AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2005 > October > 05 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USSeems like old times: no offense, an injured goalie
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Sunrise, Fla. — Eighteen months later, the starting goalie left early with a groin strain and the power play appeared to lack a pure goal scorer.
I’m sorry. But who said, “Let’s go to the videotape”?
One game into season No. 6, the Thrashers’ biggest problem is the thread still connecting them to years one through five. Scoring wasn’t supposed to be a problem, even with Atlanta’s best player still minus a contract and currently more concerned about stockpiling Pampers in his New York flat.
Health in goal shouldn’t be a problem, either, but Kari Lehtonen appears to be channeling Damian Rhodes. The 21-year-old rookie missed all but one preseason game with a groin strain and lasted only one period in the season opener.
Is this any way to start a playoff run?
Florida 2, Thrashers 0. Atlanta whiffed on six power plays, including a two-man advantage for two minutes that was wrapped into a five-minute advantage overall, which generally was wrapped into 60 minutes of frustration.
The Panthers’ goalie, Roberto Luongo, made 34 saves, but the Thrashers too often played footsy with him in the offensive zone. As Bobby Holik neatly summarized, “We just didn’t make it hard enough for Luongo to stop the puck. We got enough shots to score, but there’s two reasons [why we didn’t]. We didn’t do a good enough job screening or creating traffic. Traffic and screens. It’s not complicated. It’s not science.”
No, that’s the thing about hockey. It’s a pretty simple game. You score, they score. Simple.
It was supposed to be simple and more wide open this year with rule changes and stepped-up enforcement of the old ones. This was supposed to be the “new” NHL, the one with more flow, more scoring, more bells and whistles and twirling red lights behind the nets.
Maybe the new rules don’t go into effect until next week. Because Wednesday’s game often lacked flow and, certainly, goals. It was scoreless through two periods, and at that point the teams were scoreless in nine power plays (they finished a combined 1-for-14).
This was the kind of game in which the Thrashers could have really used a pure goal scorer. But, well, it’s that age-old problem of not being able to pry a Russian away from Khimik.
Unless there’s a break in negotiations soon, the next time the Thrashers see Ilya Kovalchuk might be on EA Sports’ “Russian SuperLeague ‘05-‘06.” He’s closer to the team now than ever before, but only geographically. He flew to New York on Wednesday night to visit his girlfriend and newborn daughter.
Atlanta’s next game is Friday in Washington, and general manager Don Waddell isn’t ruling out a side trip to Manhattan. If Waddell wants to show a flair for the dramatic, he can sign Kovalchuk the day of the home opener Saturday.
He made a point to say during the morning skate that Kovalchuk was put in the team’s new media guide because it is his intent to get the player signed. Problem is, media guide bios can’t skate.
“We’re hoping it all works out,” Marian Hossa said. “He’s a big piece of the organization. But right now he’s not here and we can’t worry about it.”
If they continue to blow 5-on-3 power plays, they’ll worry.
Lehtonen, meanwhile, did a nice job opening and closing the door to the players bench in periods two and three. He was bowled over by Florida’s Nathan Horton late in the first period and told coach Bob Hartley during the intermission he was toast. In came Mike Dunham, who did fine for a while. But he gave the game away in the third when his clearing pass was picked off by Horton, and he compounded the giveaway by letting in a soft shot low on the glove side.
Dunham: “If you give up that goal when it’s 5-1, it’s no big deal. But you can’t make that mistake when the game is scoreless.”
The Thrashers dressed 20 players for the game — 10 of whom had never played a game for the team. But roster churn didn’t produce a goal in the opener. Said Hartley, “We moved the puck well, but we couldn’t finish.”
The finisher wasn’t in town.
Permalink | Comments (25) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Thrashers / NHL
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By Matthew
October 6, 2005 12:58 AM | Link to this
Don Waddell is an idiot, and you can tell him I, and most of us who actually care about hockey (all 5 of us) in Atlanta, think so.
He’s had 6 years to make the playoffs.
SIX YEARS!
This performance, and his refusal to sign Ilya are unacceptable.
You’re an idiot, Don. Check your ego at the door, and pay one of the premier goal scorers in the league a premier salary.
Otherwise, get used to seeing a bunch of empty blue seats this year.
Ask the incredibly stupid Bobby Cox how that feels.
He too is making poor decisions in October… right now (as he always does).
Ask the worst postseason manager in the history of baseball what happens when you don’t produce in this town when you are supposed to.
And then, ask the brilliant Arthur Blank and Rich McKay what happens when you pony up like a big man, and you do produce.
Stop being an idiot, Waddell. Waddle you a* back to Atlanta with Ilya in tow, or just waddle your a* out of town.
With Ilya, we’re playoffs bound. Without him, we’re the same old, almost good enough, we’ll get ‘em next year Thrashers.
By vik
October 6, 2005 01:31 AM | Link to this
ilya said on his official website that hes surprised that thrashers management thinks he has no where to turn. he said he really enjoys playing in russia and will return there if waddel doesn’t give him what everyone knows he deserves.
in fact, ilya was offended(p**) at waddels offer considering what others are paid, as he should be. ilya and his agent know that ilya is easily worth close to 7 mill, yet, waddel offers him 5. who the F does waddel think he is. hes dealing with the ELITE player.
Seriously, waddel should be fired immediately just for not having ilya in the opening day lineup.
also, ilya wants to play here. he just wants to (rightfully) protect his young player rights. he enjoys atlanta and said that he was not that interested in playing anywhere else.
lastly, a lot of u think ilya is greedy. are u f##king kidding me. he is an elite player and deserves every penny of the 6.5 mill he wants. thats a bargain really.
no one, including all of the bastard fans that keep hating on ilya, if at a point in their career ,like ilya is in(really really young), would take more than a 10% cut of their market value.
pay him and he will come. he will play. he will put up big numbers. he wants to do this. he said he wants to go on the hall of fame.
By vik
October 6, 2005 01:39 AM | Link to this
ugggghhhh
FIRE WADDEL please. hes a freaking disgrace to everyone. hah, if the thrashers had ilya tonight, they would not have been shutout. damn, how in the hell do u get shutout with the new rules. they had a freakin 5 on 3 for 2 minutes and still could not score: its all cuz waddel is a cheapskate bastard. man i hate him. i will never forget this episode.
im glad the thrashers lost. i actually want them to continue to lose if that’s what it takes to get the bastard waddel fired. cant stand him.
lastly. if ilya had all the shots that hossa had today, he would have gotten two goals, at least. but no, idiotic waddel has to count his pennies.
By LAC
October 6, 2005 04:02 AM | Link to this
WADDELL MUST GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These new WIMP owners seem to care more about the fact, We’re Owners…Than doing what REAL owners do.
With what I saw tonight, I have had enough, simply AWFUL… We have NO real threat on the ice ready to explode…
Gee let’s see… there is a new arena being built in Kansas City…KC Thrashers ???? Maybe Jayhawks eat them !
But someone in this WEAK ownership MUST FIRE DON WADDELL he is killing us !
Just get ready for more and more empty seats… Real SIMPLE owners… no PHD required, have Best player on team…seats filled for winning games… Best player NOT on team… Good-Bye !
Once again…FIRE DON WADDELL, But then We all heard “The Owners” were getting involved…Yeah Right !
By geechee
October 6, 2005 04:38 AM | Link to this
I never even knew Arthur Blank and Rich McKay had more Major League Baseball playoff games wins than Bobby Cox or expected to learn this reading a column about hockey. Don, the writing is on the wall my friend.It seems if you really want to fill seats at the Phil this year, you’d better get off your butt and get a couple of wins on the diamond before the month is over.
By steven_merlyn
October 6, 2005 08:09 AM | Link to this
Guys:
Don’t panic, it’s one game. Kovy will sign. Last nights game is making the ink in the Thrasher’s check writing pen flow a little better.
By Scott
October 6, 2005 08:41 AM | Link to this
I’ve never seen a general manager given such a free pass by ownership. He promised us a playoff team at the end of his “five year plan.” Instead, all we have left of the plan for the future is Patricia Stefan - perhaps the biggest bust ever taken with the number one overall pick. No Heatley, no Kovalchuk…I would prefer to hear no Waddell.
By B
October 6, 2005 09:42 AM | Link to this
Typical Atlanta fans. Lose 1 game, burn down the franchise, fire everyone, start over. We must be out of the playoffs now, we haven’t even won a single game yet.
If we win the next game, do we give everyone a raise and pull out the bubbly cause we’re guaranteed to win the Cup?
By Tom
October 6, 2005 10:21 AM | Link to this
What is Waddell thinking? He needs to pony up the cash and get Kovalchuk signed. The dude is an elite player who will take the Thrashers to the playoffs. Hossa can’t do it on his own and with Kovy, they will score a ton of goals. The bigger problem for the Thrashers will be when Kovalchuk leaves for another squad altogether!
By Tony G.
October 6, 2005 11:03 AM | Link to this
HOCKEY!! Who cares about stinking Hockey?? Hey, I’ve got an Idea. Let’s get some other professional sport that we can really identify with?? What say we get a bobsled team or what about snow boarding? That makes as much sense as having a stupid Hockey team in Atlanta.
By LAC
October 6, 2005 11:26 AM | Link to this
Tony MUST, MUST be a raCecAr fan…
nascar, crap, I see enough cars on 285 to waste time with that crap, and Nothing Boring Assoc… well that says it all… You should be more objective Tony, I see more fight’s on raCecAr highlights than fights at an NHL game…
By Brendan
October 6, 2005 11:29 AM | Link to this
Don Waddell has built a house in Atlanta called the Thrashers. The house is well-furnished with end tables, upgraded tile in bathrooms, gold-plated faucets … it even has a GRAND PIANO. The trouble is, the house doesn’t have a roof. The roof’s name is Ilya Kovalchuk. Putting roof on the house ought to have been done well BEFORE the house got furnished.
I can’t help but notice that it rained last night. The Thrashers’ house suffered “water damage.” The Panthers’ house stayed nice and dry. Why? Because during the offseason, Panthers GM Mike Keenan put a roof on his house. His roof’s name is Roberto Luongo. Ya know, the guy who he took to arbitration and got for $1.8 million-a-year LESS, when it became CLEAR that negotiations had reached “an impasse.”
See, Mike Keenan has been in the NHL for a long, long time. He’s even won a Stanley Cup. He’s not a rank amateur. He doesn’t build a team like he’s in the minor leagues.
Maybe Don Waddell is as “minor league” as Curt Fraser was. Or, maybe Don’s distracted by Team USA matters.
In any event, at this point, he has very little options left. Pretty much, he has to sign Ilya. And he has to pay him the maximum salary, or he’ll lose the player. Ilya’s from Russia. Telling him that he might have to go home … doesn’t scare him.
Don Waddell has to answer for how and why he let the two biggest stars of their generation waltz out of town.
I would still like to know what “compensation” Atlanta will get, if any, when Ilya returns to the NHL next season over waivers.
If Ilya leaves the organization FOREVER, and Atlanta gets “nothing” in exchange for his departure, Don Waddell must be fired.
Must … be … FIRED!
You don’t build a house without a roof.
You don’t let the faces of your franchise leave town.
You don’t draft players 1st and 2nd overall, and lose them before they become “unrestricted free agents.”
You don’t build through the draft, then trade your young talent away for yesteryear’s free agents.
You don’t hold a “youth movement philosophy,” then turn your team into the 1997 Florida Marlins.
And finally, you don’t bring a new product to a non-hockey city like Atlanta then go years without a .500 season or a playoff berth.
You just Don’t!!!
Yeah, it’s just ONE GAME of an 82-game season. But it just might be a “good indicator” of where the Thrashers are headed.
In an era of “salary cap and parity,” making GOOD DECISIONS becomes critical. There’s no place for General Manager’s to hide, or blame market conditions. The ice surface has been leveled, but the Thrashers are still being run like they’re the underprivileged. Oh by the way, Atlanta still has $8 million of cap room left.
Hint.
By Brett
October 6, 2005 11:40 AM | Link to this
Tony G.
Your an idiot.
By Ilya
October 6, 2005 12:02 PM | Link to this
BOTTOM LINE: The Thrashers (Don or the owners) will not pay for a good hockey team. They will not fork over the cash for the good players. All our top draft picks and all we have is Patrick Stephan. Even if the Thrashers ever make the playoffs they will be out in the first round. They want to put a middle of the road team on the ice, call the place blueland and have us buy tickets to the Don & Patrick show. Blueland is a good name, because that is what you will see in Atlanta empty blue seats. At least with Heatley and Kovy you could go down and see two of best players in the league. Pathetic Organization!
By JB
October 6, 2005 12:41 PM | Link to this
Well….its the 11th hour in the Kovalchuk negotiations. It is time to put up or shut up for the organization.Id Don can pull this off then all will be forgiven….I guess
a couple of observations:
I watched the Leafs-Sens game on Center Ice last night as I split the screen with the Thrashers and Panthers.
Heatley looked awesome teamed with Spezza. He looked big, fast and showed no after affects from the accident or the injuries he suffered over in Europe.
Hossa looked so-so, with no where near the physical presence Heatley has on the ice.
Early returns say Ottawa got the better of the deal.
Maybe Hossa will look better with Kovy in the lineup
TICK TICK TICK
By John
October 6, 2005 12:50 PM | Link to this
Let’s not jump off the ship over one game, but there is a big problem consistently with this team, and it is Waddell. His biggest failure, this past year, was not getting Heatley and Kovalchuk signed to long term contracts as soon as their last contracts were up. First thing he should have done is locked both of them up long term.
That is indicative of Waddell’s poor management skills, and he’s shown this time and again in all the negotiations with any player that has ever produced on this team. He argues over pennies, instead of looking at the big picture and making this a place that players want to be. Why do you think Heatley left? Did you see the game last night he played for Ottawa and have you seen the amazing preseason performance from Heatley? Does that look like a player that just is torn up by killing his buddy? No, of course not. He just wanted out of here because Waddell runs down every good player we’ve ever had and looks at the players as cost items, not as the building blocks to championships. Waddell must go, when he does and we get a hockey guy in here that knows how to build comradarie, which is very important on a hockey team, then we’ll improve.
Fire Waddell, not for one loss, but for 6 years now of running a bad show. Time to go, Don.
By john
October 6, 2005 01:25 PM | Link to this
I’ve never seen so many people freak out over one game. Geez, people. Relax. Pure scorer? Don’t try and tell me that Hossa is not a pure scorer. Yeah, we didn’t convert any PP opps last night, but special teams need to gel a little bit. Chemistry with so many new faces doesn’t happen overnight. Also - don’t hang DW until Kovy is officially lost. This team, despite what some “experts” say, has playoff potential even without Kovy.
By bobo
October 6, 2005 01:38 PM | Link to this
Waddell is being played for a patsy by the owners. Despite the ‘basketball centric’ owners public quotes to the contrary, they have no intention of signing Ilya to a long term deal simply because the team will be relocated and sold to help pay for the Belkin buyout. So save yout ticket money and don’t get emotionally tied…..this Kovalchuk-less team goes ‘bye-bye’ very soon.
By JB
October 6, 2005 03:30 PM | Link to this
bobo……you are wrong…..one of the main reasons Atlanta was awarded another NHL franchise was that Atlanta is the #9 TV market in the United States. Sports are driven by TV dollars now. Hockey on OLN is just a temporary fix until the sport moves back to ESPN.This franchise has one of the top arenas in Sports.The owners have deep pockets. When there is a salary cap, you can only spend so much. Waddell has to create wiggle room for later. Not signing Ilya has nothing to do with saving dollars so the franchise can be relocated.
This isn`t the Atlanta Flames owned by a broke Tom Cousins circa 1980
Where would they relocate? All the Canadian markets besides a fanatical Toronto and Montreal suffer losses.Ottawa couldnt even meet their payroll at times during the03-04 season. They sell out every game and are still in the red because they can`t generate TV dollars with small population numbers. The tax situation is ridiculus.
The bread and butter of television in the future is the Sun Belt. It has been proven with all kinds of surveys and data.
The Atlanta franchise would never be allowed to locate outside the top 10 television markets.
Some say its not a television sport. It has been one before and it will again.
Hockey will rebuild and find its TV revenues start to rise…..
Do the math
By John
October 6, 2005 04:08 PM | Link to this
bobo,
You obviously haven’t been paying attention to this team or the Hawks. The whole Belkin buyout was because Belkin DIDN’t want to sign Johnson to a long term deal. They committed long term money to him. I like the new owners, much better than AOL. They upped the Thrashers’ payroll big time, even without Kovalchuk signed the payroll is up. So your fear is unfounded I think.
The only constant throughout this whole mess with the Thrashers is Waddell. He’s the one that has bickered with players over money constantly, players that leave here have a bad taste in their mouth when they leave, that’s not how you build a team. We only get over the hill vets like Holik and Bondra to want to come here. Watch both of these guys wear down as the year drags on. It’s well past time for Waddell to go, but the franchise isn’t going anywhere.
By bobo
October 6, 2005 04:40 PM | Link to this
Bobo, take your canadian a* back to canada. If your a nascar fan get an education. Only uneducated people pay good money to watch Cars go around in circle. The Thrashers are here to say, but me MUST sign Kovalchuk otherwise we are a first round playoff team, 2nd round if lucky. You never know though because remember the wild of yesteryear? They made it to the Conference finals with a mediocre team which is not better than our thrashers.
By LAC
October 7, 2005 01:27 AM | Link to this
In all the years I have followed NHL Hockey, Nobody, Nobody has done a WORSE job than Mindless Waddell.
He of the FAKE smile and FORKED tounge.
Then there are the “new” owners… A collection of rich jerks, who only care about telling everyone “They’re Owners”… The have NO CLUE how to be one.
The remind me of david glass the El’Cheapo owner of the Kansas City Royals. He runs the team like walfart… I mean walmart, cheap, cheap, cheap and expects to win… 100+ losses in 3 of 4 years.
These Thrasher owners are no different. Can they NOT see what Waddell is and had done to this team ? Are they THAT Blind, I guess their PHD’s make them lose all common sense.
It is real simple. They “said” they were getting involved… They LIED, so since Waddell failed to do his job in the correct manner and is trying to be an NHL Big-Shot, shows we are heading DOWN HILL.
These “owners” need to Drop the diaper’s and shed the training bra and act like the Big Boys and Get The H—- Rid of Waddell and sign Ilya…
Gee…is that Mayor Kay Barnes in Kansas City on the phone…????????
The Sprint Center will open in a year, we need an NHL team she says… Kay, Rest assured, this one will be available soon !!!!!
By ilya
October 7, 2005 12:03 PM | Link to this
THE MATH DON If the difference is 6mil over 5yrs. If you sold 500 more tickets per game at $60 per ticket you would have cover the 6mil over the five years. Not counting all of the extra misc. revenue (PLAYOFFS). For the math challenged DON: thats 500(tickets)x$60x40(games)x5(yrs.) I think Kovy w/Thrashers would sell 500 more tickets per game! COMMENTS ANYONE?
By Jed
October 7, 2005 07:58 PM | Link to this
LAC.. There will never be another NHL team in KANSAS city! It doesn’t matter how much they want one it aint happening! Kovalchuk is comming home and everything will be good. If they want an NHL team they can go bid for the pittsburgh penguins.
By kl11
October 8, 2005 07:47 AM | Link to this
Shultz are you now going to write, everything has changed and the sky has stopped falling?