would not be out of line. Give Kubina a 2 year deal at 3 million per and Afinogenov a 3 year deal at 1.5-2 million per and you should be able to seal both of them up.

2) Re-sign all RFA's - This goes without saying...and make sure we give each of them a good enough deal that it will be hard for any of them to get poached...not that we have any that I think are in danger of that happening to.

3) Replace John Anderson and his entire staff - I think a new start here is going to be essential. I like John Anderson..he's really a nice guy...but I don't know if his style translates to the NHL. I can only speak as a fan..but let me tell you something I got sick of hearing. I got tired of hearing "We're fragile" "You know you can only take so many blows to your constitution" "I don't know why we're starting off slow". I hate to say it...but dude...it's your job to get them ready every game...and when the bell rang...more often than not...they weren't ready.

4) Along with getting a new coach and very importantly...get a dedicated goalie coach. This Steve Weeks thing with doing double duty ain't working. I want to see a dedicated coach that works with the goalies on a daily basis.

After these 4 suggestions of course he'll have other UFA signings and decisions to make and then of course the draft and prospects to look at in Traverse City and then in Duluth in September.

As far as who to bring in a coach..well I'm not certain who all is even available (I know Rick Tocchet is...buuut) I'm also not a GM.

What I am, though, is a fan and I can tell you that as a fan..you know..one who pays to see this team that my patience in not being able to go to the post season is wearing thin. I'm sick of having to defend my team to others who think that hockey in Atlanta is a joke..and by extension those of us who follow the Thrashers are a joke also. I'm tired of seeing good talent walk away from this team, or flat out refuse it, because they know that they will not get an opportunity to play for anything.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not alone with what I just said...and I'm pretty sure that most everybody out there feels the way I do...Dudley...Waddell...doesn't matter...you don't have much more time to produce something before my entertainment dollars will no longer go into your wallet.

Coming up soon...we'll take a look at the UFA's and the UFA market and what we could do. The upside is we got plenty of money...the downside is we have a terribad reputation.

The Season is Over...So Now What?

2010-04-12T09:40:00.001-04:00

Ok..ok...so it's been a while since I posted...to be honest with you folks, several things crept up on me and a certain amount of writer's fatigue set in. This being the first season I've tried to blog about the Thrashers wasn't easy..and it's sure not easy to crank out material on an almost daily basis...and to be honest...the season just wore down on me..along with other commitments around the house and at work. But I'm sneaking off into a corner to pound out a new post and hopefully get my mojo working again.

So...the season is over...disappointed no??...me too. There are things to feel good about, and there are things to look back and say that they are good building blocks, but to sit here and say that you're totally ok with not being in the playoffs would be either a lie...or you're just not much of a Thrasher fan.

I'll be doing several posts over the next few days and weeks about different aspects of the whole off season goings on...including the draft lottery, draft, free agency and the various camps leading up to training camp in September. There is a lot to cover from what moves will the Thrashers make with resigning players (we got 9 going to FA) of course some we won't see again, but some hopefully will be resigned. We've also got a draft and with 2 first round picks it's going to be interesting to see what we can get. Then there's the elephant in the room....is ownership going to do anything about management? Have we seen the last of Don Waddell as GM or John Anderson as coach..or both...or neither?

Before we go into all of that I want to take a few moments to do some recognizing of my own. Being a blogger this season has given me a certain amount of "access" and an ability to meet and socialize with people I would not normally have come across, or to really have an opportunity to connect with them. I would like to give a shout out to some new friends I made during the course of the season and to let them know how much I've enjoyed their company, either in person...or over the intertubes.

Bill Tiller - Rawhide...the AJC fan correspondent...all I got to say to you is...."Hey Buddy!!"...you've been a great friend and I'm glad I got to know you...I've enjoyed watching games with you and look forward to next season.

The Blueland Chronicle Guys - Morty...Shooter...Razor and Frenchy....I've hung out with several of you guys before games and at viewing parties and your blog has been a constant source of entertainment and thought provoking satire and commentary...keep doing what you do...you guys are awesome..

Sunshine...a.k.a Virginia (Getting Pucks Deep) - First off...you and your husband are super cool!!...second...I love your photos...and the comments...I'm a total fanboy of your blog...so keep shutterbugging and we'll keep watching..

Mr. Speaker - Love your blog too...and your comments when you're on Big Willy's blog....you've got a great hockey mind...which means you're probably good for nothing else...lol

Chris Vivlamore - I love your writing...I thank you for your beat coverage...you really are a "go to" source for Thrasher news

Sean Grace - Dude....you're cool as hell and I've enjoyed both your blog posts (always well written) and hanging out with you....good luck on the birth of your first child and congrats man.

Falconer and his crew - You know you guys are awesome right?? There's no better break down of the numbers than you guys...I don't think anybody else in the Thrasher blogospher would even challenge your spreadsheet skills...I love BWA so keep it up.

Lisa Lewis - Thanks for all your hard work this season with the fan club...the road trip to Nashville rocked...I know that was hard work...it's been a pleasure getting to know you...

To all the staff that participated in the Thrasher blogger events....thanks for making a amateur scribe feel like he was a reporter or something if only for a minute...it was awesome..

To all the fans I met...my friends in section 310....you guys know who you are...I'll see you next season and may your summer be awesome

Next post will actually be..believe it or not....hockey related...till then..have a great offseason!!

Brushed Aside

2010-03-24T10:34:00.000-04:00

Last night's overwhelming loss to the Boston Bruins effectively brushed your Atlanta Thrashers to the side. For the woe is me crowd this is not the end of our playoff chances. Our chances have been tight for a week or two now and we certainly didn't help our cause dropping that game to the Bruins.

Personally I didn't think that we played a terrible game in the sense that we came out and didn't try. I thought the team played with a lot of grit and heart, well, until the end of the second period with just 4 seconds left when the 3rd goal got past Moose. Eric Boulton, tried like hell to get things going in the 1st period with a throw down with Shawn Thornton, which I think was probably close to a draw, but he got the crowd going. The dagger in the heart of the team was the final goal early in the 3rd period, I think the team had some fight left in them before that, but any will to win fled with that goal.

I thought the crowd was pretty into the game until early in the 3rd period also. The attendance somewhere around the 14,000 mark, with little to no homeless actually in the crowd drinking free beer and munching on free hot dogs.

Did that hurt? Hell yeah!!...are we now completely washed out??...Hell No!!!...It's going to be a tough climb, and one we may not be able to accomplish, but the fact is that even if we had won last night that was going to still be the case; though the win would have made the climb a little easier. We're still in the hunt and only 3 points out.

The team you may really want to pay attention to folks is Philly. Currently they are in 6th place and 4 points ahead of the Thrashers, but they are in a little bit of a free fall and having to rely heavily upon a 3rd line goalie and with Jeff Carter, their biggest offensive weapon, gone for the rest of the regular season. They could very easily fall out of the race completely and leave a spot open for the Thrashers. The biggest job that Atlanta faces is to continue to win as many points as possible to put themselves in the best position they can and to fend off at all costs the assault of the hated New York Rangers, you may remember them...they swept us the only time we've ever been to the dance.

Tomorrow the Thrashers face a tough Toronto Maple Leafs, the Thrashers can not afford to look past this team. Though they are in the cellar in the conference they have been playing some decent hockey and are working on coming together as a team, they will be dangerous in the seasons to come in my opinion.

The Thrashers are certainly faced with a major up hill climb, with teams like Washington (X2), Pittsburgh (x2), Carolina (x2) and New Jersey. With maybe...maybe...the exception of Washington, all these teams will be playing for something, whether that be pride, a improved playoff seed, home ice advantage in the playoffs or something...so nobody is going to give us anything. That is not to say that it can't be done...but it's going to be a rough road.

Don't Look Now...Is That A Playoff Spot?

2010-03-19T09:28:00.000-04:00

What a difference a few games make in the NHL...this time a week ago the residents of Blueland were ready to take the GM, Coach and Team all out back and shoot them...now I think they'd settle for the GM. Last night's convincing win again the Ottawa Senators, along with Boston's shutout loss to Pittsburgh, and the Rags dropping a close one to the Blues puts Atlanta back in the thick of the fight.

Atlanta came out and struck early with a goal by Artyukhin in the first period and then played the rest of the period out solidly. We opened the second period with a goal by Jim Slater, whose game has vastly improved from last season, off a pass from Todd White. Then with a totally blind, bias, bullshit call from the refs later in the period the Senators get a gift with a goalie interference call that cost the Thrashers a goal, and almost immediately after that another goal to tie the game at 3.

Now the 3rd goal I really believe was more that Moose was still so incensed with the previous no call that he may have let his concentration slip a little. What I'm happy to see is that the team responded the way it should by coming out in the 3rd period and controlling the game. There have been times before where this would have been enough to totally deflate the team and for them to respond by coming out flat and giving up, rather than scoring, 3 goals.

Last night's win gives the Thrashers a little more control of their own destiny and they can seize the opportunity with a strong showing this weekend against Philly. The Thrashers have a back to back, home and home stand with the Flyers starting here in Atlanta on Saturday and then Sunday up in Philly. If we can grab all 4 of those points along with a little luck in Boston hopefully continuing to lose and then we host Boston next Tuesday. We have the opportunity by then, if we work hard, to take sole posession of 8th place.

Bill Tiller and his gang over at the Iceman Blogs have a great idea to nominate the elderly couple from the kiss cam, your editor and the entire staff here at FanThrashtic LOVE that idea...GO OLD COUPLE!!

Have a great weekend and Believe in Blueland

Keeping Hope Alive

2010-03-17T08:27:00.000-04:00

The Thrashers kept their playoff hopes (as slim as they are) alive with a 4-3 win over Buffalo last night. Last night's game may have been one of the best performances of the team in the last month or more.

The Thrashers jumped out early with goals by Antropov and Little and then after the Sabres answered with a power play goal of their own then Afinogenov tallied right back and that was the end of the night for Ryan Miller.

The rest of the game was a battle with the Sabres erasing the Thrasher's lead and with just over 6 minutes left Jim Slater tipped in a Nic Bergfors shot and the Thrashers took the lead.

What I liked the most from the team's performance last night was the level of physicality, they took it to the Sabres from the drop of the puck and never let off the gas. Moose battled all night long and while not on top of his game put in a great effort in net and was rewarded. The other thing that the Thrashers did was to crash the net....oh my God...that really works?!?

There is good news and bad news about this win...the Good news is we didn't lose any ground on the 8th place Boston Bruins...the Bad news is that the Bruins beat the Canes last night so we didn't gain any ground either. The Thrashers will need to build on this strong performance with Ottawa coming into town tomorrow and make sure to play a physically tough game with a lot of net crashing.

According to the Globe and Mail we are still mathematically in the playoff hunt but the Thrasher will need to play near perfect hockey for the remainder of the season and there are a lot of tough games yet to play including several against the Penguins along with a meeting with the Capitals and back to back meetings this weekend with the Flyers.

Looking Ahead

2010-03-12T11:21:00.000-05:00

Is it too early to look ahead and see what the off season is going to bring? Let's take a couple of minutes and sit on the porch and whittle while we talk off season hockey.

Well first off we should be in the top 10 picks for the draft so that'll be nice. I think the biggest move that will be concerning Thrasher fans though will be the disposition of front office management. With Don Waddell's contract up at the end of this season the fans are clamoring for new leadership, the question is will the Octocluster provide it, or will they allow the Teflon Don to retain his current strangle hold on hockey mediocrity?

Lately I'm also seeing more calls to replace John Anderson. I'm not sure yet how I feel about that. I like his system and if people played it like they did in November then it could be exciting to watch and effective, however I do have a list of issues I have with him, the first being his inability to get this team ready to answer the bell for a full 60 minutes on a consistent basis. Another thing that is getting irritating is the plethora of excuses used in the post game scrum in which it's always a bad bounce, or we're fragile...we're fragile??? These are hockey players....fragile?? really?? I guess maybe if they are that fragile they should try Ice Dancing.

After we solve the GM and Coaching conundrum we'll need to move on to UFA/RFA signings and roster moves. I'm hoping personally that we can convince Pavel Kubina to stick around, but I expect to see Maxim Afinogenov and Colby Armstrong exit stage right...(even)

Have you gotten your season ticket package for next year yet??? I got mine last night and I'm still not sure...for more reasons admittedly than the on ice product, but that certainly hasn't been compelling enough to make me throw caution to the wind with respect to my other concerns.

With last night's loss to the Blue Jackets this team all but sealed their playoff fate and they are now left to the whims and unpredictability of what the rest of the NHL does and less to how we do alone. I think what makes this such a bitter pill to swallow this season is because we tasted sweet success so early in the season and felt like we should be looking to who we're going to play in the playoffs at this point instead of what moves the club will make in the off season...that will start in April

Stay tuned for the next post when I actually research who we might have a shot at in the draft...and do a UFA/RFA breakdown

Playoff Hopes..Meet Drain

2010-03-10T09:50:00.000-05:00

The Thrashers' playoff hopes have not totally faded yet...but they are doing that slow death spiral right around the drain and may soon empty out into the ocean. With last night's tough loss to Nashville the Thrashers are now in a position where they have to play .750 hockey the rest of the month. They haven't preformed that well all season, even back in November when they were hot. The best winning streak the Thrashers have been able to put together all season was 4, they did this twice in November, since then the best they have been able to string together is 2. They need to win 9 out of the last 12 games in March that means that they have to put together no less than an average of 3 winning streaks of 3 games a piece. With teams like the Coyotes (4th in Western Conference), Sabres (3rd in Eastern Conference), Senators (5th in Eastern Conference) and Flyers (6th in Eastern Conference) that's a tall tall order.

Unlike our divisional rival Carolina who can look at their derailed playoff hopes from the beginning of the season and maybe hang a lot of the blame on injury, the Thrashers have nobody to blame but themselves. Their porous defense, lazy starts and lack of consistent play, along with the Kovy contract drama (if you really believe the BS that it didn't cause problems you're fooling yourself) and the instability in goal all helped to set up this situation.

Ok...for the 3 or 4 of you who read my blog on a pretty consistent basis you know that I am usually pretty ra-ra when it comes to the Thrashers. I love this team and I had said from the beginning of the season that this team would make the playoffs and honestly spewed a little venom in the pre-season against those that predicted our finish to be around the 12-14 positions in the conference. First, I apologize for those that predicted we would finish outside the playoffs, I guess you were right and I was wrong. Second, I think this team, as it was when it broke camp, could have made the playoffs if some of the things that happened this season hadn't happened; namely Kovy not re-signing.

Is it over this season? Technically....mathematically....not yet. If you've followed this team for any real amount this season, and I'm assuming you have if you're reading my blog then you know that the chances of the Thrashers pulling off the performance they will need for the rest of this month and the month of April is highly unlikely.

Thrashers Piss Away a Weekend

2010-03-08T09:19:00.000-05:00

That's right..let's not play with any heart, desire or focus...let's pretend we're already out of the playoff race and we have nothing left to play for. Were these the words coming out of the locker room? It sure seemed like it was.

After two convincing wins earlier this week the Thrashers played terrible this weekend. I can't even begin to describe how bad both games were. No...we're not out of the playoffs, but we sure aren't helping our own cause out much by dropping these terribad stinkers this weekend.

Tomorrow we got the Predators back at Phillips Arena. The Thrashers traveled to Nashville back in January and the fan club and many others made the journey at peril to see the Thrashers drop the game 4-3. Hopefully these two horrendous games will serve as a wakeup call and the Thrashers can bounce back. The Preds are in the thick of the Western Conference fight and can ill afford to lose the points to the Thrashers anymore than we can afford to drop this game to them. It *Should* be a hotly contested game, let's just see if the Thrashers actually come out and try.

Thrashers Trounce Isles and Bounce into 8th

2010-03-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

Well..well..what a difference a few weeks make. Remember that bleak December and January where we saw the fleeting hopes of the club going down the drain? Thinking to yourself that we would have no hope to make the playoffs with the way the team was playing..

Fast-forward to March and we see it's a whole different team (literally) and now it's a whole new ball game (or hockey game). The Thrashers have revamped the team and in turn it seems to have energized the squad. The once 1st period lethargy is gone in favor of a new up beat almost frenetic energy that has buoyed the team back into true playoff relevance.

Last night with the sinking of the Islanders in convincing fashion, mind you, and with the help of the San Jose Sharks disposing of the Habs the Thrashers find themselves in sole possession of 8th place this morning. Yes, we are tied in points with Da Rags at 66, but we have 2 games in hand so we own 8th.

Now I'm not foolish enough to believe that just because we own 8th now it's all over and I'm already counting on post season play, but it's a darn good start. If the Thrashers can continue to play like this they will certainly make it difficult for the other bubble teams to secure a spot, but there is still a lot of hockey to play.

So how about those new guys?!?

With their bags barely unpacked they look like they are fitting in like they've been here all season. They're fitting in so nicely it seems that Artyukhin, MacArthur and Bergfors all potted goals last night. The new blood in the room may be just the spark that is needed to ignite this team and push them into the playoffs.

Next up the Thrashers have Tampa in Tampa on Saturday and then turn around and host the red hot Carolina Hurricanes at Phillips on Sunday. These are both big games for different reasons. The Lightning have been struggling lately and are just 3 points behind us right now in the standings and we can't afford to give up ground to anybody. The Hurricanes have been red hot lately, having won their last 7 games. The Thrashers will need these two games to gain some ground on Montreal, New York and Boston.

Believe in Blueland folks...come out to Phillips Arena and make some noise

Still Waiting

2010-03-04T12:59:00.000-05:00

Well the Olympics are over...the population of Vancouver has normalized and there's supposedly this big announcement I've been waiting to see come out.

You know what I'm talking about. The Thrashers, according to the iron clad source of some retard on a rock station in Winnipeg, are supposed to announce that they have been sold and are relocating next year to Winnipeg. That was supposed to happen right after the Olympics...

Gee....the Olympics are over...did I miss the announcement? I wonder when it's gonna come down...I guess I'll just stand over here in the corner holding my breath until then...

Grading the Thrashers Trades

2010-03-04T10:34:00.004-05:00

This season has seen some big moves from the Thrashers' management when it comes to trades and personnel moves. Let's take a moment or two to break some of them down and grade them. One thing seems to be evident though, Rick Dudley has had a positive effect on this club's talent selection and trade strategies.

Let's take a look at the recent moves made by management and see how they shake down.

Ilya Kovalchuk Trade - B
You can't trade away somebody like Ilya Kovalchuk and it not hurt. Kovy was a proven 40+ goal scorer per year with an overall point production nearing 100 points per season, he was the captain and the face of the franchise. Because he was all that, you're not going to be able to trade him away close to the trade deadline, with him being considered a rental, and get near back what you're sending out the door. In return for Kovy the Thrashers received Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, the Devil's 1st round pick and swapped positions with the Devils in the second round.

Overall Waddell did very good with this trade considering what we were giving up. Oduya is signed for next season at 4 million, Bergfors is a RFA who will get more money but could be signed for a nice longer term contract. Cormier is a QMJHL player who has some upside but also is serving a season long suspension for a dirty elbow. This, by the way, is not his first dirty play, just the worst. Cormier is scouted to be a good solid gritty 3rd or 4th line player, but he's a prospect.

We picked up the Devil's 1st round pick which judging from their position in the standings will be a late pick in the round. This should net us some talent that will need development but may be able to start at Chicago and only need a year or two in the minors if we pick well. The last part of that deal was the swapping of spots with the Devils in the second round and honestly anything after the 1st round is a crap shoot.

We lost roughly 90 to 100 points a season and picked up a solid defenseman and a top 9 forward, both with time left on contracts, that was the immediate impact.

Kari Lehtonen - C
The Kari Lehtonen trade didn't net the club much in the way of usable help this season...but then again Kari wasn't any usable help this season either..so I guess that's a wash. We picked up Ivan Vishnevskiy and a 4th round pick in exchange for a glass groined goalie.

Vishnevskiy is a puck moving defenseman with a possibility to become a power play quarterback. He's only average in his own end and has trouble with power forwards. He's gonna need some work in the minors and with the glut of defensemen we have right now he won't see any time at the NHL level for a couple of years. He may end up being a piece to be moved at another time.

Evgenei Artyukhin for Nathan Oystrick - A-
This trade is nothing but upside in my opinion. Artyukhin is big, fast and can grind down opponents. No he's not a big scoring threat but he'll add size and strength up front, something that Waddell and Dudley have been looking for. We traded away Nathan Oystrick, a defenseman who played for the Thrashers as a 3rd pair defense last season but has since been relegated to Chicago due to depth in the organization. Oystrick wasn't going to make the NHL club anytime soon because of our depth at that position so I see this is a good chance for a good player to maybe break back onto NHL ice. Like I said...nothing but upside in this trade, we gave up practically nothing and got some size for it.

Clarke MaCArthur - A
We gave up our 3rd and 4th round picks, which are considered a crap shoot at best for a 3rd line forward with an average potential of 30 points per season give or take.

Chris Chelios - B
Signed to a 2 way contract and pushed through waivers (I was sure holding my breath on that one). This is nothing more than a depth signing that costs us little to nothing really. He's there in case shit hits the fan and we need somebody, the upside is that he has crazy amounts of experience and can be a mentor to just about anybody on the bench.

Overall Grade - B+

Here's the criticism - With regards to Kovy, should we have let it get so far that the deal that was made was the best case to salvage the situation of should we have played it like we did and try to sign him. Despite what the players and management say I think that December and January sucked partially because of the distraction of the whole deal and you could certainly see as the months progressed Kovy's lack of enthusiasm for playing in Atlanta.

Tell me what you think...do you agree with my grades?? How would you score them?

It's A Jungle Out There

2010-03-03T12:33:00.002-05:00

Well the trade activity continues to swirl around. With the Thrashers there have been a few tidbits that are interesting.

Per Ben Wright - Kubina and Afinogenov not an option for trades - Club working on extensions with both (hinted at being close on Kubina)
Mueller in play for Atlanta per several sources on Twitter
Ron Hainsey pulled off ice early in practice - Supposedly this has nothing to do with a trade (but anything is possible)
Jay Grossman linked a Russian news article about Kozlov - He's not happy, he and Ilya told Anderson to only roll 3 lines instead of 4. He didn't like that management made the statement that we hadn't won anything while Kovy was here (Didn't know the truth was so hard to swallow)
Rumor is that Atlanta's aquired 1st round pick from NJ would be in play for the right player
Chris Chelios cleared waivers

More to come I'm sure...I'll keep updating as the day goes along

**Update**

Peter Mueller ended up going in a trade with Colorado in exchange for Wolski.

The Viv is tweeting that nothing imminent for Thrashers at this time

**Update Redux**

It looks like the last move of the day for the Thrashers will be the acquisition of LW Clark McArthur for our 3rd and 4th pick of this upcoming draft. Give me a little bit of time to do some analysis on the trade and I'll weigh in with a new post.

Several decent moves around the NHL most likely the trade of the day and the big scorer was Phoenix in getting Wolski.

Good Start to March Madness

2010-03-03T09:23:00.000-05:00

The Thrashers came out of the gate with a good start last night against the Florida Panthers. With 16 more games to play this month (11 left at home) the Thrashers have just begun a march to the playoffs, but they started in fine fashion last night.

Coming out of the gate you could tell that the typical listless 1st period play of the Thrashers this season was not in force. They came out with a purpose and played hard. With less than 5 minutes in we found ourselves up by 2 goals and I was beginning to think we were going to chase Clemenson from the net. The Panthers never say die though and fired back scoring the next two goals and knotting the contest at 2 apiece going into the first intermission.

The boys in blue came out for the second period and put the game away on a power play goal by Todd White and then a slap shot from the point from Pavel Kubina and sealed the deal. The Thrashers finished out the 3rd period strong with Todd White's goal standing up as the game winner.

Last night's win put us at 64 points, just 1 points out of 8th place and 2 points out of 7th place. Next up is the Islanders, who we have not been able to beat thus far this season. The Thrashers will need to jump out quick and steal the momentum of the game. Look for Artyukhin to make the lineup on Thursday, not sure who's going to be sitting out.

As Ben Wright posted on twitter the 23 man roster limit has been lifted for the rest of the season so the feeding frenzy is on for teams to beef up their rosters. The Thrashers added veteran defenseman Chris Chelios yesterday to a 2 way contract. This should be seen as nothing more than a depth signing and I don't expect you'll see him up unless we have some injuries that sideline our regular corps of defensemen.

There is still about 5 1/2 hours left before the trade deadline. I'll post something more based on any moves the Thrashers are able to make.

Artyukhin Comes to Atlanta

2010-03-02T08:47:00.000-05:00

Waddell pulled the trigger on what I'm sure he hopes to be several moves before the trade deadline tomorrow. Evgenei Artyukhin was added to the roster, beefing up the front in exchange for Nathan Oystrick and a conditional pick.

Breaking it down

So what does this get us and what did we really give up? Was this a good move...great move...or a bad move?

Well we've certainly added bulk. Artyukhin is 6'4" and 255lbs making him the biggest active skater, in terms of weight, on the ice. He's a pretty physical guy too, he's already collected 90 hits, placing him 3rd on our team walking into the room, with many less games than the two players above him. He played last year for Tampa Bay and has seem limited ice time this season with the Ducks. If you were looking for a sniper or play maker this was not the trade for you. But if you're looking to see some extra size and grit up front well this should certainly make you happy. This could possibly open the way for Waddell to send Armstrong out the door and still not loose the grit and toughness that he brings to the ice. Artyukhin is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season and I'm sure that if we do happen to re-sign him that's where the conditional pick will factor in, I would expect no higher than 3rd round at worst.

In return for Mr. Artyukhin's services the Thrashers have parted company with Nathan Oystrick. Oystrick played all season last year here in Atlanta as a 3rd pair defenseman. Oystrick had plenty of upside with the ability to play PK and good speed. The unfortunate fact for Oystrick is that the Thrashers are so deep at defense that his chances of cracking and staying in our lineup are slim to none...and I think I saw Slim leaving town.

Overall this is a good move for the Thrashers we gave up practically nothing, because of our depth, not saying Oystrick isn't a good player. What we got in return is some really good size, grit and possibly a little bit of scoring. Artyukhin will most likely see work on the 3rd or 4th line and expect his role to be that of a grinder. I expect to see him working over the opposition and making them pay for playing in the corners.

The Thrashers certainly aren't finished trading yet, expect to still see a deal for Slava Kozlov and who knows what else. Don Waddell told C-Viv though that the possibility of somebody like Kubina going is extremely low and certainly not for the type of trade that some people have been speculating. Waddell went on to say he considers us buyers but also made it clear that so is a good bit of the league because of how jammed up the standings are. This will make finding and getting good talent much harder this season.

Olympic Break Over...March To The Playoffs

2010-03-01T09:44:00.000-05:00

Well I took advantage of the Olympic break to take a little vacation myself from blogging..just a little battery recharge before we get ready for the stretch run. The Thrashers have kicked the PR blitz into full swing with many players hitting the streets giving away java and then pounding the local federally supervised air waves.

A quick note on the Olympic hockey tournament. Was that not one of the best tournaments you've ever seen? What a hell of a hockey game yesterday, the Americans have nothing to be ashamed of and left everything they had out on the ice. Ryan Miller had look on his face that was combination "I want to cry" and "I want to puke". Let me be the first to say to you Ryan, if it hasn't already been said. You made every American proud.

Overall the Vancouver Olympics was a good time, with the obvious exception to the young Georgian luger who lost his life the day of opening ceremonies. I'm glad to see the U.S. do so well and really, also happy for our upstairs neighbors Canada.

Ok...back to the Thrashers...so this week is going to be huge on several levels. First off the Thrashers have several games this week and they are all going to be huge from this point on. Tuesday we have the Panthers and then Thursday we host the Islanders and finishing the week up with Tampa Bay in Tampa.

Playing games on the ice isn't the only thing that will be concerning the Thrashers this week as there are many games off the ice to play between now and Wednesday afternoon. For those of you uninitiated, that's the NHL trade deadline for the season. We're not sure of anything in these crazy times but there are a few things that are fairly good bets.

Slava Kozlov has requested a trade. He's unhappy with his reduced role here and knowing this is the twilight of his career he would rather go out on the ice than in the press box. Slava is as class as it comes and I hate to see him not with us...but it is what it is..hope all works for him
We have a glut of defenders, somebody is gonna go. Right now we're sitting on Enstrom, Kubina, Popovic, Oduya, Schubert, Hainsey, Bogosian, with Kulda giving a strong showing and Valabik injured. That's too many defensemen. Kubina, Popovic, Schubert are all UFA at the end of the season. Enstrom, Bogosian, Oduya and Kulda would all be considered hands off. Rumor is that Waddell is thinking and maybe talking extension to Kubina. We'll keep an eye on that one
With the exit of Kovalchuk the Thrashers will be looking to shore up the loss of offensive production and so will be in the market to add some scoring. With the addition of picks and prospects stemming from the Kovalchuk and Lehtonen trades the Thrashers have a full basket to play with.
Look for possible trades involving Colby Armstrong, he's a UFA at the end of the season and there has been a lot of talk that he's just not a total fit for the JA system.

It's good to be back and looking forward to an exciting week, nay...month in the NHL. The Thrashers did a good job in the abbreviated February in keeping themselves in the hunt and now they have to bring it home. They will be feeling the pressure, but they aren't the only ones as there are very few teams in the conference who can already breathe easily.

So here's to a busy week and FanThrashtic will be here to weigh in on all the moves both on and off the ice this week. For my 2 readers that missed me while I was on Olympic break...I'm back

More Moving Rumors

2010-02-17T09:21:00.004-05:00

As some of you, including Ben Wright, is aware there are more rumors about the Thrashers sale and relocation. Of Course the official position from the Thrashers is that we're not going anywhere, and I do believe that, for the record.

Friday, Feb. 12, 2010
Scott Taylor’s CITI Sports Reports
92 CITI FM IS AN OFFICIAL STATION OF THE VANCOUVER 2010 OLYMPIC RADIO NETWORK.OK, here’s the rumour: Wealthy David Thomson of Toronto, the man who most of the shares of the MTS Centre and True North Sports and Entertainment in Winnipeg, has purchased the Atlanta Thrashers of the National Hockey League and will move them to Winnipeg for the 2010-11 season. The Moose will move to Saskatoon. The announcement will be made right after the Olympics. Believe whatever it is you want to believe.

There's the rumor. The level of bullshit wafting from this is enough to give most fertilizer companies a chub just by being around it.

As much as Canadians long for another team, and I want them to get one, it isn't going to be a Southern hockey team. You may get one in expansion but it will not be relocation of a Southern hockey team. Did Bettman's titanic struggle in the desert of Arizona not teach you anything?

New flash for all you Canadians and Gary Bettman haters...it isn't the commissioner that is making all these decisions. You have to realize that the owners of the NHL collectively got together and hired him and gave him a mission. That mission being to expand the reach of hockey on the North American continent. It serves the NHL no good to contain hockey to the Northern United States and Canada only, and this isn't me talking this is the NHL ownership and their appointed commissioner. The goal collectively of the NHL was to move into Southern markets and make them work, and they are looking on a much longer time scale than most people are giving them credit for.

Because hockey is a sport that must be built from the grass roots the NHL has been trying to make amateur hockey more popular in the Southern areas and thus building their fan base not from the existing adults, who are used to sustain the club at this point, but to grow their fan base from children who have been exposed to it their whole lives and grow to be adults spending their dollars on hockey. That means that by their business model they aren't expecting large attendance growth in Southern markets for the first 20 years of existence by a club.

Now, the other side of this coin is that you have to give fans a reason to come out and watch hockey when your club is younger. It's easier for somebody like Boston or the long suffering Maple Leafs to live a life of mediocrity and still do well financially because hockey is an ingrained part of the local sports landscape and doesn't have to compete at the highest level to still garner fan support because those fans have been fans since they could watch and understand the sport. In the South it's a much different story for hockey, they are trying to carve out their place in a competitive sports market that will not tolerate mediocrity or worse failure.

Now, back to Atlanta...the NHL is very committed to making Southern hockey work and they are nowhere ready to throw in the towel. Like I stated before, if you think that Bettman is ready to let Atlanta relocate I suggest you take a long hard look at the Coyotes. This club is nowhere close to the shape that Phoenix was in and the NHL pulled out every stop it could to not only block the relocation of, but to sustain the club until new ownership could be found that was committed to keeping the franchise where it was. Phoenix is not as big an area as Atlanta, I'm pretty confident that before any move were made that Gary Bettman would exhaust all means at his disposal before allowing that to happen.

The Atlanta Thrashers, however, must soon begin to make themselves competitive to maintain sustainability in Atlanta and it's extremely tough market for entertainment spending. The only way that that is going to happen is with prolonged success on the ice. The question then becomes how to achieve that success, to that end, perhaps it's time for Gary Bettman and the NHL to step in and give the ASG some "advice" on how to make that happen.

The Thrashers aren't going anywhere and all the rumors of Winnipeg, Hamilton and Quebec getting a Southern team are just that...rumors....whispers on the wind...and with the ever changing wind, so will the rumors appear and disappear

Thrashers Buried In An Avalanche

2010-02-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

Last night Colorado buried the Thrashers in an Avalanche with a come from behind win capped off with a 9 second over time. With the game in hand Atlanta let it slip away trying to play it safe and not working hard enough on defense.

What can you say about last night? Really...overall our team played great last night..up until the last period...well not even the full period...but enough to watch our 3-1 lead erode. The solitary overtime point is cold comfort for the effort put into the game and quite honestly between the two teams on the ice...we needed it more.

One the good side of the ledger, our PK has returned to October form and has been extremely effective in shutting down opposition man advantages. Bergfors looks like he's been playing with his line mates all season. Moose is still a rock and Bryan Little looks like he's decided that since there's not a particular Russian from Tver on the ice he might as well step up and score some goals.

On the bad side of the ledger, how about 4 players standing their pulling their taffy while Cumiskey skates in like he owns the joint and buries one past the Moose, a mere 9 seconds into overtime. Remind fans of another fast goal? Say the one in Nashville just a mere 7 seconds into the 3rd period..that was the game winner that night by the way.

I'm stymied by how our players can think they can put in a half assed effort on defense and expect to win the game. I guess it's good to be under contract, because if I gave effort like that at work I'd be out looking for a job. You can't just wave your stick in front of a forward and think he's going to let up and say.."Oh you're waving your stick..I guess I won't be able to score now" give me a frickin' break.

While we pull out of Denver with a point in our hands...knowing we surrendered the other when we had that game well in hand is a very hard pill to swallow. The Thrashers may very well look back on this game in April and think to themselves that if they had won the game in Colorado they might be playing more than the regularly scheduled 82 games.

Next on tap is the Minnesota Wild. This is a game that we SHOULD win, and honestly I hate to use the cliche phrase but it's really a MUST win..hell at this point every game is. This team has looked more competitive in the last two weeks than it has since middle November and we're struggling to win because they've lost the killer instinct to put teams away. Anybody know Tony Robbins' number...we'll call him up and maybe he can talk to the team.

Adios Karrpa

2010-02-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

As most any Thrasher fan is aware already - We traded Kari Lehtonen last night for Ivan Vishnevskiy, a 1st round, pick 27, defenseman that has bounced between the NHL and AHL in the Stars system over the last two years and a 4th round draft pick.

What did we really get? and what did we really give up? Ok let's talk about that here for a couple of minutes.

First, because I know it better, what did we give up? We gave up a glass groined, unreliable, 12 sandwich eating, tantrum throwing, immature, no work ethic having, brilliant when I wanna be Finnish goalie. Could the kid play goal...hell yeah...when he wanted. Could you count on him having a prolonged injury at the beginning of a season? Just like you could count on the sun shining. We've paid the better part of 3 million dollars this season for what? How much production has he generated? How many saves has he made for us this season? If it were just this one season I would say cut the brother a break, but it's EVERY season that we have dealt with this. Eventually you have to decide to cut bait and fire up the motor and find another fishing hole.

What did we get in return? Another player that's going to need "development" we got at best for the time being a 3rd pair defenseman with a offensive mindset and little NHL training...oh..and a 4th round shot in the dark. Actually for the fact that Kari hasn't played at all this season..what we got wasn't a bad deal at all.

Now I've read a lot of message boards and comments and there seems to be two camps...two mindsets..and they are both very different. There is the mindset that Kari was a drain and wasn't anything we've been able to count on and so thank God the Kari Lehtonen experiment has drawn to a close, then there is the side that looks at this as just another top lottery draft pick out the door with little to nothing to show for it.

I'm with both of you. Personally, it was time to cut Kari out, he's been nothing but a liability to this club for the past several years and has contributed little to nothing in the way of stability and lasting performance. On the other hand, he was a 2nd overall pick, and combined with watching Kovy walk out the door less than a week ago that shit stings.

What I think is, people don't have a problem with Kari the player being traded. They have a problem with Kari the 2nd overall pick being traded and what that says about our ability to pick, develop and retain talent. The question I have in Kari's case is this, what could the Thrashers have done differently?

Having the 2nd pick and with no real goalie in the system worth a crap at the time, and trying to build from the crease out what was Waddell supposed to do? Pass on THE top goalie pick of the draft. He did the right thing then, now fast forward 8 years and look at what he's had to deal with. Year after year his goalie that he was trying to build with spends the first month to two months out with groin injuries. He even went so far as to pretty much order Kari to spend an off season with Ray Bear to work on his conditioning, which has always been on the low side of acceptable (by the way..that was the only year he didn't get injured). You can't dictate to a player every year how to spend his off time.

I understand and agree that watching our top picks walk out the door has been frustrating, but instead of taking them all in one lump you have to dissect and look more closely at each one and each reason. Kari..was a smart move...Coburn was frickin' stupid....Ilya....frustrating. I'm not trying to defend the GM...just read down a post or two and you'll see I've pulled out the torch and pitchfork on him myself but to hang Kari on him as an example of cranial-rectal inversion is unfair.

Is Post Season Now A Must?

2010-02-09T10:04:00.000-05:00

My apologies for being absent from Friday until now...needless to say..was a whirlwind weekend with no time to type out opinion on what was going on in Blueland.

But I'm back (nananana)...so let's see if we can talk about something that came to mind in the last day or so.

Now with the Kaptain departed and the upheaval that ensued afterwards I have a question that I'd like to get your answers to. I myself have my own opinion..and of course I'm not shy and am ready to share it with you..but the question is, as the title stated...Is the post season now a must for the Thrashers?

I say yes personally. Now that we have parted company with Kovalchuk and we no longer possess one of the league's top snipers and at this point no "marquee" players it's become more important than ever that the franchise deliver another extended hockey season to this city. Simply put, a playoff series (including some wins) will go a long way to erase the pain of watching our franchise star walk and the disappointment and angst that we felt against management and ownership for letting the situation degenerate to that point.

If this club can carve itself a position in the playoffs it will do more than just erase some pain, it will also in my opinion, show that it can compete without Ilya Kovalchuk. This is something that needs to be proved not only to the city and it's fan base but really to the players as well. One of the components that has been missing from this club is a sustained confidence in their ability to compete in this league, and a playoff berth may just establish some confidence in their ability to do so.

Let me clarify this point...making the playoffs won't be enough. We have to be able to compete in the playoffs as well. That means that even if we depart in the first round it better not be until a hotly contested game 7 is dropped. I really believe anything less will not be good enough. To simply make it there and do another disappearing act in 4 games will almost be more cruel to this fan base than to not have made it at all.

Town Hall Honesty

The Falconer did a great job of giving a good transcript of the town hall meeting that preceded the game on Saturday. As he observed there was some calm rational talk, but the season ticket holders didn't hold back on asking some blunt questions and for the first time in a long time got some blunt answers back and not just some whitewash and sales talk.

The biggest thing for this franchise and the ownership is to make good on the promises and intentions that they have for this club. It's clear from their comments that the departure of Don Waddell isn't coming any time soon. So for all you fans out there that said you couldn't support the club post Kovalchuk unless it included post Waddell..well it don't look like that's going to happen.

The question then becomes how much do you love hockey? Do you love it enough to continue to support this team by going to games? or are you just going to watch on t.v.? or...just the papers...or just give it all up?

I think there will be some fans in each of those categories..but I think that with a post season berth and some wins that some may choose to follow after all.

As The Kovalchuk Turns

2010-02-04T10:46:00.000-05:00

Well for most hockey news people today is going to be simply abuzz with nothing practically but news of Ilya Kovalchuk. There will be more than enough speculation to fill Phillips Arena three times over. So far there have been a few reports that are a little more reputable then others. I'm going to take a stab at the AJC report that gave some details as to what the negotiations were looking like.

As you have been watching the two camps are starting to make more news evident as they look to make themselves out as not the one responsible for the split. If the reports in the AJC are totally factual (it's probably as close as we'll actually get) then Kovy was offered a deal for $101 million over a 12 year period or a $10 million deal over 10 years and turned them down. He's had his eye set on the cap max which is 11.3 million and he's not backing down an inch.

If that is really the case then I'll be the first to say..Bye dude!! Because if you really can wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and go to work and think that you're worth that type of money in today's uncertain hockey market you're an absolute fool. You should fire Jay Grossman immediately because he's pumped you so full of bullshit until it's running out of your ears.

I have already made several posts about how I thought 10 million was being generous. The person that Kovy would be the most comparable to in the NHL as far as not only skill but importance to his club would be Alexander Ovechkin. Looking at those two players and reading what I've read about Ilya's demands I now understand why we're struggling to make the playoffs and the Capitals are on a 10 game winning streak where they have pretty much dominated their competition.

Kovy has no concept, obviously, of what it takes to make the championship quality team that he kept saying he wanted. In today's NHL to spend to the cap max when all speculations show that the cap will most likely fall in the next few years to come and then expect to put a team together with the money left over from that and put together a championship caliber team is the most ludicrous thinking I've ever seen.

IF what the AJC has reported is even 90% true, then I have to say that Jay Grossman has done such a disservice to Ilya Kovalchuk that it's not even funny. I think that Jay felt like Ilya's importance to this franchise would allow him to leverage the popularity of the fan base into a position that would force Waddell to capitulate to any demand made. I think he's going to find out that teams will not be willing to put that type of money on the line for the length of contract he's looking for, not for the type of player Ilya Kovalchuk truly is.

I'm not a hockey professional by any means. I have, however, watched years and years of hockey and I've seen some of the greatest players play the game ever. I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of all hockey acumen, but I do know a one way player when I see it, and Ilya Kovalchuk is the epitome of that. Kovy rarely, if ever, plays down low in his own zone. When he enters the zone he peels off to the blue line and usually is found loitering around the line waiting on a breakout pass. He has yet to post a +/- number on the positive side his entire NHL career..why is that? You've got people this season that play on his freaking line that have a plus number....why?? because they know how to play two way hockey. The point is that if you can't play equally on both sides of the puck you don't deserve to be the highest paid player in hockey.

Like I said I'm not an expert and I'm not going to pretend to make a prediction to where he could go. There are teams from Vancouver to L.A. to Chicago and so on that are being thrown out there, but one team interests me and not because of what we would get from them in return but because it will be interesting to see how he fits in...New Jersey.

Jersey has been long considered the bastion of defensive hockey play. Two way responsibility in New Jersey isn't a system..it's a religion. I will laugh my ass off to see how long it takes for Kovy to either buy into hitting somebody in his own zone or end up in the coach's dog house. I can tell you this...the fans in any other city won't stand for his style of one way play very long if he isn't banging in better than a point a night (he's been cold lately for those of you keeping score at home)

What I would love to see as a Thrasher fan, though I realize it's highly unlikely such a thing will actually happen...but it sure would be great. I would love to see us trade Kovy for a nice little group of players that could truly make this club better. Kovy goes to a team that makes a good playoff run and tests the free agency market in July. He'll be signed on the 1st for sure..but I would like to see him look at offers from clubs that no where comes close to the one he turned down from the Thrashers and then Don Waddell (or better yet..his replacement) then offers Kovy a deal for 9.5 for 12 years and he had to take it, because it's the best offer he's seen. He's back as a Thrasher, we have better players, and he's getting a good deal without being obscenely over paid.

Well that's enough spewage for the time being on Kovy..I think I'm sick

Kovy and Waddell and ASG Oh My

2010-02-03T11:12:00.000-05:00

I was originally going to post about the loss last night to Tampa and how Nittymaki was an enigma that the Thrashers couldn't seem to solve. How the Thrashers must not understand the full meaning of the term "must win" and so on and so forth. I wake up, instead, to renewed news of Kovy's imminent departure and the fractured state of the club and yada yada ya

I'm going to take this time instead to dedicate to not really discussing Kovy on a specific level, but really to address instead, Don Waddell and the ASG with regards to the team.

Excuse me while I pull out my soap box..I don't normally like to do this..but it is my blog and fuck it

I, for the most part, have been a supporter of Don Waddell. I have tried to find the upside to most all of what he has done and have felt like he's had to make some decisions based on situations outside of his control and has tried to make the best of some situations that were tough. I've also felt like that he's gotten a bad rap with the fans and the media and that some times his hands were tied by the ownership. I still think that to some degree.

I can't, however, support him any longer. We all know Kovy is about to be gone and with him the face of our franchise. That in itself doesn't bother me all that much, fact is that Kovy is a good scorer but what he lacks is a sense of defensive responsibility and that has cost this team time and time again, but enough on that.

What is more disturbing to me is that this will be the 4th superstar that has walked out of Atlanta and it's negative effect on this team's reputation and what that does to being able to get in high caliber talent. We've already seen in the past great players turn down lucrative deals to play in Atlanta only to take less to play somewhere else. Why is that? because the management of the team is terrible. That doesn't end at just the GMs door step either. The fact is that the ownership is fractured, spread out over several cities and has no sense of what it wants this club to be other than the bastard child of the Atlanta Hawks.

The other thing about this that pisses me off is that I'm sick and tired of hearing/reading Northern and Canadian media and fans say that Atlanta as a hockey market sucks and that we don't support our team and that our stars are waiting for the fist opportunity to bolt because it sucks so hard here. I was hoping to re-sign Kovy so we could give those people the finger..and instead it gives them fuel to keep saying it. I don't think that's the reason Kovy is leaving...I don't know if it's money or he isn't sure about the future of the club or the equipment guy keeps starching his jock...I really don't care..what I care about is the fact that I get to hear them continue to say that about us fans. They obviously didn't make the trip to Nashville and couldn't see that we have got some great fans...but they don't care about that shit either.

What this club needs, at least to retain any semblance of the fan following it currently has, is at the very least some new leadership in the front office. It also could use some restructuring of the ownership to something that actually made sense.

With this all said I don't want to give the wrong impression about how I feel about Don Waddell. He's a genuinely nice person and all the people out there that spew vile insults in his direction because of the way he has run this team really piss me off. He's a human being and deserves some respect, I may not agree with what he's done...hell I might think he needs to be replaced but that doesn't mean that I have any right to say some of the things I have seen others write or say about him.

I do think it's time for a new future in Atlanta..I think that we are at a crossroads in what this club should do. To see Kovy depart will not change my love of this team. I will still buy tickets..I will still scream and chant for my team. I'm used to this...I've been a Braves fan my entire life too. I do want to see the club make a change in management though..then maybe I will have some hope that things may change because if Waddell stays in control then we're going to be looking at another 5 year plan to "rebuild" the team 5 years from now and then 5 years from that...shit..something has got to give.

I don't want to hear about possible trade scenarios...we can all play arm chair GM...tell me how this bullshit has made you feel as a fan.

Shake It Up

2010-02-02T10:06:00.000-05:00

In the past several months head coach John Anderson has mixed up the forward lines until you can't recognize them, you certainly can't label them, because tomorrow they may be different. One of the few constants this season though has been defense, maybe that's where Anderson should pay some attention.

If you look at the current three defensive pairings you see some rather strange disparity among them. The current "top" pairing is just that, tops in both offensive production and defensive responsibility with Enstrom posting 4G 35A +10 and Kubina posting 5G 23A +9. This top pairing shows skill at both sides of the ice and is a total asset to the club.

The "bottom" pairing of Salmela/Valabik shows practically no offensive upside with a total of 7 points tallied between them but they do provide some stay at home defense and are a combined +5. This pairing isn't so much of a threat but it has proven that it can stay at home and keep the net clear for the most part. Even if you substitute out Salmela for Schubert, who would normally be in if not injured. You're talking about a rise in offensive production to 9 points total and only a -6 combined. For a bottom pairing not bad at all.

Then you have the "middle" pair or the 2nd pairing..this should be slightly less than your top pair but should be better than your 3rd pairing for sure. These guys get pretty big minutes in fact Zach Bogosian leads all Thrasher defensemen with an average of 22:41 of ice time per game. Ron Hainsey, his partner averages 21:28 per game. For all those minutes played it can't be argued that they are the worst defensive pairing we have on the ice. Their offensive production is moderately good with a combined 12G 22A but their defensive responsibility is horrendous at a combined -23 that means for all their offensive production they have actually only added to our bottom line by 11 points. Not so impressive, is it?

So with all those stats laid out, I return to my point, which is maybe Anderson should quit tinkering with just the forward lines and let's spend some time getting the defense right. There are, of course, some obvious things that could be done. So let's play armchair coach and make some moves here.

1) Split the top two pairs up. I'd put Bogo and Kubina together and Enstrom and Hainsey together. This spreads out both offensive production and defensive awareness and size.

2) Give 3rd pairing some more minutes. Right now the 3rd pairing is averaging about 13:15 per game. I would try to get that maybe into the 16 minute range and by taking some of those minutes away from the top two pairs perhaps they won't be spent by the end of the game where fatigue in defensemen can be dangerous and let in goals.

Some may argue that the reason why the 3rd pairing is doing pretty good on the +/- side is because their minutes on the ice is limited, thus giving them less opportunity to make mistakes. I think that their success with the 13 minutes given them shows that they are doing well enough to give them more time, the worst that happens is they prove they can't handle the responsibility and you cut their minutes back to where they were when they were getting the job done.

One thing is for certain, the Bogo/Hainsey pairing is not working. In fact, it's a liability that needs to be changed. Perhaps instead of tinkering with the scoring lines we start from the back part of the ice and see if we can get the defense stronger, therefore we may not need to have to pile on the goals to make a win stick.

So what's your assessment? Do you see the defense needs changing or do you think that it's fine? What would you do...let me hear

Road Trip For Fans Fun..But Long

2010-02-01T10:22:00.000-05:00

Saturday many fans, myself included, loaded up into buses and cars and made the treacherous trek from cold, but dry Atlanta to an ice encrusted Music City...Nashville. The trip in the buses took a little longer than originally planned, but Mother Nature couldn't keep nearly 500 Thrasher fans from descending upon Nashville.

We finally made it into the parking lot across the street from the Sommet Center and piled out of the buses on a frozen tundra of a parking lot where we commenced to making a lot of noise and having a nice tailgate party. Members of the Nasty Nest had made their way there before we got there and had the site already prepared and the party was in full swing.

We made our way indoors to the Sommet Center and fell upon unsuspecting Preds fans in a way that made more than one raise an eyebrow. We gathered around the glass for warm ups and made a ton of noise and basically turned the Sommet Center into Blueland (north) for the entire warms ups. This earned us a few stick taps on the glass as the players skated by and were warming up.

The game started and in typical Thrasher fashion this season we fell quickly to a 2 goal deficit but clawed our way back and by the end of the second period we found ourselves tied 3-3. The Preds came out in the 3rd period and 7 seconds into the period struck for the game winner. Our boys in Blue played their hearts out and I thought the officiating was a little one sided for most of the game. We got hosed out of a Evander Kane goal with a whistle that supposedly was blown mere milliseconds before the puck crossed the red line.

With the final sound of the horn the Predators walked off the ice the proud owner of 2 NHL points and the Atlanta Thrashers walked off with bubkus. For Thrasher fans it was a bitter pill to swallow because quite frankly the Preds fans I bumped into were pretty much asshole about the whole thing. I pride myself and the fans of the team as being pretty good sports and though we like to give some good natured ribbing I don't think we're very rude when we win or lose. My experience of the Sommet Center was not as kind. As I was walking back out to the bus I was mobbed and told that "You suck!!" more than once. To which I say, there is no call for that.

Overall I found Predator fans to be dicks and their atmosphere one that was less than hospitable and that was why I was disappointed when we lost because at least if we had won they might have been a little more humble, alas that's the game of hockey though. What I think hurts more about that loss is the effect it had in the standings. Had we won that game we would still be in 6th place, instead we are on the outside looking in when it comes to playoff spots right now, having dropped to 9th place.

The ride back was long and quiet and because we had nothing to celebrate I think the mood on the buses was one of "Let's get the hell home"

I hope the players really recognized and understood the support we give them. I would like to think that they appreciate that type of effort because it came neither easy..nor cheap. That we lost is something I can accept, after all it's a game and nobody knows the outcome, that's what makes sports so compelling.

Moose Bum Rushin' Fools

2010-01-29T12:01:00.003-05:00

The Thrashers took control of 6th place in the Eastern Conference last night. With a comeback win fueled by 2 Jim Slater goals and a balls out move from the Moose to save a late 3rd period rush by Gagne, the Thrashers held on to a 4-3 lead and clinched the 2 points in Philly.

One thing you can say about this season's Atlanta Thrashers is that they are wildly inconsistent. You don't know what team you're gonna get, and that's not game to game but actually period to period. One thing you CAN'T say though is that they aren't entertaining. This team will keep you at the edge of your seat most nights and will certainly give you a good game.

The Thrashers and the Flyers both came out in the first period and played a tough back and forth game, neither team was giving an inch. With just 48 seconds left in the first period and Evander Kane streaking up the left wing and flying past Chris Pronger, the rookie finds Slater in front of the net ready to shovel the puck in.

This is where the inconsistent part comes in to play. They come back out in the second period and lay a total egg by dropping 3 goals and going into the hole by the second intermission. The defensive play was not very good and we allowed too many odd man rushes, turnovers in the neutral zone and generally a lack of defensive responsibility.

Whether it was John Anderson or Ilya or anybody else the Thrashers did check their shit during the break and came out and decided that the game was worth winning and decided to take destiny back in their own hands and shape it for themselves. With Kovy opening up the scoring 29 seconds into the period with a nifty little move from the face off..they dropped the puck and he went straight from the face off toward the net...found the puck and drifted past the right side, dropping Emery and he went high blocker on him. Followed quickly up with a big break out pass from Pavel Kubina to the Pevs dispenser where he totally owned Emery.

The offensive star of the night in my opinion didn't even get credit for a goal...but he sure made it happen. Big Evander Kane made Chris Pronger his bitch...not once but twice..and the second one was even more impressive. Pronger read the play and knew he was coming around the net but Kane was stronger on the puck and turned him outside and owned him...dished off to Slates waiting again and Slates pots the game winner.

If that was the offensive play of the game we would only have to wait about 8 minutes or so to see the defensive play of the game. That was all Moose, sliding out and taking out Simon Gagne with double stacked pads, while he was on a rush on the left wing and broke out. Moose lost his mask and his sweater came up over his head, with the puck still in play the defense collapsed down and saved the puck until the whistle could be blown. You could see how impressed and happy the guys were with that play...smiles all around.

The Thrashers held off an intense Flyer attack for the last 5 minutes of the game and clinched the win. It was wild, entertaining and needed. Now on to Nashville where the Thrasher will be accompanied by approx 450 Thrasher fans. We're planning on making a whole lotta noise. If you can't be there folks catch the game on TV

Have a great weekend and we'll see you Monday

Who Gets The Vacated "C"?

2010-01-28T13:15:00.000-05:00

With all the Kovy trade rumors swirling about the NHL like this season's version of the 1930 disaster dust bowl I figured a little rumination on the after effects of who should be given the C when Kovy departs.

Notice I didn't say "IF", I'm pretty sure that Don and Kovy have reached an impasse. The fact is that it's now all about term and money which means we're not offering him enough or we're offering him what he wants but not for long enough. My personal belief is that it's a mixture of the Atlanta Thrashers not valuing him enough and Jay Grossman over valuing his client.

I've posted before that Kovy is not deserving of a bigger or better contract than his contemporaries and fellow countrymen Alex Ovechkin or Malkin. Quite simply they are better players look at their numbers and give me a valid argument why they are not if you can.

So with that said, Kovy is history. Where to? nobody knows yet and anybodies guess is merely that..a guess. With his leaving, though, will be a hole in on ice leadership (sorta) and the question I'm posing for this post is who should fill it?

There are several players that spring to mind that I think would be qualified, either with their performance this season, or their tenure in the NHL or with this club.

Pavel Kubina - Pavel has provided solid blue line leadership for this team this season and statistically is among the leaders on this team for defensive responsibility, something that has been sorely lacking. He has been in the league for years and has won a Stanley Cup. When he talks, I'm sure people are listening.

Nik Antropov - Just like fellow newcomer Pavel Kubina, Antropov has proven to be not only a solid 1st line center but the most solidly dependable and responsible forward we have when it comes to defense. He leads the team in the +/- catagory with Pavel Kubina right behind him. He's had years in the NHL and has a solid leadership personality. He would be a good fit for the job and with 3 more season remaining on his contract could possibly lead the team for some time to come and provide stability as the captain. A thing that the Thrashers have yet to experience.

Marty Reasoner - Though Marty's numbers aren't as strong as the two listed above he's a strong personality already in the dressing room and he's a respected voice. Marty's strong work ethic and experience in the league would be considered to be in line for this type of position.

There are several other outside possibilities for candidates though these I don't consider to have strong bids for a job like this.

Slava Kozlov - Slava is a very veteran presence and his work ethic is unquestioned. As a player there is nobody in that room that doesn't respect the years of service to the Thrashers and the NHL. He has won the Stanley Cup and he's a total professional. He's also at the end of his contract, 37 years old and the chances that the Thrashers bring him back are slim to none..and slim left town already. Slava also is not the most forceful personality and therefore I don't think the job would be a good fit.

Toby Enstrom - The young Swede has become an anchor on the Thrasher blue line and is an assistant captain. He's actually the longest serving active defenseman for the Thrashers right now. He's soft spoken and still relatively young. I just don't think he'd be a good fit.

In the end my personal vote would be for Antropov. I think that his strong personality and veteran presence coupled with his time remaining in Atlanta will give the Thrashers some stability. He's played for years in Toronto and understands accountability to the fans and the media as well as to the team. Antropov's leadership and example of strong 2 way hockey may very well be the type of thing this team needs to take it to another level.

What do you think? Who do you think should be the next Thrasher captain?

Goaltenders On The Move...Soon

2010-01-27T12:35:00.001-05:00

With Kari Lehtonen back to playing hockey and soon to end his conditioning stint in Chicago he will be on the move back to Atlanta. When he arrives that will put three net minders on the roster, for those of you math scholars that's one too many according to the latest C-Viv blog entry. So what's a GM to do? Well one of them has to go, so you're looking at somebody about to exit stage right.

My question to you..and one I will attempt to answer by giving the magic eight ball a shake is to figure out who it may be. There of course, are several choices that could be made and I'll try to take a look at some of them but in my humble opinion I think there's really only one viable one if you're sitting in the big chair at Thrasher headquarters.

Without further adieu here it is...I think that the Moose may be set loose. I preface this all with saying this isn't, as a fan, what I would want. Let it be known for here ever after that I am a huge Moose fan. With that said...I think he'll be the one sent to parts unknown and here's why.

Kari has just come back from a conditioning stint and has yet to play a minute of NHL hockey thus far this season. Though he is a veteran and plenty of teams know what he's "capable" of he's yet to do anything this season, and the NHL is all about "What have you done for me lately?" Kari's persistent injury problems have made him what most GMs would consider a liability and coupled with no NHL history for this season and I don't see where anybody is going to give up anything that would interest the Thrashers enough to part with the Finn.

That leads us to Ondrej Pavelec, the young Czech goalie has proven with his minutes this season that he has the potential to carry the starting job..SOME DAY. That day hasn't arrived yet..but I think it's on the horizon. He's certainly proved thus far to be more durable than Kari and he's playing for the most part on par with Lehtonen's past numbers. Yes he struggled in December and the early part of January and he's had games that were terrible...but he's also had some real stunners and stolen several points thus far for this club. The Thrashers see long term potential in the youngster and they won't give that up.

Then there is the Moose, the player's choice award winner for several years, the locker room favorite, a huge fan favorite (I dare say right behind Kovy in popularity). Though he has had a few struggles this season he's playing out of his mind this year, the way he's playing begs for us to keep him. I wish with all in my heart that business said to keep him...but in terms of business this is what makes him the ripest fruit on the tree. As the NHL season begins to kick into the playoff run goaltending will become a premium and teams that have had less than stellar backup goaltending will be looking for somebody as solid as Hedberg to be there for their starter. He's a UFA at the end of this season and he's on the downside of his career as far as age is concerned. In the coldest business sense he's the most expendable with the highest value on the trade market at this time.

So where does this leave the Thrashers? It leaves them with Kari and Ondrej. I'm sure the Thrashers are betting on the success of Kari's surgery and the fact he's stated that he's lived with that pain for quite some time and as soon as the second surgery was completed his pain went away and he's felt great since then. Perhaps by chance the back pain led to the groin injuries by way of his playing to compensate for the back and then injuring that instead (I know it may be a reach). With Kari now healthy and completely pain free, I'm sure the hope is that he will be free to live up to the potential that the club saw in him from the day he was drafted. Then there is Ondrej Pavelec as the backup, a position he craves not but one that will most likely be his at least until the club has a good opportunity to really evaluate what shape Kari is really in.

So do you agree with my assessment or do you think somebody else is headed off? You could make an argument for just about any of the three being sent away, but as I see it I think that's the most logical way to do it. Then again if that's the most logical I'm sure Moose may be safe after all.

The Sky is Falling!!

2010-01-26T12:34:00.000-05:00

With all the speculation surrounding the future of the Thrasher's captain Ilya Kovalchuk the brilliant minds at the think tank known as The Hockey News have chosen Ken Campbell as their spokesman to foretell of the doom and gloom that will soon descend upon Atlanta hockey. He also opines on how the lockout did no good for a franchise destined to eternal suck and fail such as ours. I'll let you read the article yourself but let me please rant for a while on all that drivel.

Let me begin with the fact that it becomes evident to me that the writers at the Hockey News in general, but I'll confine my comments for now to Ken Campbell specifically seem to know next to nothing about the Thrashers past Ilya Kovalchuk apparently. My only guess is that he's been getting his vast knowledge of the Thrashers through his fellow Hockey News cohort and my favorite punching boy Adam Proteau. Since the brain trust at the Hockey News has been sucking off the teat of ignorance with regards to Atlanta hockey please let me give you the other side of the story.

"Kovalchuk is fully within his rights to demand $12 million on a long-term deal and who can blame him for making that kind of monetary demand to the Thrashers?" - Well let me answer that for you Ken...12 mil is over the max cap allowed..you're an idiot.

"The real reason is more likely because the Thrashers have never been able to fill their roster with NHL-caliber players and have never been able to find a center any better than Todd White to play with Kovalchuk." - News flash..Nik Antropov has been the center on that line pretty much all year...you're still an idiot

"If they were to somehow sign him to such a deal, it would almost certainly cripple the franchise from a competitive standpoint and continue to make the Thrashers what they have been since 2001 ?? a team with a superstar and not enough good players around to help him." - With Slava Kozlov coming up as a 38 year old UFA and making approximately 3.5 million per year it will be quite easy to take his salary and put it on the books for Kovy, thus absorbing the pay increase and making room for up and coming talent..you guessed it Campbell...you're an idiot

The question really is what is Kovalchuk worth? well it depends on what motivates you as an owner, fan, manager and so on. Alex Ovechkin got a contract for 9.5 million a year and if you'll look at his numbers he's better than Kovy in every statistical category. Atlanta fans don't come out for stars, that's been evident time and time again just ask Mike Vick, Deon Sanders, Dale Murphy, Dominque Wilkins. They all saw low attendance and were big stars in Atlanta..why?? because the teams they were playing on weren't getting the job done. Atlanta will support a winner and until it gets one there will be empty seats. The fact is the house ain't full with Kovy skating in it....why??...cause the TEAM isn't winning.

As a fan on an emotional level I hope we re-sign Kovys. As a hockey fan with some knowledge of the game, if he can't come to terms with a contract that is at least in line with what Ovechkin is making I think he'll either be over payed, if he stays, or greedy if he walks.

As far as Campbell is concerned I think we see that his knowledge of the situation is not as vast as he'd like to think.

That Damn Finn Stumps Blueland Yet Again

2010-01-25T10:01:00.000-05:00

If there is one goaltender in the NHL that strikes fear in the hearts of Thrashers fans all around the world it's surprisingly not Martin Brodeur or Roberto Luongo it's Antero Niittymaki. The goaltender also known in certain circles as Thrasher kryptonite once again turned away a tide of shots by the Thrashers to secure a victory and help to send my hopes for post season hockey in Atlanta straight to hell.

The thing is, I can't blame the Thrashers for losing Saturday night. They played damn good. The Thrashers out shot the Bolts and won the puck battles along the boards. Their PK, though victimized once, was overall very good. Their power play converted on one opportunity (as did Tampa's) and then it was deadlocked for the entire rest of the game.

The Moose was Moosetacular in net turning away 25 of 26 shots during regulation and the 5 minute futility extravaganza. The defense played well with a particularly great play by Antropov to sweep the net and keep us alive in the 3rd period when a puck got past Moose.

So with us playing well why didn't we win??...well quite frankly because that damn Finn was in the net against us. He's a good goaltender anyway..but when he plays Atlanta he goes from good to Out of his Frickin Mind.

Wouldn't you also know it that the once game that Slava has missed (Franchise record at 251 consecutive games until Sat) would come to a shoot out, a area of the game where he excels. I think what was more disappointing than Slava out is who John Anderson sends up...Todd White??? Really??? I would have sent Slater or even Kane before White. Todd White couldn't score with a fistful of money in a brothel.

Saturday's shoot out loss was painful in the standings, though their hard play did at least earn them 1 point..and at this juncture every damn one of them counts. We're still in playoff contention but the way things are going lately reminds me of a guy hanging from a high place and his fingers are slowly slipping off the ledge..you've seen in in the movies..you know he's going to fall eventually..he's giving it hell..he keeps trying to tighten his grip get a foothold..do something to save himself from the precarious position he's found himself in..but in the end you see him fall..that's the way I'm starting to feel about this team.

Hurricane Staal Wrecks Phillips

2010-01-22T08:41:00.000-05:00

Last night the Thrashers laid down for the Hurricanes in a 5-2 loss to help cement their run to mediocrity. I don't even know where to begin with how disgusted I am with last night's performance. With an opportunity to carve a meaningful place in the Eastern Conference standings and position themselves to take destiny by the hand, to forge their own path, the Thrashers did what has become to most Thrasher fans what they do best, they laid down and let their opponent dictate their destiny for them.

From the top down this team wasn't trying to fight fate last night. I consider the goals scored by Pevs and Army as nothing more than face saving goals, the damage had already been done. My list of criticism is long but here are just a few:

The PK allowed 3 goals out of 4 Carolina powerplays
The PP couldn't hit water if it fell out of a boat it went 0-6
When down by say 2 or 3 goals it might have been nice to see Boults or Thorbs drop gloves to get some mojo working.
I'm kinda split down the middle on my feeling about pulling Pavs so I'll let that one go.

Overall our play was horrible last night, and with as good as Kovy looked on Tuesday he looked equally as bad last night. I think I saw him lose his edge and fall about 4 or 5 times (whoa..that ice sure is slippery)

We are now in 10th place and fighting to regain our solitary hold on 2nd place in the division because Florida is playing like they want something. Tampa is nipping at our heels and we may find ourselves looking up at most of the rest of the division if we don't fix our problems.

Last night was another example of this team not coming out ready to play. I said in my last post that Carolina couldn't be underestimated and last night they showed why. Next we have Tampa we MUST win that game.

Thrashers Rebound on Leafs

2010-01-20T12:44:00.000-05:00

With the Thrashers still stung from their shutout loss in Sunrise the Thrashers got back home to the friendly confines of Phillips Arena and a home town crowd (though there were still plenty of leaf fans in the stands) and was able to gut out a win against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Overall a good game from the Thrashers with a solid effort by Ondrej Pavelec who earned 3rd star honors for the night. Personally I was ready to give him top honors for his efforts in goal, it seems like the 1st star of the night...Kaptain Kovy did the same in the paper crediting the young Czech with the key to a successful outing last night.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first period on a few defensive lapses...I'm looking at you Salmela and Hainsey, we were able to come out in the 2nd period and knot things back up on the strength of goals by Kovy and Kane. Kane's goal in particular was nice because it was sooo damn grungy, I love those dirty goals.

With the game all tied up we came back out and really took it to the Leafs and were able to throw up another goal this time on the power play as the Pevs dispenser did his thang. Soon after that Kovy dropped the hammer on his 2nd goal of the night to add some well needed insurance, in what eventually became the game winner. Toronto fires back but we end up holding on and fighting off a stupid ass penalty with less than 2 minutes to go where the Leafs pulled Toskala to give them a 6-4 man advantage.

For the most part I thought we played very well, we didn't get down and feel sorry for ourselves after dropping the first two goals. We got good timely scoring and killed off all our penalties, a desperately needed act by the way. We could have been a little more disciplined and stayed out of the box more as those penalties kept us on the defensive for some tough stretches including having to kill off a 5 on 3 for just over a minute.

Shoutouts to Bill Tiller (a.k.a Rawhide) I spent the night chillin' with him in 110 last night and to R. Stroz and his lovely wife. It was great to see you guys again. To my peoples up on 310..I missed you guys and I'll see you tomorrow night. Dan I saw you in the Leafs sweater...shame on you...not when they are in town dude!!

Tomorrow we have Carolina coming into town, we've beat them in both matches so far in Raleigh and now we get them in our house. Don't underestimate this team...and I'm speaking to both fans and the team alike. They may be sitting in the divisional cellar but they can be dangerous and have pushed this team to the limit in both meetings so far this season. The Canes will be looking for some payback and are fighting to win every game they can to save their pride.

Come out to Phillips and make some noise...Caniac fans are always great to be around and this team is starting to get back to mid November form.

Believe in Blueland

That Hurt

2010-01-19T09:08:00.000-05:00

Last night the Thrashers fell to the Panthers in a 1-0 shutout loss and though we didn't convert on any chances you can't say that they didn't play well. Yes we dropped the game and yes that loss hurt, it caused a shift in the conference standings that Atlanta could ill afford. With last night's goose egg the Thrashers tumble to 12th in the conference and Florida leap frogged us to 9th. Though still tied with Philly at 49 points and Florida only having 50 points it's not like we're now out, but with the conference and the schedule so tight we need every point we can lay our hands on.

So what went wrong last night? The obvious answer is we didn't score. The fact is that we played every bit of as good a game as Florida did. We were not dominated by them at any aspect of the game. The penalty kill turned aside 4 Panther power plays. The goal that was let in had eyes, despite Moose's superb play every once in a while a goal is gonna go in. I hate to admit it but the fact is you have to tip your hat to Thomas Vokoun he was the real star of the game. Both teams played a tight defensive game with the lowest combined shot total for two teams that the Thrashers have played this season with only 51 shots between them.

Last night is a prime example of working hard and not getting the result you deserve, that happens in sports of all stripe and we certainly all know how fickle the hockey gods are.

Ok so enough of the Thrasher vs Panther we lost apologist post. Let's dish some criticism after all that's what you guys want...blood...

Here is an interesting stat, there were three players last night with a team leading 4 shots so who were they? Kovy, Kubina, and Boulton. Ok that alone isn't that interesting but pair that with the fact that the person with the lowest amount of ice time last night was......you got it...Eric Boulton. Boultsie only logged 8:28 last night..the next person on the team had a full 3 minutes more..that was Greasy Reasy with 11:30. So how many shots did he take? 1. How many players didn't get a shot off at all? 5 that's right 5 players...who played more than Boulton didn't get a shot off at all...while Boulton was hamstrung with the least amount of time on the ice and he tied the captain in shot output for the night.

If I have a criticism with the way the team played that's it right there..the guy with the lowest minutes logged a team tying most shots on the night. If you want to blame people on the team...don't lay it at Eric Boulton's feet, he did all he could. By the way...another interesting stat to the night about Boulton, no penalty minutes, his ice time wasn't hampered by sitting in the box. Maybe John Anderson needs to look at who he's sending over the boards.

Tonight we have the Maple Leafs. In our only other meeting so far this season back on December 7 we lost 5-2 at the Aire Canada Centre. We get them in our building tonight and we MUST make the most of it. The Leafs are in 14th place in the conference with 43 points and have only won 3 out of their last 10 games. They are coming off a win and will be looking to extend their streak, while your Atlanta Thrashers will be looking to rebound after being shut out last night.

Atlanta needs to continue to play the brand of hockey we have played over the last several games. Going hard to the net and pressing in the corners. The goals will come and the Leafs don't have a goalie as good as Vokoun. Make sure to grab a ticket and come out to Phillips Arena and make some frickin' noise.

Believe in Blueland

A Plague Upon Thee

2010-01-15T09:40:00.001-05:00

¹⁴ they invaded all ~~Egypt~~(Blueland) and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again.

Last night as the Sabres were set to take on the Thrashers, the worst happened, a pestilence of biblical proportion hit Phillips Arena. Buffalo Sabre fans descended upon Blueland like a swarm of locusts consuming our food, drinking our beer and filling our seats with Buffalo bafoonery. Before I comment about the game itself let me first make some comments about the atmosphere of the game.

Quite frankly I was both embarrassed and envious by the amount of screaming Buffalo fans in the arena last night. At times the chant for "Let's Go Buffalo" threatened to drown out chants for the home team. I realize some of these people at the game last night wear Thrasher blue for many games but when that team from Western New York shows up they lose their minds and don big fuzzy blue hats with Buffalo horns on them. The crowd was pretty large for a Thursday game...the problem was that at least 50% of that crowd were Sabres fans.

About the game, the Thrashers played a very good game overall. We took it to Buffalo and won the puck battles in the corners, out shot them in the first and second period and played a tight defensive game. Ondrej Pavelec had a very good outing and was strong in turning away 30 of 32 shots on the night. The PK preformed well turning away 6 out of 7 man advantages for Buffalo. The only negative I can really point out is that we took a lot of penalties last night and ultimately it was our lack of discipline that cost us the game.

The deciding factor of the night was an untimely penalty by Zach Bogosian for elbowing that kept the Thrashers on the penalty kill, which led to the Derek Roy power play goal. The other Thrasher killer was all the way across the ice and that was Ryan Miller. While I hate to surrender recognition to an opponent I have to say that Ryan Miller is quite possibly the best goalie in the league right now.

The Thrashers ended this home stand with a 2-1-1 record and with the exception of bending over and taking it up the ice against Washington we played well at home this stand. The Thrashers could ill afford to surrender the extra point on the table to the opposition but what's done is done. The boys in blue travel to Raleigh to take on the Carolina Hurricanes. While the Canes have struggled this year do not discount their ability to wreck our shit in hopes of salvaging their season. We really NEED those 2 points and the Thrashers will have to not lose heart that they lost last night and play the same brand of hockey in Raleigh.

Before I depart let me throw some shout outs from the game last night. To 3/5 of the Blueland Chronicle Crew...it was great hanging out with you guys before the game. To Virginia (aka Sunshine) of Getting Pucks Deep...what's up with you girl? First a Zamboni ride..now the Match Game...damn...that was cool...To Stephanie and Matthew from work...it was great to see you guys at the game too.

Everybody PLEASE come out and support this team...I hate to see more opposition jerseys than home jerseys in the stands

Thrahsers Veto Senators

2010-01-13T09:44:00.000-05:00

Last night was just what the doctor ordered. The Atlanta Thrashers feasted off a struggling Ottawa club and broke out of their lingering December doldrums. Last night's game was the first won in regulation since the end of November, and it also saw the official end of Todd White's goalless streak.

Other notable things about the game include Eric Boulton's first ever power play goal, who along with his goal had an awesome fight with Chris Neal and gave the visiting Sen a nice little Atlanta beat down.

Ondrej Pavelec looked like the boy of October as he stood strong in the crease allowing only 1 goal on 31 shots and making some great saves with odd man rushes on several occasions.

The D jumped up in the play and tallied two goals on the night with the pairing of Enstrom and Kubina both finding the back of the net.

Little also found twine and pushed his season tally to 6 goals, hopefully this will help him find the spark his game has missed much of this season.

The Penalty Kill offed both shorthanded sets including most of a 5 minute major penalty early in the game by Christoph Schubert for boarding on Jonathan Cheechoo. Valabik and Donovan decided to trade punches...but that was just a warm up for the main bout on the card...Boulton vs Neil. Adrenaline and testosterone both were riding high last night as the refs stepped in and didn't let either Kozzy or Diamond Jim Slater throw down the way they wanted to, and then close to the end of the game Boulton/Neil II was about to go down..but the tree hugging...peace loving...refs stepped in and sent both guys to the showers early with game misconduct penalties for wanting to whip ass.

The Thrashers took control of this game early and never let up on the gas. The made it evident to the Senators early and often that they didn't stand a chance this night against our boys in blue. This was also the hoped and expected response by fans after the 8-1 embarrassment of Saturday night when the Thrashers were humiliated at the hands of the Washington Capitals.

No time to rest on our laurels though, we face the Buffaslugs on Thursday night when we once again don the maroon. The Sabres are currently in 2nd place in the conference and have so far amassed 61 points behind the strong play of goalie Ryan Miller. This game will not be like the pasting we just handed a weakened and vulnerable Ottawa team. Buffalo is firing on all cylinders and will be ready to make up for their loss last night also.

The Thrashers will need to come out firing and take the game to Buffalo, much in the way they did to Ottawa. What they need to go ahead and count on now is a tighter defensive effort by their opponent and a much better goal tender. We'll need to get pucks deep and fire at Miller often, with as Eric Boulton put last night in the post game show, "Getting to those pucks in the dirty areas"

Thrasher fans...enjoy the win..it was convincing..in regulation...and it felt good...but be ready to go to work on Thursday. Come out to Phillips Arena and show this team we're still supporting them.

Gut Check Time

2010-01-12T09:30:00.001-05:00

Tonight the struggling Ottawa Senators come to town and the big question is can this Atlanta Thrashers team come out with some pride and play a competitive hockey game or will they fold like a cheap suit in the face of adversity when it strikes. Note I didn't say IF adversity strikes, because in hockey it's always right around the corner.

To say this team needs a good performance tonight on the ice is a understatement of herculean proportion. According to earlier comments from John Anderson it also looks like we'll be doing this without our top center Nik Antropov. I'm speculating that despite the horrid performances by both goalies (they both coughed up 4 goals), I think that Anderson is going to go with Ondrej Pavelec. Pavs looked solid for the whole 2nd period of Saturday night's bloodletting when he came on in relief and wasn't until the 3rd period before he started to let in shots.

Reports from Duluth over the weekend stated that the team had a very long and hard practice on Sunday with a focus toward skating. That can be translated as Anderson bag skated their asses off, which is what I've been calling for a while now.

Here's a look at what tonight is going to mean to both teams:

Atlanta is currently in 11th place in the conference, tied in points with division rival Tampa Bay and only 1 point ahead of the Florida Panthers with 44 points
Ottawa is in 7th place in the league with 48 points but is on a 4 game skid
Ottawa is struggling this year on the power play with the league worst PP at 14.2%
Atlanta's power play is 11th in the league at 19.9% (this is about even with last season's numbers)
Ottawa has the 14th ranked PK at 82.2% and Atlanta is 22nd at 80%

Thrasher News

Kari Lehtonen and Mark Popovic have both joined the team in practice skating, though neither is expected to be able to participate at game level yet.

Nik Antropov is out with a hip injury and has been listed as doubtful for tonight's game

Don Waddell spoke with "The Viv" at the Ajc about the status of Kovy, click the link for the full report

Thrashers Humiliated By Capitals

2010-01-10T10:12:00.004-05:00

It might be a football picture...but the caption speaks a 1000 words

Do you wonder how the L.A. Kings fans felt after the 7-0 beating we gave them? I bet you don't anymore. I'll admit I did something last night I've never done at a Atlanta Thrashers hockey game before, I left early. I got up and left after the Caps went up 6-1 and you could tell then that our guys had just given up. I wasn't surprised at all to hear, while driving home and listening to 680 the Fan, that the final score was 8-1.

I don't even know where to start with the amount of disgust I felt last night. Moose was pulled early in the 2nd period after his 4th goal allowed. He allowed the first 3 in the 1st period on just 7 shots. He had an off night, he's been pretty darn good for us for the most part, so I'm not going to rip him. I actually felt bad for Hedberg as he skated off the ice, I knew he was more unhappy with himself than any person in that arena could have been. Pavelec's relief started strong actually, I thought that it might be just what the doctor ordered for him, to have to come on in relief and have a strong performance. He made some real quality saves at first and didn't allow any more goals in the second period. What happened during the second intermission I'm not quite sure but this team failed the gut check.

At one point I was thinking at least Todd White got a goal and broke his 34 game goal-less streak, alas that was to not be the case. White, for those of you who weren't at the game, had been announced at the time of the goal as being the scorer, only to have the officials change the score sheet after the game and award the goal to Afinogenov. In fact, White got pushed completely off the score sheet. So continues Todd White's goal-less streak, now to 35 games.

I'm only hoping that we can tag last night's game as the official low point of the season. Every team has them, I'm hoping that was ours. What made last night so hard to swallow was it was on the heels of the shootout win against the Rangers that snapped the 9 game skid we were on. What was needed last night was a followup win to help this team get on track. What happened instead was a crushing defeat, in front of a home crowd. Last night's game leaves two directions and viewpoints that the Thrashers can take from such a game. They can man up and get pissed off at their performance and come out and have a good strong game against their next opponent or they can choose to lay down and die and this could effectively be the end of any part of their meaningful season.

How they respond will be up to how it's handled by John Anderson and his staff and more importantly the veteran leaders on this team. If a player wears a letter on his sweater and isn't speaking up in the room right now then I have to question his ability to lead. This team has the pieces to beat the Washington Capitals, I just don't know if it has the heart.

Thrasher Homecoming A Must Win

2010-01-07T12:21:00.000-05:00

The Thrashers return after their triumphant (can you smell the sarcasm?) world tour to host the New York Rangers. You remember the Rangers? that team that crushed my hopes and dreams in the playoffs several years ago. Well they're coming back to Blueland tonight.

I know the weather channel has been talking about threats of snow and apocalyptic predictions of the next ice age coming to Atlanta but I have a feeling that if you see a flake you'll be blessed. Let's come out to the bulb and see if we can find a way to cheer the Thrashers on in hopes that they can pull out of the nose dive and win.

The fact is that we're getting to a must win situation...the players know it...the coaches know it....hell...the fans have been knowin' it. Despite this long slide we're still in playoff contention, in fact, only 3 points out of the last playoff spot. The unfortunate part of that statement is that with the exception of Carolina...so is the rest of the conference.

Those points we banked so early in the season will now be the foundation to build a playoff push, but the push has to start now. If we wait until March (Seeing as how Feb has so few games because of the Olympics) then it will be too late.

Best Case Scenario

Here's how I see the rest of the season working out on a best case scenario. I'll do this in bullets

Kovy resigns for a reasonable amount that will allow the team to build around him in the future
The team begins to win immediately and turns around their 9 game losing streak with a winning streak of at least 5
Kari returns by February and with his new back and rested groin play like the top draft pick we always thought he was
Kozzy, White and Little begin to produce with numbers close to last years numbers
We make the playoffs and win at least the first round

Here's the middle ground and what is more likely to happen

The team either snaps the streak tonight or loses another game before it snaps it. Then follows it up with no more than 2 wins before they lose again.
Kovy either signs for more than he's worth and we mortgage the future to pay the face of the franchise or he is traded for mid level talent and draft picks and prospects
Kari comes back and plays a half a dozen games and blows out his groin
We miss the playoffs by less than 5 points in the standings

Here's worst case

The team loses a franchise record 14 games then Waddell fires John Anderson. The Spirit then direct him to find another coach
Kovy leaves and we get robbed by another team
Kari comes back , plays 2 games really good and then makes Pavelec look great
Moose shoots the entire defense during a rout by the Toronto Maple Leafs in front of a home crowd of 40. The Canadian press has a complete field day with the lack of attendance and doesn't even pay attention to the 5 counts of homocide by the goaltender.
The Atlanta Thrashers are sold to Jim Balsillie who immediately moves the team over night to Hamilton, where it does an immediate 180 and makes the playoffs and wins the Stanley Cup.

Ok so my worst case is a bit of a fantasy...but you can see where I'm going with it. My hopes are for something close to best case and what's really incredible is that if all the stars line up that can still happen this year.

I don't think that any of us fans are asking for too much, we're not asking for a cup champion team this year..we're just asking for a team that plays a consistent game on most nights and is competitive, makes the playoffs and is fun to watch. What we've gotten so far is a team that is fun to watch on nights when they are on and the rest is just been ho hum at best.

Anybody Got A Tourniquet?

2010-01-06T10:51:00.000-05:00

Ok...up until this point I have been a card carrying, flag waving, cheer leading S.O.B when it came to the Thrashers. I believe, I try to find the silver lining on the dark clouds, when we did something great I was the first in line to drink the kool-aid. With that said...Why should we give a shit anymore? It's obvious the players don't.

In truth, I'm a die hard Thrasher fan and will be until I die or they move, whichever comes first, but I'm really pissed right now. Let me explain some of my reasons as to why I'm not very happy.

1) Antropov is out due to injury so his spot is replaced with Todd White? Todd White of the "I can't score" White's...A top 6 forward who hasn't potted a goal in 32 (you read that right)...32 games. Is John Anderson high? Maybe Todd has some type of material he is using to blackmale Anderson.

2) We started Ondrej Pavelec, the "Not Ready For Primetime Player". As a commenter on Bill Tiller's latest blog put it "The audition is over".

3) All John Anderson seems to do is roll his eyes when we get scored on...how about a good vein popping Lindy Ruff impression.

4) No defensive responsibility by anybody except maybe Toby and Pavel.

Ok...we gave the Pens a great bounce back game and in turn dug our hole just a little deeper. We started this road trip from hell tied for 6th in the conference and threatening to take 5th. Now we're a hair away from being in 12th. The once struggling Toronto Maple Leafs have pulled themselves up by their boot straps and have amassed 38 points in their last 32 games. The Thrashers just 32 points in their last 34 games.

What we need now is for John Anderson to start holding some players accountable. We'll start with Todd White, though he isn't the only one. It's also time for the dreaded bag skate, I think this team needs a shock to it's system and it's time for them to figure out that they have to pull their heads out of their asses and play some hockey.

Tomorrow we get the NY Rangers, a team that we've handled pretty well so far this season. Hopefully this will be the team that will get us back on track (I know I've said that for the last 3 games about these teams).

On the bright side the USA junior team secured their gold medal last night for the World Juniors Championship with a win over team Canada in a 6-5 overtime thriller. They had dropped an shootout loss on New Year's Eve to Canada with a score of 6-5

Thrashers Looking To Stop Tail Spin

2010-01-05T13:33:00.000-05:00

Super Mario made a visit to the Pittsburgh Penguins practice after a 5 game losing streak for the defending Stanley Cup champions and tonight Atlanta visits the Pens and hopes to stop it's own free fall at the expense of a vulnerable Pittsburgh team.

Atlanta is winless in it's last 8 contests and has looked utterly forgettable in the month of December. With the ringing in of the new year the message is it's time to get back on track. The Thrashers have struggled mightily with special teams and that has been the ultimate undoing of the once bright playoff hopes from earlier in the season and now we're down to having to really grind out a spot in the playoff picture.

As I said above though, Pittsburgh is ailing right now as well. Malkin has been less than his formidable self over the last few games scoring well below his normal pace. The Pens power play, which they generate many of, has been less than productive as of late.

So how does this shake down for the Thrashers tonight? Well in this day and age of hockey any night is a toss up, but with a strong effort in Buffalo and NY last week and a day of practice in Duluth coupled with a struggling Pittsburgh team I think this might be the game to turn the bad juju around.

Per Dan Kamal's twitter, Pavelec will be in against Johnson tonight. Chris Kunitz is out and Malkin has been struggling.

This is the final game of a 7 game road stretch, the longest of the season, and with the Thrashers ready to return home it would be good to come back to Atlanta with some momentum. The Thrashers are currently sitting at 9th in the conference and 3 points out of 8th place. We are at a point where each game has become important.

Shooutout Loss Sucked...Maybe A Light At The End Of The Tunnel

2010-01-04T10:23:00.000-05:00

Saturday's loss to the Islanders was certainly a mixed experience. I'm sure all Thrasher fans watching were rolling their eyes in the first period when we fell down by 3 goals in what looked like a total lack of give a shit by the players.

The 2nd period started and Max jumped out quick..50 seconds into the period to put the first marker on the board. I'm thinking..perhaps...just perhaps they actually DO have some pride left. Trent Hunter struck right back just 39 seconds later and that's when I started to wonder if that would be all it would take to deflate the Thrashers. As it turned out, not at all, Max struck again and then we let the Islanders find the back of the net again.

This is where it got a little maddening...just as each goal we looked like we might be getting some momentum we let them come right back and score and it was like climbing the hill and being knocked back down...I was getting frustrated with our defensive efforts. Finally!!...Rich Peverley and Nik Antropov get back to back goals and we pull within 1 of the Islanders.

Going into the 3rd period only down by 1 goal after we had been down by 3 on two separate occasions makes a Thrasher fan like me feel pretty good with the overall situation. It was apparent that the 2nd period play had an affect on both teams, the Thrashers hit the ice for the final frame with a renewed sense of confidence and the Islanders looked a little shell shocked that they couldn't put us away like they had in the last two contests we've had with them this season.

Then it happened....Kovy scored and knotted the contest at 5 and we played the rest of the period, almost a full nine and a half minutes furiously trying to put the game away. I'll give the Islanders credit...they were trying to put us away as well and we traded shots like two heavyweights standing toe to toe in the center of the ring.

Overtime was of course, a furious affair and I almost died inside when Cristoph Schubert took a high sticking penalty. I'm thinking to myself that we can't surrender the game on the penalty kill, this would be a dagger through the heart of the team and it would totally neuter my own spirit about the team I've come to love.

The PK responded with an October 2009 performance and totally locked out the Islanders for the entire 2 minutes and sent the contest to the shootout. What can I say about the shootout...their snipers got the best of our goalie...and Rolo was able to hold off all but the indominable Kozzy...that's hockey...that happens.

Now, with all that said...let me tell you what I think of the performance as a whole and what I think it may mean for the team. Their performance Saturday was both good and bad (haven't seen that before..have you?) Ok the 1st period sucked hard. Our defense had as many holes as a colander and Moose didn't exactly look spectacular. The 2nd period we started to find our game, but the first half of the period we were still too loose defensively...then the second half of the period we started really putting the screws to the Islanders and honestly from then until the end of the game I thought we really dominated the game.

Saturday's performance could have been the light at the end of the tunnel, and what a long tunnel it's been. We haven't won a game in the last 8 and haven't won a game in regulation since the end of November..to say that December was bleak is like saying water is wet...a bit of an understatement, and certainly obvious. I don't even know where to pinpoint what has created such a malaise within the team, it's like they just checked out compared to the way they were playing October and November. What gives me hope is something innocuous..it was the performance of the PK in the overtime. John Anderson needs to sit down the PK squad and play that video footage to them and let them know that's how the PK should be playing all the time...it was how we were doing it back in the fall...remember the fall?...when we were winning.

We've got Pittsburgh next..they've been struggling lately and it would be nice to keep them struggling while we right the ship with a win. Let's hope the Thrashers take a lesson from the second half of that game and play Pittsburgh with the same passion.

Believe in Blueland

Back from a Holiday

2009-12-30T11:43:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-25T12:07:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-24T08:34:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-23T08:12:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-22T08:58:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-21T10:51:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-20T10:23:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-19T07:02:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-18T09:52:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-17T10:16:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-16T10:40:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-15T09:32:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-14T10:50:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-13T07:31:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-10T16:49:00.000-05:00

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?

2009-12-09T10:56:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-07T23:32:00.000-05:00

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?

2009-12-07T10:52:00.000-05:00

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....

2009-12-04T10:59:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-03T11:36:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-02T12:49:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-02T09:15:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-01T11:27:00.000-05:00

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

Not Bad So Far..You Think?

2009-11-30T11:25:00.001-05:00

I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I spent mine up in Chattanooga watching my son's football team play in a tournament up there where they took the tournament championship with a 26-0 rout go Falcons!!!

Because I was out of town I missed the Carolina and Philly games. I tried to catch the Carolina game but even though Sports South had the game listed in the Chattanooga market they played some stupid South Carolina versus I Don't Give a Damn in a college basketball snore fest, needless to say I was less than thrilled. I listened to the game on streaming radio. Thank you Dan Kamal for being the awesome play by play man that you are. I then missed the Philly game because I was on the road and my Center Ice was at home..oh well.

So we're a little bit more than a quarter of the way through the season and conventional hockey wisdom says that the team you have at Thanksgiving is the team you got for the year..so what do you think so far? Not bad for a team that most pundits had picked to be in the cellar of the Eastern Conference.

No hockey writer out there picked this team to finish higher than 10th place, most actually 13th or worse, though a few were being generous at 10th. The reality is we're right now in 7th place in the conference and are being considered now by most to be a playoff hopeful. Thrasher bloggers, of course, had more faith in this team, though some us were guardedly believing we would be better but maybe not quite playoff caliber. I felt like we could hold 2nd place in the conference behind Washington and secure the 7th or 8th spot in the conference. So far that's just about where we are..so now all we have to do is stay here..or better..improve.

What's Gone Right
So far more things have gone right than wrong..and that's the reason why we sit a 13-7-3 on the season and firmly in 7th place in the conference. The goaltending has been nothing short of amazing and our tandem have now counted for 3 shutouts so far this season and each night can be counted on to give a solid effort. When camp broke this was probably the biggest question mark of the upcoming season, how would the goaltenders hold out? With Kari Lehtonen down once again this time to a bum back and requiring a second surgery the tandem of Odrej Pavelec and Johan Hedberg have been stellar in their ability to keep games close and steal a win when needed.

Not only has the goaltending been a pleasant surprise how about the Penalty Kill? What was once an embarrassment has become a source of pride, especially to the units on the ice, who now play like it's a sin to give up a short handed goal. This attitude has led to the Thrashers holding the 2nd best PK right now in the league at 85% along with 4 short handed goals.

What's Gone Wrong
Even though the Thrashers are playing better hockey that is not to say there hasn't been some rough spots and there isn't room for improvement. The Thrashers have had problems playing a full 60 minutes each and every game and have had few 60 minute efforts strung together. At first I attributed this to the wonky early season schedule where the team would have days to almost a week between games and thinking the malaise came from inaction. We know that coach John Anderson sees this in the team by his comments, let's just hope he finds a way to convince these guys that a full 60 minute effort is required by the league each and every night to make the playoffs.

The Thrashers are posting a league worst shots against average of 35.6 per game. One has to wonder that at this rate will they begin to burn out the outstanding goaltending they are getting. Part of this is a result of the type of system that John Anderson uses with a run and gun defense that pinches in the offensive zone, this can lead to breakout rushes from the other team with the defense deep. Luckily most of these 35.6 shots per game (average) are coming from lower percentage shooting areas and very few are actually quality scoring chances. When you add few quality chances with goaltenders that are standing on their heads you get an above average performance.

With the win over Philly on Saturday night the Thrashers were able to even up their home record to .500. To be a playoff caliber team you have to be able to win in your own building and this has been a sore spot for the Thrashers so far this season, they have to improve their home record to be a winning record if they want to stay in the playoff hunt.

Questions on the Horizon
Several question loom on the horizon for Atlanta that will make the next few months interesting. First, Boris Valabik returns from down on the farm in Chicago where he finished his conditioning stint. This brings the roster to the full 23 allowed by the NHL and gives the Thrashers 8 defensemen. It's customary for teams to carry an extra forward or two...but an extra D man...needless to say it's looking a little jammed up on the bench..which in turn leaves the press box a little full also. What will the Thrashers do with all the extra bodies? Is somebody bound to get shipped out? If so....who?

Eventually Kari Lehtonen will be back...and when he arrives then we'll have 3 goalies...what to do then? With the way that Ondrej the giant and the Moosinator have played it's hard to tell them to take a seat behind the gimp..but if you don't play him he's not going to have any trade value..so that will be another interesting conundrum that will have to be addressed.

Finally...this biggest ? of them all...Kovy's contract...when? how much? how long?...did I mention When? Oh please...please...for the love of all things holy...because me and every other fan who is just about to bust..do us a favor and....Do The Deal!!

Overall the first quarter of the season has been pretty damn fun..and it's been fun to be a Thrasher fan. You're beginning to see a resurgence in interest in the team with an announced crowd of just slightly over 16K on Saturday when The Dawgs and The Jackets hooked it up in Atlanta. For a football crazed town on the night of an in state rivalry game that's pretty frickin' good.

Pavelec Shuts Down the Winged Wheel

2009-11-26T08:23:00.001-05:00

A small but raucous crowd gathered last night at TJ's in Alpharetta to witness the Thrashers take on Detroit. Atlanta, coming off a 3 game slide, needed the win and hoped to break the team's early game malaise by playing a good road game. The Thrashers got everything they had hoped to get and more on the back of a solid goaltending performance by Ondrej Pavelec.

Photo Courtesy: Virginia Flowers/Getting Pucks Deep

Pavelec posted his 2nd shutout of the year only 12 days behind the last one, a 7-0 schalacking of the L.A. Kings and quite possibly the strongest game of his career. Pavelec turned aside 40 shots on goal including a highlight reel theft on Henrik Zetterberg where he had to make a diving save coming from the opposite post.

The revamped line of Kozlov/Antropov/Afinogenov struck first with Maxim effeciency when the Mad one made a beautiful tape to tape pass to Saint Nik who was waiting at the far post to shove it in the huge hole left by Howard. This counted for Antropov's 2nd tally of the year to go along with his 19 assists tying him for 3rd on the team in total scoring with linemate Max Afinogenov and only behind the Pevs Dispenser and the Czar.

In the second period, during a Brent Lebda slashing penalty, the Russian domination of Detroit continued as the Kaptain made a pass to an open Slava Kozlov who streaked in on a breakaway and stymied the Detroit goaltender to light the lamp for his 3rd goal of the season. The Thrashers were 1-4 on the night for the powerplay but shut down the equally effective Red Wings powerplay on 3 seperate occasions.

The 3rd period both teams held each other scoreless but the hockey was none the less exciting and as the minutes ticked down we were hoping that Pavelec's game would hold and alas it did. I would like to point out the Eg-reeeeeee-geous party foul committed by the DJ last night with just 3 and half minutes left in the game this asshat starts trying to announce team trivia...what a moron!!

The team makes it's way to Raleigh where they will stop over and rest today and then suit up to take on a struggling Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC center tomorrow. The Hurricanes are 5-14-5 with a league worst goal per game average of 2.17 and a 28th ranked goals against average of 3.46. The Hurricane special teams also are pretty weak with them posting only a 14% success rate with the man advantage and when down a man 78.6% Atlanta should be able to win this game if we come out of the dressing room with the same energy we started the game with last night.

With a night off between games I'm expecting that coach John Anderson will start Ondrej Pavelec again in net and he will be most likely facing former Thrashers tryout Manny Legace. Legace, so far has done an admirable job backstopping Carolina since the injury of Cam Ward and has helped them pull themselves up from the dismal 14 game slide that marred the beginning of their season.

Have a great Thanksgiving and I'll see you guys on Friday

Motown Preview

2009-11-25T10:37:00.000-05:00

The Thrashers start a 2 game road swing tonight at Joe Louis Arena taking on the banged up Detroit Red Wings before moving on to Raleigh to face the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

Taking a look at the Winged Wheel there is certainly no reason that the Thrashers can't walk out of the Joe with 2 points and right the ship that has been foundering the last 3 games. The Red Wings are always a dangerous hockey team but we'll be facing them with some of their key players injured. Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwall and Jason Williams.

The Wings are still a formidable opponent with the likes of Nik Lindstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. Statistically these two teams match up pretty close to one another with Atlanta holding the slight edge.

Atlanta comes into Hockeytown with a 10-7-3 record facing Detroit's 11-7-4 record. The Thrashers have the most potent offense in the NHL with an average of 3.50 goals per game, Detroit's offense is still very dangerous with a 3.00 average.

The Thrashers power play has struggled lately only converting 1 out of the last 13 chances dropping the percentage to 23.5 for a 5th best power play in the league. Detroit's power play is rated right behind the Thrashers at 23.4

Atlanta has an advantage on the penalty kill with 82.7% ranking them 7th in the NHL. The Red Wings have struggled with a man down and come in at 74.4% putting them 28th in the league.

Defense is going to be a key for Atlanta because the Wings throw a league 2nd 34 shots per game average at goalies and the Thrashers allow 35.4 shots against, putting them 29th in the league with only the Florida Panthers worst in that catagory.

The goalie match up will be Ondrej Pavelec 6-5-3 with a 2.96GAA and .917 Save% versus Chris Osgood 6-4-3 sporting a 2.73GAA and .901 Save%

The game will be shown tonight on Sports South and a crowd will be gathering at TJ's in Alpharetta to cheer our team. Come out to TJ's and join the crowd as we make some noise for the Thrashers!!

Believe in Blueland

Evander A Strong Calder Candidate

2009-11-24T10:29:00.000-05:00

Coming around the quarter pole of the season let's take a look at the race for the Calder Trophy, the trophy awarded to the Rookie of the Year. Of course there are plenty of rookies in the league but really the race has already been narrowed to just a hand full of 1st year players and our Evander Kane is amongst the standouts.

The race has come down the following players:

John Tavares - NY Islanders
Evander Kane - Atl Thrashers
Matt Duchene - Col Avalanche
Victor Hedman - TB Lightning
Tyler Myers - Buf Sabres

Currently the race would go to John Tavares of the Islanders, the #1 pick of this years draft was counted on by the Isles to become their franchise player and would be counted on in his first year to spark their offense and help to turn the club's freefall around. So far, Tavares has lived up to his billing he's posted 9G 10A for a total of 19 points while keeping a respectable -1 with just 4 minutes in penalties. He's touched opponents for 1 powerplay and 1 short handed goal and he averages approximately 18:39 per game.

The battle right now for the runner up would be a toss up between Kane and Tyler Myers. Evander has notched 7G and 5A for 12 points (2nd among rookies in scoring) with a +7 rating, best among rookies, and a short handed goal. Evander gets the least amount of ice time among all rookies in the hunt with just around 14 minutes per game.

Myers, the Buffalo defenseman, has made a huge impact on the blueline for the Sabres, showing he's got defensive skills and an offensive weapons. Myers has posted 3G 6A for a total of 9 points with a +3 rating including a power play goal. He's a workhorse for the team with 21:45 per night of ice time and as a defenseman has shown an ability to stay on the ice and not in the penalty box with just 10 minutes in penalties thus far.

Rounding out the bottom two spots are Matt Duchene and Victor Hedman. Both players are posting respectable rookie numbers but are being left behind by the top 3.

Could Evander topple Tavares? That's a question for sure, he's got the skills for sure and he plays some great hockey and contributes to the team in ways that just don't show up on stat sheets. Evander has become a go to guy on the PK in Atlanta and is part of the reason for the overall success of the Thrashers revamped penalty kill. The biggest obstacle that may face Kane in trying to gain the Calder Trophy would be his ice time. The less time you are on the ice the less opportunity you have to score and showcase your talent.

Whether it's Kane or Tavares or somebody else...it doesn't matter to Thrasher fans. Evander has already found a place in the hearts of Atlanta fans and will be a player counted on by the Atlanta Thrashers for years to come and that's a fact that will remain long after the argument for one trophy has played out.

Weekend Wrapup

2009-11-23T10:49:00.000-05:00

What a weekend!..well to say that it could have been better for the Thrashers is like stating that water is wet...we all know this. On a personal note..as I mentioned in my previous post..I would have to miss the Pens game because I would be watching my Dacula Falcons take on the Peachtree Ridge Lions. Well Dacula won it's 5th consecutive GFL championship, a feat unmatched by any other team that has ever played in that league.

Sorry..but it's my blog..and I have to brag on my boys...I'm so proud of all of them!!

Now back to hockey. The weekend for the Thrashers could have gone better and if you watched the video of the post game presser from yesterday you can see that John Anderson is losing his patience. After the Thrashers dropped a game to the Penguins on Saturday 3-2, fueled by Max Afinogenov's goal with just 17 seconds left in the game to bring the team into striking distance. The Thrashers came out flat for 2 periods on Sunday and fell back by 2 goals to the Tampa Bay Lightning before battling back on the strength of a goal by Evander Kane to tie up the game and send it to an extra frame. Steven Stamkos cashed in on a defensive lapse and the Bolts skated away with our extra point...

I've had the opportunity to meet and talk to and interview John Anderson so I can speak with just a little more experience than the average fan on this when I say when you watch the post game presser...he was pissed!! It had to be the shortest post game he's held so far this year and you could see the frustration level. Anderson gave up on platitudes and pointing out the silver lining in the cloud and called out the team, which I'm glad he did.

As a fan I love this team and I think we still have the best team we've ever put together and you can tell that some members of this team are playing the full 60 minutes in a game...but the entire team is not playing with a sense of urgency in the first 40 minutes of games on a consistent basis and it's costing us games and Anderson has spent enough air on it that I think he's tired of saying it...both to the team and the press. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a bag skate in the future for this team.

It's hard for this team to generate the crowds they want when they keep dropping games like this...unfortunately, as far as crowds go, we live in Atlanta..that means fans are fickle and won't come out for games they think we'll lose. I got to see Atlanta fans in action yesterday when the Dolts scored that power play goal to put them up 3-1. The stands began to empty with like 9 minutes left in the game and I'm thinking "This is hockey..this game can change on a dime". That's how fans here are...they are more interested in beating traffic than watching a game where the team may lose.

Are the Thrashers making it more exciting? Hell yeah..almost every 3rd period at home this season has been a cardiologists nightmare. The Thrashers keep finding ways to make the game close and they are putting the work in and not mailing in games when we are behind. I think this is what almost frustrates fans more..if they could do that from the beginning we'd be killing teams..instead of fighting for the consolation point in the standings..I hate that point..it's like kissing your cousin or something..

With last night's "non-win" the Thrashers drop to a .500 record again. We have 2 games next on the road, where we seem to do a little better. Wednesday we travel to Detroit to take on the Swedes and company at the Joe Louis Arena. Playing the Winged Wheel is never easy but this year they are little banged up and perhaps we can bounce back and get a win. Black Friday we roll into Raleigh to take on the struggling Carolina Hurricanes. This is a team that is backed into a corner..don't let the crappy record fool you..they will be dangerous, but we should be able, if we play our game to come out of there with the 2 points.

Upcoming Events
Wednesday TJ's will play host to Thrasher fans once again for a viewing party. Nice part about that is that we won't have to share the room with Nebraska fans and Sports South is broadcasting the game so we won't have to worry about getting boned by Center Ice and the Dish. Come out to TJ's, if you haven't been yet it's an awesome time at an awesome place, the eats are good and the beer is cold.

Thrashers Welcome Bloggers

2009-11-21T14:47:00.000-05:00

Today marks the second blogger event for the Atlanta Thrashers, the organization is very kind to open it's doors and allow some of us amatuer writers in and let us take part in the media activities of the day. Once again thanks to Rob Koch and Lee Wilson of the Atlanta Thrashers for making us feel welcome and giving us an opportunity to get behind the scenes, as a fan it's a very special event.

This morning we sat in on the Atlanta pre-game skate and watched the action and chatted with Atlanta Thrasher TV play by play man Matt McConnel. Matt is a great fellow and fun to chat with, he's got a good bead on the team and provides a unique insight.

After the skate we made our way back to the Thrashers locker room area and was able to listen in on the John Anderson post skate press scrum. Then the bloggers were unleashed on assistant coach Randy Cunnyworth. Coach Cunnyworth by the way, is participating in the MOvember mustache campaign and has a nice Ron Burgandy thing happenin'.

The bloggers began to pepper Cunnyworth in earnest about a varied array of subjects. Randy was great in answering our questions and gave us some insight into what the coaching staff sees of this team and it's players. I'll be writing a seperate post on his interview a little later.

Finally we had a chance to talk to the Pevs dispenser, Rich Peverley. Before I dispense with the newsie part of this let me give you my impressions of the man. It seems Rich is kind of a quiet guy, actually a counterpoint to the last player we interviewed in Chris Thorburn. Rich is very humble and I think, even though I'm sure he wouldn't say it, that all the attention is a little on the uncomfortable side for him.

Rich was asked about coming to Atlanta and what it was like coming up from Nashville "I was lucky I was picked up by Atlanta, I was lucky that I was picked up by a coach that was going to play me" he went on to say "I've been really thankful for the opportunity"

The bloggers will be back at Phillips Arena tonight as guests of the Thrashers to take the game in from the press box and to have a chance to question the AJC's beat writer Chris Vivlamore. I won't be able to make the game tonight as my oldest son will be at the Gwinnett Football League Championship game as Dacula goes for an unprecedented 5th straight GFL championship against a great Peachtree Ridge team. I'll have to TiVo the game and just hope that my fellow bloggers have plenty to be happy about in the booth.

As a fan and blogger of this team I can't tell you how lucky we are that the team has reached out to the local social media and given them access that very few teams in the league allow. This is one of the reason in my humble opinion that makes the Atlanta Thrashers such a great organization.

Go Dacula Falcons!!!....Go Atlanta Thrashers!!!

A Mixed Night For The Thrashers

2009-11-20T09:14:00.000-05:00

Thursday home games still stymie the Thrashers. Is it the alternate sweater that is the cause? I'm not sure. Overall not a bad game by the Thrashers but obviously it could have been better.

Nik Antropov punched his ticket of the isle of schnide and left only Marty the Party Reasoner and Diamond Jim Slater left standing. I'm thinking that Marty'll be next just wondering how many more games it's gonna take.

The Bruins left town just like their cousin, Yogi, with our pick-i-nick basket stuffed with that extra point in the standings. It's funny, upon seeing that we were facing Rask instead of Thomas I felt like we had a better than even chance of walking away from this contest with 2 points pretty easily. After all the backup goalie, a 12.9% power play (they'll never convert on our PK) and Marc Savard still out. I honestly thought this was going to be a pretty easy affair. I'm wondering now if perhaps the guys in the locker room weren't maybe sipping a little of my kool aid before the game, because they came out flat in the 1st period and didn't play with much inspiration.

I don't normally call out players...I just like to cheer about them, but somebody (cough Mark Popovic cough) had a bad night last night. The first goal from Boston you can almost lay directly at his feet. The puck had been played around the boards in our end and Pops was moving in to scoop it up and pass it out of the zone and must've taken his eyes off the puck and over skated it. That's all it took as it was a turnover deep in our zone and a pass and a shot later and Boston lit the lamp. Later on in the period he missed an easy pass to keep the puck in the Boston zone and who knows what type of momentum that lost us.

Fortunately for Thrasher fans the team went into the locker room in the 1st intermission and got serious, Popovic included, and came back out in the 2nd period and played some frickin' hockey. Nik deflected a booming slapper from Toby and then the Czar gave us another highlight goal to tie the contest. Michael Ryder then helped the Bruins take the lead back in the waning seconds of a power play for a hooking penalty on Rich Peverley.

The 3rd period was a frenetic and back and forth hockey game that really was more a highlight of goaltending skill by both goalies but ended with a Max Afinogenov goal with an empty net down the ice and only 41 ticks of the clock remaining. The goal was pretty...the celebration on ice was awesome and the crowd got loud...it was great.

We dominated the 5 minute overtime period but alas, it was going to a shootout. As it turned out in the shootout all Boston would need was Patrice Bergeron's shot to secure the point up for grabs.

When I got home from the game I was switching channels and came upon Channel 2's coverage of the game (just after the Uga story. Rest Peacefully Uga) Chuck Dowdle (who I've always liked) absolutely raped the pronunciation of Maxim Afinogenov's name, it sounded like some hellish Russian tongue twister he couldn't spit out.

The GBU

The Good - Mad Max's goal to secure the tie and push the game to extra hockey

The Bad - The Thrashers once again came out and didn't really start playing until about the 30 minute mark into the game

The Ugly - Mark Popovic's turnover in the Atlanta zone in the 1st period

Thrashers Set To Square Off With Beantown Bears

2009-11-19T11:35:00.000-05:00

It's Thursday folks, and there's a game tonight in Phillips Arena. You know what that means? It means...$15.00 tickets to get in and see the most exciting hockey team in the South!!

Tonight the Atlanta Thrashers play host to Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins. The bears from Beantown come into Atlanta on a 3 game winless streak where they dropped games to the Panthers, Penguins, and Islanders. With stars Milan Lucic and Marc Savard being game time decisions, the Bruins are hoping they return to the ice and look to snap their current streak and pull some points out of Phillips Arena. The Bruins carry an 8-8-4 record over their last 20 games and currently occupy the 3rd spot in their division and are in 11th place in the conference.

The Thrashers are riding high on a 4 game winning streak and look to extend the good vibes in Thrasherville by taking advantage of the struggling Bruins. The Thrashers have yet to win a Thursday home game thus far this season and look to elevate their 4-4 home record above the .500 mark tonight. Just like the Bruins the Thrashers have a pair of players that are game time decisions in Pavel Kubina and Brian Little. Atlanta also sitting at 3rd in their division occupies the 9th spot in the conference. This game being a conference game makes it important to come away with both points sitting on the table.

Some Important Numbers

The Bruins have the worst powerplay in the NHL with a percentage of just 12.9% in comparison to the home town team and it's 26.5% which is 2nd in the league with only the Flyers posting a better success rate with the man advantage.

Boston makes up for their shortcomings on the powerplay somewhat by being pretty dominating on the penalty kill with a rating of 84.7%. Atlanta trails behind Boston on the kill by just .2% with an 84.5% rating. The teams hold the 3rd and 4th ranks in the NHL respectively.

Atlanta holds a decided advantage in offense as it is generating an average of 3.65 goals per game, 2nd only to Washington. Boston's offense has been sputtering so far this year and their goals per game average is ranked 28th in the league at 2.25. Boston, however is a little better about protecting it's net with a goals against average of 2.45 per game versus Atlanta's 2.88.

Goalie Matchup

Ondrej Pavelec - 6-5-1/2.90GAA/.917Sv%
Tim Thomas - 5-6-3/2.33GAA/.918Sv%

Keys to the Game

Score early..score often - It goes without saying that you can't win if you don't score but Atlanta so far has a prefect record when taking the lead first in a game.
Let them out shoot us - I know that sounds crazy, but we've lost each game where we outshot our opponent. Let them pepper the net..the key is not to let them have juicy rebounds
Control the tempo - We need to keep the puck deep on them and control the tempo of the game. Their defense struggles to cover the net and only the above average goaltending of Tim Thomas keeps them out of trouble. If we can get good rebounds and odd man situations we can put ourselves in a position to take advantage of the goalie

The Making of a Fan

2009-11-18T11:13:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday was kid's day at Phillips Arena. The Thrashers met...and defeated the Edmonton Oilers in a pretty exciting game. As a long time Thrasher fan it had just about everything that you could ask for. It had great goaltending by the Moose, a highlight reel goal by Max Afinogenov and a good fast paced up and down game.

Little did I know or understand until Monday evening after the game the impact that it had on a 6 year old boy sitting just two seats away from me. That little boy is my youngest son, Noah, who precociously informed me on Monday night when I arrived home from work that he wished to be called Rich Peverley. After informing me of his name change he sped off with plastic hockey stick in hand and in socked feet to slide around wood floors of my dining room hitting a ball and screaming "He shoots...He scores!!!"

I began to reflect to myself after witnessing my son's scoring prowess that this is where the love of sports starts...the hero worship that comes with watching the best of the best do what they do. As I grew up my hero was Dale Murphy, for those of you that have been in Atlanta long enough you probably understand all too well..and I'm sure I'm not in an exclusive club with him being my hero. My other hero growing up was Wayne Gretzky, I got a chance to see him play in person in Birmingham against the then Bulls when the WHA was still in existence. I was 6 years old then too, I don't remember if I skated around my parent's dining room after the game..but I knew who Wayne Gretzky was..and I wanted to be him. It was from this humble beginning that I became a fan of this sport.

I look to my son now and think, perhaps he will grow to love hockey the way I do now...and just perhaps he'll have a 6 year old son sliding around his dining room one day screaming for a future star...and if I'm real lucky...that star will be a Thrasher.

Believe in Blueland!!

**On a side note**
I have heard the rumor that Big Shooter of the Blueland Chronicle also loves to play dining room hockey and would love to arrange a game between him and my son

Even Better Than Ikea?

2009-11-17T11:20:00.001-05:00

What from Sweden could be better than Ikea? How about Tobias (Toby) Enstrom. The 3rd year blueliner for the Thrashers is now the longest serving defensman on the team and since being inserted into the lineup 2 seasons ago has yet to miss a game. The durable Swede has become an anchor on the blue line for the Thrashers and certainly has garnered his fair share of adoration by Blueland faithful.

Toby began his tenure paired up with fellow Swede Niclas Havelid but soon showed that the student had become the master and took his place in the hearts and minds of coaches and fans as the very core of our defensive corps. What makes Enstrom such a great story is how the story might not have ever developed at all.

Toby was drafted in 2003 by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 8th round, the 239th overall pick of the round. When he was drafted there was a different play style and mindset to the NHL. The NHL prototypical defenseman at the time was more along the lines of Chris Pronger or Zdeno Chara not somebody who is 5'10" and only weighs a buck 80. Then the lockout happened, it sucked for us fans, but it turned out to be one of the best things for the game and a great break for a guy in Sweden. Up until this point Toby had been perfecting his game for Modo in the Swedish Elite League but with a return of NHL play a new model for the game was becoming evident, one where size wasn't everything. All of the sudden players were looked at by their skill level, not just their bulk and this gave the young Swede an opportunity that he would make the best of.

Toby started his NHL career in the 2007-2008 season off by playing all 82 games of that rookie year and being named to the All Rookie team. His contribution was noticed right away both defensively and with his offensive flair as well. Enstrom posted 5G 33A -5 with 42 penalty minutes. Funny enough, Boris Valabik also made his rookie debut for Atlanta that year and in his 7 games had as many penalty minutes (42) as Toby did all season.

The young defenseman proved in his sophomore year that what he showed at first wasn't beginner's luck by improving his game and becoming arguably the best defenseman on the team in the 2008-2009 season by posting 82 games 5G 27A +14 and 52 penalty minutes. Toby's +14 of the season was only bested by Rich Peverley's posting of +16 in 39 games played.

This year so far, Enstrom has posted 2G 10A +3 and 10PIM. At 3.75 million per year average until the end of the 2012-2013 season he's going to continue to be an anchor for us on defense and one of the keys to future success here in Atlanta.

As the Thrashers continue with the best start in several years and arguably the best outlook for a season in franchise history Toby Enstrom has showed he's a big part of the picture and his contribution is vital to the success of our team.

Kozzy Lights the Lamp and Drains the Oil

2009-11-16T11:58:00.000-05:00

Photo Courtesy: Virginia Flowers/Getting Pucks Deep

Nice to see that Kozzy finally lit the lamp in route to a win over the Edmonton Oilers yesterday at Phillips Arena. Kozlov's goal came at 11:59 of the 3rd period and would be the game winner.

Slava's first goal couldn't come at a better time. With the contest deadlocked at 2 goals apiece, after Maxim Afinogenov scored the game tying goal in the waning seconds of the second period, Kozzy finally deposited the biscuit in the basket with a snap shot goal that found the top left of the net.

The Sunday matinee game was a good back and forth contest between two good teams but in the end Atlanta prevailed on the back of timely scoring and good goaltending provided by Moose Hedberg.

The GBU:

The Good - Slava Kozlov punches his ticket of the isle of schnide and puts a marker in the goal column. Zach Bogosian chalks up his 8th of the season thus far putting him in front as the league leading defensive goal scorer

The Bad - The sparse crowd, especially on the heals of the 7-0 blowout win from Friday night. I know it's a Sunday that means church and football and whatever but I would give just about anything to see the arena packed for every game the team plays.

The Ugly - Nothing really ugly in the game..I'd have to say it was a pleasant Sunday afternoon, with a Thrashers win..can't beat that

**Editors Note**
I shamelessly bogart photos from Getting Pucks Deep because she takes awesome pictures. Make sure you check out her blog for cool pictures and some really funny captions. Thanks for letting me mooch off your shutterbugging, you're awesome girl!!

Thrashers Commit Regicide

2009-11-14T09:01:00.000-05:00

The King is Dead

Friday the 13th...for those of us who grew up around the 80's that date conjures up an image of Jason weilding a machete and generally slaughtering an entire cast by the end of the flick. Well last night on Friday the 13th there was a slaughter in Phillips Arena as the Atlanta Thrashers led by it's unstoppable captian Ilya Kovalchuk.

The 1st period was pretty much a back and forth grinder with several scoring chances from both teams and both goalies looking as if they weren't going to be shaken. I commented to the couple sitting next to me last night at the end of the 1st period that I was surprised that both teams had been held scoreless and thought this would have been a higher scoring affair. As we all know that was soon to change.

The 2nd period opened and it was much like the 1st period for the first half of the frame then Evander Kane coming behing the net with the puck made a turn and buried a sweet wrap around behind Jonathan Quick and little did we all know the flood gates were opening up. On the ensuing puck drop the Kings moved into our zone and then Mad Max intercepting a pass and feeding Kovy on a break away. Let me stop to opine for just a second on Kovy's skill...Kovy didn't even look like he was skating all that hard on the break away and you could tell by the way he shot it that he had no doubt before he even flicked his wrist that his shot was going in.

This is the point where the Thrashers hauled out the big can opener and popped the lid off the can of whoop ass and beat the Kings like a rented mule for the rest of the game. Bogosian was next with a slap shot from the top of the right circle..I swear I saw flames trailing the puck on it's way into the net. Then Kovy repays Max's earlier kindness and Max finds himself all out there alone with the puck and just kills quick with a move top shelf.

That was 4 goals in 5 minutes and 4 seconds and then on the very next play a scrum broke out down low in the corner by the Atlanta goal that ended up in a total line brawl. There were 4 fights going on at once and the Thrasher looked fired up and ready to show the Kings that we can beat them with the stick or with the fist, and we'll do both in the same game. Jim Slater put a beat down on Brad Richardson. Chris Thorburn wasn't going to let his linemate have all the fun as he drew not only the 5 for fighting but he got a game misconduct while he dispensed Raitis Ivanans a good county ass kicking. Boulton and Matt Greene hit the ice too early to really mix it up but still Boulton wasn't taking any shit and he showed he was up to whatever Greene thought he could throw down.

After the excitement of the 2nd period that concluded with 4 goals, 30 penalty minutes and 2 game misconducts you would think that the game would have settled down. Not on this night, the Thrashers said "Wait there's more!" and with the help of a King's power play we got to see Kovy's other signature shot, the one timer blast from the point lasered in and found the back of the net to light the lamp for goal number 5. Then 6 minutes and a second later Max Afinogenov potted his 2nd goal of the night as he cut between two defenders in the slot...had his feet taken out from under him and buried the shot behind Ersberg.

I think it was fitting that the rookie Evander Kane, whoe goal opened the flood gates finished the scoring with a Peverley pass to convert a short handed goal giving the youngster not only his first short handed goal but his first multi-goal game in the NHL.

Not to forget while all this scoring was happening on one end of the ice on the other we had a rock standing firm in net for the home crowd turning aside 38 shots and shutting down the likes of Anze Kopitar, Ryan Smyth and Jared Stoll. Pavs was focused the entire night, with great rebound control and good positioning. There was a bit of a scary moment with about 8 minutes left in the game when Opie took a puck off the leg and fell to the ice during play. It took the officials a moment to whistle the play dead and the Czech netminder kneeled on the ice for several moments...but showing he was a battler he stayed in net. The defense rallied around their goalie and kept it pretty clear for him for the most part the rest of the period and then at the 18 minute mark of the game Justin Williams took exception to a earlier Christoph Schubert shove and returned the favor as Schubie was trying to get onto the bench earning him a game misconduct and pretty much securing the shut out for Pavelec.

You know it's been a good home game when the media who picks the 3 stars of the game leaves out somebody who had 2 goals and an assist. Normally at this point I would do the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. It's hard to point out anything bad or ugly in a 7 goal shutout. I'm going to do instead, The Spectacular, The Great and The Good and the downright Sick

The Spectacular - Ondrej Pavelec with 38 stops. He stopped several odd man rushes and with excellent rebound control and superior puck handling maintained control of the game from the opening puck drop to the ending horn.

The Great - Kovy, Kane and Max with multiple goal nights. 10 Thrashers total hit the score sheet

The Good - Special teams looked very good killing off all the penalties, while scoring on a shorthanded situation and converting on a powerplay

The Sick - Max's second goal of the night where he moved inside to the slot and had his feet taken out and still made the goal was a sick ass move and looked awesome

Thrashers Rule the Roost at MSG

2009-11-13T10:42:00.002-05:00

60 minutes. 60 minutes of effort is what coach John Anderson has been asking of his team so far this season and tonight the Thrashers left the locker room determined to give the man his 60 minutes. With a game that Anderson characterized later as "One of the best games we've played all season" the Thrashers, led by the returning captain Kovalchuk played a strong game wire to wire and was rewarded with taking 2 points out of Manhattan and bringing it back to Atlanta.

The first period started off with excitement early, when the Kane/Peverley/Armstrong line struck only 19 seconds into the match with a tape to tape pass from rookie Evander Kane to Colby Armstrong who shoveled the pass to light the lamp. Undaunted, the Rags evened the score later in the period. There were also a pair for fights in the period when Eric Boulton and Donald Brashear faced off and then Callahan took exception to Zach Bogosian's clean and legal hit into the end boards and came up swinging. Brashear got the best of Boutlon as Eric was crowded and just didn't seem to be able to unload on him, though Boulton was not beaten..just wasn't able to really trade blows the way he wanted to. Zach on the other hand kicked Callahan's ass and let him know that just because he's 19 years old he isn't putting up with anybodies crap.

This is what goalies see when Evander closes in

The second period was dominated almost wire to wire by the Thrashers as they came out firing and took it to the Rangers. The Pevs dispenser struck on the first power play of the period, arranged by a slashing penalty by Michael Del Zotto and cashed in with a feed from Kovy. Shortly after the Thrashers took command of the game again Marion Gaborik showed why he's so dangerous with a snap shot during a NY power play to even the game again. Then the Kaptain, showing no ill effects from the foot lit the lamp during the next power play for Atlanta with a sweet dangle and a wicked wrister from the top of the left circle. Just 25 second later the Thrashers blew the game wide open when Peverley pulled up while entering the zone to wrangle a puck coming out of the zone and sent a tape to tape pass to a waiting Evander Kane who tucked it in behind King Henrik to make the game 4-2

The third period was reminiscent of a game we've seen in Atlanta all too often so far, the home team behind by a pair of goals playing a furious period to try to pull ahead or at least even it up and send it to overtime. The Rangers out shot Atlanta 18-5 in the final frame but came up short when Max Afinogenov notched the empty netter on the Czar's feed to put the game out of reach with just 13 seconds left in the match.

Overall this game was one of the best efforts I've seen out of this team the entire season. The guys hit the ice with a determination and a renewed since of what they are trying to accomplish and I think that the captain's presence had a lot to do with it. Kovalchuk was everywhere last night and racked up 22 minutes of ice time with 1 goal 2 assists and 6 shots on goal, but those were the tangibles. The intangible part of Kovy's game last night was his presence on the bench, he was the first player to his feet on the bench when Boulton and Brashear hooked it up and he was exhorting his teammate on. Watching Ilya last night in the game, on ice and off really makes me believe he will be here for quite some time. I don't think you throw that much emotion behind something you know secretly you're going to be leaving.

Ok so now it's time for the GBU

The Good - Scoring, scoring and scoring - We got great scoring from the forwards and once again the power play unit does a great job converting on 2 opportunities. Lest we not forget..let's also mention great goaltending tonight on the part of Moose Hedburg.

The Bad - There were some defensive lapses during the game that cost us a couple of goals. Overall it wasn't bad..but could use some cleaning up.

The Ugly - Eric Boulton's fight with Brashear. Eric did a good job of protecting himself and I don't think Brashear really put a beat down on him or anything..but Brashear did a masterful job of keeping Boulton from really being able to unload on him. I think if Boultsie could have gotten a good free swing he's have clocked the piss out of him.

4 + 4 = Exciting

2009-11-12T12:08:00.000-05:00

Tonight as we face the Rangers in New York let's take a look at two dynamic defensemen both wearing the number 4.

Atlanta's defenseman Zach Bogosian, drafted 3rd overall last year and played his rookie year last year in Atlanta, his first year was de-railed for the first half of the season with a broken leg, came back in the second half of the season and caught fire. The fire still burns in the sophomore defenseman, so far this year the young blueliner has already racked up 6G and 2A for 8 points in just 14 games. The 6 goal total ties Zach with Dion Phaneuf and Alex Goligoski for 1st in the league in goals for a defenseman.

Bogosian was also recognized this year as a leader in the dressing room and given an assistant captain's position on the team. Zach is a 1st pair defenseman and has tailored his game to John Anderson's system. With a team leading 29 hits and also 26 blocked shots, 1 shot behind teammate Pavel Kubina, Zach opens up space on the ice and creates space with his shooting and plays and exciting in your face and up in your space brand of hockey.

Across the ice tonight will be #4 Michael Del Zotto, the hot rookie blueliner for the NY Rangers, drafted 20th overall this year. When the Rangers broke camp this year the rookie's status was much like that of our own Evander Kane, the club wanted a better look and didn't know if they'd keep him past the 10 game mark of the season or send him back down. Just like the impression Evander Kane made on the Thrashers..Del Zotto came out firing and was one of the hottest defensemen in the league for the month of October. Del Zotto showed he was ready for the big time and the Ranger's punched his ticket to stay up with the big club in the middle of the month. Del Zotto has shown that like his opposite number across the ice tonight, that he too has scoring punch, the rookie Ranger has struck opponents for 4G and 9A for 13 points. Those 13 points ties him for 6th place among defenders in the league. He may be just a rookie but he's already making a mark, not just for his scoring prowess but his physical play. Del Zotto has 35 hits and 20 blocked shots showing he's not afraid to mix it up and bring his lunch pail to the rink.

Thrashers Land in the Garden

2009-11-12T09:50:00.000-05:00

The Atlanta Thrashers have arrived in Manhattan to take on the NY Rangers at Madison Square Garden, better known to the locals as MSG. Making the trip with the team, it seems, per Dan Kamal's twitter is our Czar...Ilya Kovalchuk.

I'm sure he's still a game time decision as is Evander Kane, who took a shot off his leg in Sunday's shootout win against the St. Louis Blues. Coach John Anderson has also stated that he's got his goalie rotation set for the back to back games of the next two days, but he's not giving that information up without a crowbar and length of rubber hose.

We here at FanThrashtic sent our top interrogation expert to pry out of Anderson the answers to the following questions

Will Kovy play?
Will Kane play?
Which Goalie will play?
Will Kozzy score?
How much wood could a wood chuck really chuck?

Anderson was a tough customer and wouldn't crack under the pressure. So we still are not sure as to the answers to those questions, so I'll just have do some educated guessing.

Pre-game Prognostication

I think that Kane and Kovy both will be good to go for tonight's game. The reason I think that Kovy will be in is simple, he wouldn't have made the trip to sit in the press box. Unless his foot swells up and turns 14 shades of purple I expect he'll suit up. Kane skated on Wednesday also and the coach made no real indication that his injury was anything but minor..I expect him to make it out also.

As far as goaltending is concerned..I think Anderson's gonna go with the hot hand. Since coming in for relief of Pavelec the Moose has stopped 38 of 41 shots including 30 in the shootout win against the Blues. This will leave Pavelec set to play the red hot L.A. Kings with the league leading scorer Anze Kopitar tomorrow night here in Atlanta in front of the home town crowd.

Anderson also seemed to feel a little encouraged with Kozzy's performance on Sunday saying that he had several good shots that Conklin just made good saves on, and that the shootout goal gave him a little confidence in the forward and hope that will translate for the Professor on the ice.

The game will be broadcast tonight on Sports South

As far as wood chucks and chucking wood...our scientific team is trying to come up with that answer now..it seems there are many variables but they've agreed that it would be a lot of chucking going on

Following the Thrashers

2009-11-11T09:19:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned yesterday, I was asked to write a post for Pick My NHL Team. This is a site that this guys in South Dakota started to find an NHL team. Below is what I sent him and he has published on his site also. Please stroll on over to his site and give some feedback and see what we can't do to make him choose the Thrashers!!

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When recently asked to write about why I'm a Thrasher fan I thought this would be a great way for me to put out the word about what a great group of fans we have in Atlanta and to talk about our team and why we love them. The Atlanta Thrashers are a fairly young hockey club in the NHL and have not had the years of glorious history that you will find among other clubs, but in it's young 10 years there have been many ups and downs that have not only shaped the team but it's fans. These ups and downs have molded the fans into some of the most passionate hockey fans I've ever seen.

The team picked up early in it's exsistance two exciting stars that have both become dynamic forces within the NHL in Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk. Heatley went on to capture the Calder Trophy, the reward for the rookie of the year, while Kovalchuk won the Rocket Richard Trophy; the reward for the most goals scored in a season. Watching both of these players in the same uniform made hockey very exciting here in Atlanta.

One night tragedy struck, Dany Heatley was involed in an automobile accident that injured him seriously and claimed the life of fellow teammate Dan Snyder. The city supported the young hockey player and grieved the loss of a talented young man who had left us all too early. As time moved on so did Dany, looking to find a place to play that wouldn't be a constant reminder of that terrible night. The organization moved on also, as it must, but never forgot the Snyders. Over the years with the help of the Thrashers Foundation over $700,000 was raised to help build a hockey rink and community center in Dan Snyder's home town. The Thrashers maintain close contact with Dan's parents Graham and LuAnn. The way that this organization has continued to support the Snyders and to involve them makes the Thrashers a class organization and one of the reasons I'm proud to call myself a Thrasher fan.

In 2007 we finally won something!! We captured the Southeast Division championship and moved on to the playoffs for the first time. The atmosphere in Phillips Arena was truly electric for the first game of the playoffs. I arrived early that night, as I usually do and made my way into the lower bowl to watch warmups. During a regular season game you may see a few dozen hovering around the boards and the seats sparsely filled as people milled about in the concourse getting their beer and pretzels and whatnot. Not on this night, the lower bowl was almost completely filled for the warmup skate and chants of "Let's Go Thrashers" was deafining, during warmups!! This was a memory I will carry with me for a long, long time and one of my fondest Thrasher memories.

After the quick playoff exit of 2007 we haven't seen too much success in Atlanta, so why be a fan? Why make your cry Blueland!? The Thrashers are a team that have a lot now to be excited about, we still have one of the most dynamic and exciting player in Ilya Kovalchuk, who now as captain of the team has become even more passionate in his game. We have youngsters Zach Bogosian, this defenseman is tied right now for the lead in scoring amongst all defenseman in the league. Evander Kane, the 19 year old 4th overall pick of last year's draft came to the team and almost immediately found the score sheet, he's been exciting to watch and he's going to be a force to contend with in the years to come.

We don't have snow here in Atlanta, hell we barely get what most would consider cold weather, but we have some rabid hockey fans and we love our team. The Atlanta Thrashers can boast one of the largest fan organized fan clubs of the entire NHL with a membership now approaching 500. We have a social media presence that is among the top in the league with about 18 blogs now dedicated to the Thrashers, with over 25 writers contributing. Another thing I love about the fans in Atlanta is that you truly feel like family, you see the same people all the time at the arena and it's always great to run into friends at the game. The Thrashers make it easy to really folllow this team as they keep their practices in Duluth open to the public and free of charge all the time. I make a yearly habit of taking my kids to the first day of training camp in Duluth.

Being a Thrasher fan is often an up and down experience, with both highs and lows, we follow our team and with the closeness we've found in each other as fans and the closeness that we have with the team in being able to go to practices, talk to the players, get to know the coaches and management. One day soon this team is going to be great and I know that I'll have been there for every step!!

Believe in Blueland!!!!

Shout out for Atlanta Fans...

2009-11-10T11:59:00.000-05:00

I was approached recently to represent Atlanta fans on Pick My NHL Team. It seems there is this guy in South Dakota who is wanting to get into NHL hockey but doesn't particularly have any team he's really big into, so he decided to make it a web experience. He's inviting guest bloggers from all 30 teams to sway his opinion on who he should follow. Helping to make his decision will be the masses in the form of blog comment responses, twitter and other social media. You can find him on Twitter at #pickmyNHLteam

Help support Atlanta and the Thrashers and make a big impact on his site. My blog post, plus another guest Atlanta post and his video will be on his site tomorrow.

Weekend Review..TJ's No View Party...Ups and Downs

2009-11-09T11:37:00.002-05:00

My reaction upon hearing that we weren't going to see the game Saturday

I haven't posted since the Columbus pre-game...many things happening on the Thrasher front...so let's catch up.

The Thrashers faced Columbus on groundhog day (Thursday) with a really surprising (not) home result of a 4-3 loss..where we fell behind early and then rallied to make a game of it in the 3rd period...I know you've heard it before..I'm not even going to try to break down the game at this point..just cue the comments and breakdown of Washington part 1, San Jose, and Washington part 2 it's all the same.

Well..amid all my weekend Thrasher activities the kids were embroiled in week 2 of GFL playoffs. Sadly my youngest son's team tanked in the 3rd quarter and we fell to Lawrenceville's Black Knights...but hats off to the opposition..they played a good game.

After the tough loss in the morning I decided I'd head out to TJ's to congregate with some fellow Thrash faithful and watch our team do battle with the Isles, down a few beers and have some fun. Well Dish/Comcast/Center Ice or whoever pulled a bonehead play and blacked the game out locally...so we watched Cam Ward get cut up by Rick Nash instead. As it turns out we didn't miss much. I mean when Road Cone Sutton scores on you...you know it's a bad night. The staff at TJ's did their best to make a good night for the 40 or so Thrasher fans that tried to see the game. Some tickets were given away and a Kovalchuk Blueland sweater so wasn't all bad.

Finally, the Thrashers wrapped up the home and home series with St. Louis by beating the Blues in a shootout for a final score of 3-2. Stopping a 2 game slide and keeping the Thrashers at .500

D-men are Da Men -
Almost the entire weekend's regulation scoring came from the defense this weekend with Enstrom and Kubina both potting 2 goals, Schubert and Bogosian and Hainsey chipping in a goal a piece, with the only forward contributing to the weekend total being Little.

The GBU for the entire weekend

The Good - Defense steps up, John Anderson's system of giving the defense the green light continue to light the lamp and contribute to the bottom line. A good thing especially while our biggest scoring threat is out with a broken foot.

The Bad - The defense is scoring all the goals. The PP has gone 2-18 in the last 3 games.

The Ugly - Andy Sutton scored on us. Direct TV/Center Ice fail on the broadcast on Saturday

Atlanta Faces Nash and Company

2009-11-05T10:50:00.000-05:00

The Columbus Blue Jackets roll into town, for the first of two meeting between these teams after dropping a shootout loss to San Jose last night, bringing with them a 7-5-2 record to face your 6-4-1 Atlanta Thrashers. The CBJs are currently 2nd in their division, trailing Chicago by only 1 point, and the Thrashers are looking to snap a losing streak in their own building. So what type of game are we looking at?

The Jackets typically play a neutral zone trap type of game that can be somewhat reminiscent of 90's Devils games, but they also have some offensive punch. Leading their charge will be the face of their franchise, Rick Nash along with his supporting cast players including Raffi Torres and goalie Steve Mason. Columbus made it's first playoff appearance last year and much like our Thrashers were ushered out in a first round sweep. Let's take a look at some numbers and see how we're stacking up against the competition tonight and then we'll throw out some keys to the game.

Goal scoring of course is how you win the games, and Atlanta is ranked 2nd in the league with a goal per game average of 3.54 but Columbus isn't far behind with a 10th ranked average of 3.14 so it's really anybodies game when it comes to scoring. Looking at the opposite statistic in goals against average the Thrashers hold an advantage with a 16th ranked 2.91 average versus the Blue Jacket's 27th ranked 3.36 average.

Special teams of course is another big factor in the game so comparing the two teams we see that both teams have effective power play units with Atlanta holding a slight edge at 27.5 (tied for 2nd with Calgary) and Columbus at 24.1 thats 7th in the league. Atlanta also holds a good advantage on the penalty kill with a 83.3 average to Columbus' 78.3 average, that's ranked 21st in the league.

Keys to the Game

Aggressive forechecking - If we can keep the puck down low in their zone and maintain sustained pressure on the puck then we can create defensive penalties and send them to the box. With our advantage in PP% and their lower ranked PK units we should be able to capitalize on a few mistakes and put points on the board
Let them out shoot us - Not really...but actually we've lost both games where we out shot our opponent and have a .667 average when being out shot.
Ghosts light the lamp - We have several goal ghosts so far this year in Antropov, Kozlov and Reasoner...let's see if they can light the lamp for a tally of their very own.

Statistically speaking Atlanta holds the advantage for this contest...but statistics don't skate so we'll see what happens.

Remember you can get into the game every Thursday for $15.00 thanks to Project 96.1 so there's no excuse not to come out and cheer on the team, let's get the arena full during the week.

Kozlov?.....Kozlov?.....Kozlov?

2009-11-04T11:36:00.000-05:00

Where oh where has my Kozlov gone?....Oh where oh where could he be?

Well with my second Ferris Bueller reference in this blog I'd like to take a moment to discuss the absence of Slava Kozlov's scoring prowess so far this year. To date Kozzy has yet to pot a goal and has only 4 assist tallies to his name with a -1 rating. This is not the Kozzy we're used to..and really with the absence of Kovy right now..one we can't afford too long to see.

Through 10 games last season he was 4G and 3A with a -2. So he's off to a bit of a slow start. He has had some chances so far this season and has just been denied, but doesn't seem to be the presence that we're used to especially on the power play where he potted 12 of his 26 goals.

With Brian Little finally depositing his first puck to the back of the net last night, although the real credit goes to the Pevs dispenser for that one, Kozzy is the only one on the second line still held goalless so far this season.

Here at FanThrashtic we have spared no expense to bring in a crack team of paranormal experts to drive the hockey demons that are plaguing our beloved Professor and get him back on his scoring ways.

Be Gone Demon!!...Leave this poor Hockey Player. (We hear that Dany Heatley has no soul and will be happy to take in another demon)

In all seriousness..I hope Kozzy can soon find his scoring touch and get back on track. We have Rick Nash and the columbus Blue Jackets visiting the "Bulb" tomorrow night and I hope we can send them on their way with their collective tails tucked between their legs.

Thrashers Even The Score on Habs

2009-11-04T09:29:00.000-05:00

This visit to the Bell Centre ended better for the Thrashers than the first meeting between the two teams back on October 20. Looking back on the what I set out as keys to the game and checking them off let's see if they did what I thought it would take to get a win.

Goaltending - Check - Ondrej Pavelec made 34 saves on 38 shots. Now I know you're saying.."Yes, but he gave up 4 goals". This is true we did let 4 goals in..but looking at those goals. There was the Gionta slap shot that was a total burner and then there was the fanned pass by Pevs that set up the Cammalleri goal that was a nifty little writster. Pavelec never let in a soft goal. The young Czech also stood on his head and what about that amazing reach back and gloving the puck mere inches from the red line. Overall we got the "W"..he did his job
Special Teams - Check - The power play cashed in on 1 of the 4 chances offered to them with a Hab in the sin bin, when Kubina converted for his first goal of the season. We also blanked Montreal on all 3 man advantages that they got.
Start Strong - Check - I said that the Thrashers needed to start strong..and start strong they did!..We came out firing and with good tempo from the beginning of the game and at 17:34 of the first period Brian Little tipped in a shot from Rich Peverley notching his first goal of the season, then Peverley struck again 2 minutes and 14 seconds later to bring the period tally to 2 goals going into the locker room for the first intermission.

Overall a good win..if not maybe a little sloppy, the defense was porous at times and we let in another 38 shots..not great. The good news is that we got scoring from all over the team. 10 Thrashers hit the score sheet, with Kubina, Peverley and Little all having multi-point games. All three of the top scoring lines hit the score sheet along with two d-men including Mark Popovic's first NHL goal.

The Thrashers simply would not be denied the two points last night and each time that the Habs came back to threaten their points they responded quickly to take the sting out of the Canadien attack.

Time for the GBU:

The Good - Great overall effort from all lines on scoring. The PK once again shuts down the opposition giving our team a lift in confidence and keeping us in control of a game.

The Bad - Having to watch the game in French. I couldn't turn on the radio feed because of other things I was doing....so I had to watch the game in French...bleeechh

The Ugly - Rich Peverley's fan on a breakout pass that led to the Cammalleri goal..that was just butt ugly..but in the end it can be excused because he was responsible for more in their goal than ours by far

Finally a special one for last night The Scary. The knee on knee hit with Peverley and Spacek had me freakin'. I'm sure all you Thrasher fans out there almost went into cardiac arrest on that one..when I saw Rich limp off the ice I was thinking that we were in trouble..with Kovy sidelined he has been our other big scoring threat..we sure can't stand to lose him right now and those knee on knee hits can be bad. Luckily it wasn't too bad and he was able to come back out and continue to take it to the Habs