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DEL.ICIO.USLack of defense was Thrashers’ demise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Sunrise, Fla. — The Thrashers were one period short of making Tuesday the biggest night in their existence. Instead it became just another final game — an overtime loss, not that it mattered — in another failed season, and the adjective, while cruel, is nonetheless apt.
“As a team, we said before the season that if we didn’t make the playoffs it would be a failure,” said Scott Mellanby, the captain. “We still feel that way.”
This team expected to make the playoffs. Its general manager guaranteed it would make the playoffs. Instead this becomes the most gifted aggregation that won’t be chasing the Stanley Cup.
“This has been the toughest year,” general manager Don Waddell said. “There was so much pressure. This is tough to swallow.”
It is. But missing the playoffs shouldn’t be seen as cause for the guarantor to be canned and his blueprint wadded up. Much of what Waddell envisioned the Thrashers being has come to fruition. They can score with anybody. (“We built this as an offensive team,” he said, telling no lies.) Some tweaking, however, seems in order. Put simply, the Thrashers have overcommitted to offense.
Of their half-dozen best players, only one — Niclas Havelid — is a defenseman. “We have to think about committing more resources to the back end,” said Waddell, and spending big money on a big-ticket defensemen is something this franchise hasn’t yet done. For the Thrashers to become a bona fide Cup contender, that needs to happen ASAP.
A more imposing backline would make it easier on those nights the No. 1 goalie cannot go. It would have been nice if Kari Lehtonen had played 58 games, as opposed to 38, but the Thrashers sometimes seemed unwilling to modulate their style to accommodate Lehtonen’s understudies. Some nights — Monday in Washington, for example — it’s necessary to nurse a one-goal lead through the final 20 minutes, to rely on those old-time hockey virtues of checking and defending.
Instead the game got wild, as happened in Pittsburgh back in October (a 4-0 lead became a 7-5 defeat) and in Los Angeles in January (a come-from-ahead 8-6 loss). When you miss the playoffs by the skinniest of margins, you wind up fixating on squandered points. As Waddell noted, “We can win games 5-4 and 6-5,” but the trouble with high-scoring games is that weird things can happen at the end.
The Thrashers need to take their lead from Archie Bell and (ahem) tighten up. Apparently assuming their offensive prowess would bail them out, they developed a penchant for falling behind — they trailed in the second period of Games 79, 80 and 81 — even as they were making their playoff surge. What this team must grasp is that inherent scoring skill will work just as well in a 3-2 game as in a 6-5 careen-a-thon.
Internally the Thrashers believe that, had Lehtonen not gotten hurt, they’d have been one of the East’s top seeds, and perhaps they would. But the cold truth is that this team still coulda/shoulda made the playoffs. It had the talent. Sorry to say, it didn’t quite have the mesh.
“When we had everybody healthy, we could run with anybody,” Waddell said, and maybe that was this team’s undoing. Maybe it focused overmuch on skating and scoring, occasionally misplacing its attention to detail. Over a 6 1/2-month regular season, that small failing wound up being the difference between adjourning after the 82nd game and flying north to open a first-round series Friday night.
To their credit, the Thrashers gave it a go at the end. Said Waddell, pride in his voice: “We’ve been playing Game 7s the last three weeks.”
But next season there will be no distinction in merely coming close. Next season the Thrashers cannot fall a game short or a point short. Next season they have to play their way into May.
Toward that end, did the GM have any guarantees for 2007?
“Don’t get me started with that one,” said Waddell, the pain of one broken promise still too new and too raw.
Permalink | Comments (22) | Categories: Mark Bradley, Thrashers / NHL
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By Brendan
April 19, 2006 01:37 AM | Link to this
Don Waddell could do himself some favors by re-signing Marc Savard in a responsible manner, having a good draft (not trading the #8 pick to land at 16th, to go stockpile 2nd round picks,) and making sure Havelid and McCarthy are back next year. Lord knows, they need help on the blueline.
I like Exelby. I like Havelid. And I like McCarthy. DeVries has another year left on his contract. As does Andy Sutton. Not sure about Hnidy.
But if Don does not want, or cannot, re-sign Savard, he must take the money not spent on Savvy to find help on the blueline. Lest he have something up his sleeve on draft day.
The Thrashers start YEAR SEVEN of the FIVE YEAR PLAN this September. But, there’s every reason to believe that without injuries, Atlanta finishes somewhere between 5th and 8th this season, and makes the playoffs next season.
By luckydog
April 19, 2006 08:16 AM | Link to this
*Losing all our games to Toronto was a disgrace and made the difference. Two losses to Boston are a close second on the wall of shame. * Yes, D is where we need the offseason work. * Holik was not the factor he should have been for much of the season but came up huge in the stretch. Likewise Sutton had a nice stretch run. *Is it just me or did Savard disappear? *Olie Kolzig is a career loser on a losing team.
By Bob
April 19, 2006 09:21 AM | Link to this
Where’s the accountability? We’ve even got the AJC sportswriters making excuses for Waddell.
The facts are what they are. I don’t want to hear any more excuses. Waddell has had 6 years, he has not got the job done. The only reason we got close this year is because we spent the Salary Cap Max. And we still didn’t make the playoffs.
The plain facts are that for 6 years we’ve had pitiful defensemen and pitiful goaltending. And we’ve had different defenseman and different goalies every year. There is one constant here, and it’s Waddell. He’s the guy drafting and signing the defense and goaltending.
If he keeps his job and he’s the one to make the decisions on who to sign for defense and backup goalie this summer, then you can expect more of the same next year.
If you want positive change, then get an experienced proven GM in here. Until that happens, you can expect more of the same.
By dc
April 19, 2006 09:44 AM | Link to this
MB is right, you will be able to tell the thrashers are a playoff ‘winning’ team when you see they can protect a one goal lead during the regular season. Until they can do that, their goal will be to ‘hope’ to make the playoffs. Its not just the defensemen but the forwards have to commit to it.
I believe that the reason for the bad start was not so much the goaltending problems, although severe, it was also the number of new players taking a long time to mesh together as a team. If there are too many changes over the off season, the same problems will present themselves.
Also, someone on a blog the other day noted that we need a conditioning coach of somekind for the goaltenders. It appears Coach Weeks can not get the job done, we need a change there and a commitment to year round conditioning. I also agree that we should hire Scott Stevens as Defense coach.
By Ryder
April 19, 2006 09:55 AM | Link to this
q “I also agree that we should hire Scott Stevens as Defense coach.”
BRILLIANT!
By B. Thenet
April 19, 2006 10:27 AM | Link to this
DW needs to get another goaltender who is capable of making 40 starts in the NHL, because right now I can’t see how anyone can expect Lehtonen to be healthy for more than 40-50 games next year. He has started 41, 57, and 38 games in the last three years.
Regarding the defense, the best defenseman in Thrashers history is Havelid. The 2nd best…probably Gord Murphy. It is simply unacceptable.
If DW does not improve his ability to judge NHL caliber goaltending and defense we are doomed to repeat the disapointment of this season next year. I would also recommend firing the entire training staff from head trainer to assistant towel boy. The list of Thrashers goaltending injuries over the years is pathetic, someone has to be held responsible for it.
By B. Thenet
April 19, 2006 10:38 AM | Link to this
DW needs to get another goaltender who is capable of making 40 starts in the NHL, because right now I can’t see how anyone can expect Lehtonen to be healthy for more than 40-50 games next year. He has started 41, 57, and 38 games in the last three years.
Regarding the defense, the best defenseman in Thrashers history is Havelid. The 2nd best…probably Gord Murphy. It is simply unacceptable.
If DW does not improve his ability to judge NHL caliber goaltending and defense we are doomed to repeat the disapointment of this season next year. I would also recommend firing the entire training staff from head trainer to assistant towel boy. The list of Thrashers goaltending injuries over the years is pathetic, someone has to be held responsible for it.
By BirdDawg
April 19, 2006 12:46 PM | Link to this
Don Waddel destroyed USA Hockey.
Stop letting him destroy hockey in Atlanta.
Fire Don Waddell!!!
By luckydog
April 19, 2006 01:14 PM | Link to this
Speaking of improving the D, does anyone know if Braydon Coburn (our ‘03 #1 pick) is the real deal or if he’ll prove to be a relic of the time when 6-6 defensemen were all the rage?
By Sean
April 19, 2006 01:59 PM | Link to this
Can we please not treat Sutton like he’s a #1 defenseman??? And Modry might have worked in the old NHL, but I think he needs to go, too.
By PinkFloyd99
April 19, 2006 03:01 PM | Link to this
This is what happens when your general manager or president or whatever Waddell was promises a playoff berth. I knew from the moment he opened his mouth and made that promise that the thrashers weren’t going to the playoffs.
By Barry
April 20, 2006 07:50 AM | Link to this
We need to cool down for a moment.
No team has ever played 5 different goalies in its first ten games.
This was the first year after a one year lay-off, with totally new rules creating a totally new game. Few people foresaw all the changes these rules would bring.
Example: before the year started, the pundits said 88 points would guarantee a playoff birth in the East. I never saw a single article by anyone noting that shootouts would give each team some extra points.
The Thrashers have built a very good minor league pipeline as well as a solid NHL team. Yes they have corrections to make, but let’s not panic - 2007 can be a great year, with this crew in charge.
By Jim
April 20, 2006 08:14 AM | Link to this
Good piece. Our weak blue line crew was no secret around the NHL. Neal Smith, former Ranger GM, talked about it on OLN telecast. Denis Potvin, color commentator for the Panthers and former NHL great, was talking about the potential of the SE Division during a telecast of the last game and cited the Canes, Tampa Bay and the Panthers and possibly the Thrash if they improved the backline. A FL player was miked for the last game and raved about Berkie who played a great game. Don’t rule him out of the future goalie picture. He appears to be far more athletic than Garnett. Witb Pavelec and Turple having outstanding junior years, we have depth in the system in the net.
By Russ
April 20, 2006 12:03 PM | Link to this
Barry, this “very good minor league pipeline” you speak of was recently rated as the 23rd best group of prospects by the Hockey News, so I am not seeing the organizational depth you are referring to. Hopefully this ranking proves to be inaccurate, but most “hockey” people don’t think much of the collection of young players the Thrashers currently hold the rights to.
By Bob
April 20, 2006 01:19 PM | Link to this
No doubt, our minor league pipeline stinks, another failing of Waddell.
Once we brought Lehtonen up, the big two down there are Valabik and Coburn. If either of them were for real, you don’t think they would have been up here playing over Modry or Sutton or Hnidy?
By Brendan
April 20, 2006 03:15 PM | Link to this
I would never otherwise say this, but I think the Thrashers should trade every pick in the draft.
Well, hold on. Where are we drafting in the first round? If it’s inside the Top 10, then hold on to that one.
Nope. Cancel that. Trade it for a proven d-man for our blueline.
Don Waddell picks beyond #30 rarely find their way into our starting lineup. So, he might as well trade them for players.
Again, I wouldn’t normally advocate this type of strategy. I think those picks are an excellent opportunity to land young, speedy players for the future.
But they’re wasted, if Waddell is making the selections. So, why not shop these picks for players other teams cannot sign, due to cap restrictions?
By Brendan
April 20, 2006 04:07 PM | Link to this
IT’s official. Atlanta will draft 12th overall. Oh, c’mon now. Contain your enthusiam. That’s only nine (9) slots out of Don’s “success zone.”
By Rodey
April 20, 2006 05:55 PM | Link to this
Amen to Larry. Everyone needs to look at how well we played from the All-Star brake on. I think we do need some changes ie. get some defensive help, and a good goalie to tandem with Lehtonen. But we do have a solid team overall. I think the biggest problem we have is taking stupid penalties at very bad times. 5 on 3 = bad news!!!
By True Braves Fan
April 22, 2006 07:48 PM | Link to this
I live in Chattanooga and last night’s Atlanta Braves game was tape delayed so that the Nashville Hockey game could be shown. May all Hockey go immediately north of the Great Lakes and STAY THERE!!!!!
By A true hockey fan
April 23, 2006 10:07 AM | Link to this
It’s about time a baseball game is tape delayed for the greatest sport on earth. That would never happen in Atlanta, heck Thrasher radio broacasts are cancelled for local college basketball games. Chattanooga, what a town, might have to visit. Baseball is boring!!!!!!!!
By True Braves Fan
April 24, 2006 12:51 AM | Link to this
True Hockey Fan: Am indeed sorry that your game was pre-empted. However, this is Baseball/Football country. You need to go about 750 miles north where hockey is popular and appreciated. I believe the last hockey team in Atlanta ended up in Canada somewhere…Don’t know where this attempt will end up.
By A true Hockey
April 24, 2006 08:41 AM | Link to this
I dont’ know if you are talking about the Knights or The Flames. The Knights moved to Quebec and The Flames moved to Calgary. But chew on this. This is also basketball country, Thru-out the Atlanta Flames History they had much better attendence than the Hawks. Then we had the The Knights minor league hockey team same result. The Knights were selling out games at the Omni and the Hawks were struggling to put 10,000 people in the seats. Now we have the Thrashers same result. I know the Hawks are a bad team, but there attendence is so bad maybe they should head north, because this city just would not care if they left. I really think the Thrashers are in for a long stay in Atlanta, the transplants are leaving their Boston, Philly and Detroit jerseys at home and dawning the Thrasher jerseys for home games. I lived in Atlanta for 35 years and have only been to two Braves Games and One Falcons game, I guess I am a hopeless southener, I just might have to move to New York City.