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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > November > 22
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Thrashers have no identity
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So who are the real Thrashers? To keep your head from exploding while trying to figure it out, nobody knows.
They skated in purgatory through Halloween to become Great Pumpkins at 2-7-2. Then, out of nowhere, their demons were exorcised. They tied a franchise record for consecutive victories at five. After that, they had spirited efforts against NHL toughies Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but they lost both times before Saturday night’s game at Philips Arena against the Columbus Blue Jackets, a so-so bunch.
The Thrashers still lost 2-0. They’ve dropped three straight, and this was the worst. You can’t score if you don’t shoot, and the Thrashers had a ridiculous 15 shots on goal to the Blue Jackets’ 31.
All of that means, what?
Center Erik Christensen thought and thought at his locker, before saying, “I think we’re sort of chasing an identity.”
Translated: The Thrashers have no identity. Not good, because all significant teams have an identity. When Martin Brodeur is healthy in goal, the New Jersey Devils project themselves as a steel wall on defense. The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals are whatever their stars (Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, respectively) want them to be on offense at that moment.
Oh, and the Detroit Red Wings are just the NHL’s Big Red Machine.
The Thrashers? Well, they do wear those red sweaters for games against Southeast Division foes. It’s a start, I guess. Added Christensen, in his first full season with the Thrashers after two with the tradition-rich Penguins, “Pittsburgh is a team that comes into any building expecting to win. They know what they’re all about. They know themselves. They know what they’re capable of. As a result, they execute game in and game out. That’s what we’re trying to develop here.”
It’s an ugly work in progress. The only playoff appearance for the nine-year-old Thrashers came in 2007, and they were swept out of the first round by the New York Rangers. Now you have the ups and downs of the current Thrashers, who began the evening allowing more power-play goals than anybody. In essence, they have so many little problems that they have evolved into a big one — inconsistency.
More often than not, the Thrashers hustle, so that isn’t an issue. Said defenseman Ron Hainsey, “There were really only two games where there was a poor effort — Philadelphia and the New Jersey. There were four games where we had a tie game in the last five minutes, but we weren’t able to get any of those games to overtime. That’s really the big story for us, as far as where we’re at now, as opposed to being in a playoff spot.”
No, the big story for the 7-10-2 Thrashers is that, if they’re trying as hard as they can on most nights (which they are) and they’re still losing more often than not (which they are), they are talent-challenged.
Thus John Anderson’s response to our question on that identity thing (or lack thereof) involving his Thrashers. “We’re dealt a hand here a little bit,” said Anderson, the first-year Thrashers coach, delivering his way of saying his team is “talent-challenged.” Before coming to Atlanta, he had an impressive 11-year run with the offensively potent Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League. Added Anderson, “We can’t just say, ‘OK, this is what I want us to be.’ You look [at the Thrashers’ roster], and that’s not what it is. You have to adjust a little bit, and that’s what we’re doing.”
For better or worse.
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