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It’s halftime; where’s the band?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re at the midpoint of the Thrashers’ season, and the question is becoming — or, perhaps to some people, already has become — what can be salvaged?
My No. 1 answer would be player development, primarily among the defensemen. There’s time to see what Zach Bogosian, Boris Valabik and Nathan Oystrick can do, and there’s also time to help them get better through experience. I don’t see young forwards in the Thrashers system that need a lot of NHL ice time this season; most of them are fine in Chicago for awhile. So is Ondrej Pavelec.
My No. 2 answer would be better 2009-10 contracts for the many guys who will be unrestricted free agents this summer, a number of whom won’t be with the Thrashers. That ought to be motivating Jason Williams, Eric Perin, Marty Reasoner, Niclas Havelid and Mathieu Schneider.
My No. 3 answer would be pride. Sounds a bit corny, I know, but it has to feel a lot better to win a little more often, even if you know it’s almost certainly not going to be often enough to earn a playoff berth. This is what motivates a guy like Ilya Kovalchuk.
Kovalchuk, by the way, has scored three goals in the last four games. He said that doesn’t make him optimistic; winning would.
I give John Anderson credit for keeping his team’s morale from plummeting so low they don’t want to come to the rink. That’s all the more important when the pursuit of a playoff spot becomes less and less realistic as a goal. Today’s practice included a lot of work on fundamentals, passing the puck rapidly and accurately, shooting, stick handling. Two days ago, after the loss to Tampa Bay, Anderson had a practice that was all about accountability, about making clear what’s acceptable and what isn’t. But you can’t do that day in and day out without your team tuning you out.
Meanwhile, Anderson is trying to triage his team’s problems and patch the most serious ones first. For example, the penalty kill, which had been doing better, struggled again in Pittsburgh and has again become a priority.
Bryan Little (bruised ribs) did not skate today.
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Thrasher wins championship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Congratulations to Angelo Esposito, scorer of the game-winning goal in the gold medal game of the World Junior Championship Monday night. Esposito, a Thrashers prospect who plays for Junior of Montreal, had three goals and an assist in four tournament games for Canada. He scored in both the semifinal and the final, a 5-1 victory over Sweden. His stick from the final game will be displayed at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
Esposito talks about it here.
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Flat, flat, flat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Is it just me, or do the Thrashers seem uninspired a lot more frequently these days than they did earlier in the season?
Sunday evening’s game was dreadful pretty much from start to finish. Tampa Bay was a bad team playing its second game in as many days. The Thrashers were coming off one of their best games of the season, the shootout victory over Vancouver (which was also on the second game of a back-to-back, but which is a lot better than Tampa Bay). The Thrashers laid an egg.
There wasn’t much to watch. There wasn’t much to say. There wasn’t much to write about, other than Bryan Little’s rib injury and John Anderson being upset, which, as colorful as he gets, is becoming less and less new. (The give-a-crap level was zero, he said, in those words. What I wonder: Why? It’s not like these guys are openly rebelling against anyone.)
We’ll see what they look like Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
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New year, fresh start
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kari Lehtonen is in net tonight against Vancouver.
It’s fun and new to see the Western Conference teams after so many games against the familiar Eastern teams. This is just the sixth of 18 games against the West for the Thrashers, who are still looking for their first interconference victory (0-4-1 against Nashville, St. Louis, Detroit, Minnesota and Columbus). There will be 12 games against the Western Conference in the second half of the schedule.
A key tonight might be the Thrashers power play; Vancouver takes more penalty minutes than any other team in the NHL (19.6 per game, 5.3 more than the middle-of-the-pack Thrashers). The Canucks have a slightly above average penalty kill (82.5 percent, 13th in the league).
The Canucks played and won yesterday at Nashville. Jason LaBarbera made his Vancouver debut and stopped 31 of 32 shots. LaBarbera was acquired from the LA Kings. The Province reports that LaBarbera expects to start again tonight, despite the fact that his left leg cramped in the third period yesterday.
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Who should play with Kovalchuk?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Marty Reasoner and Chris Thorburn have been skating on a line with Ilya Kovalchuk since that memorable day (for me) when I caused a media circus by blogging what I thought I saw because of the sweaters in practice: Kovalchuk on the fourth line.
Who knew Kovalchuk’s goal-scoring would drop to near fourth-line levels?
Kovalchuk has scored three goals in 14 games with this line. Yes, he has 15 points in those 14 games, but the Thrashers need goals from him. Tuesday night, when Kovalchuk’s goal-less streak reached a career-high nine games, John Anderson suggested it’s time to change the lines again.
He won’t mess with Kozlov-White-Little. Everything else is fair game. The question: What should he do? He has tried Kovalchuk with Erik Christensen and Kovalchuk with Jason Williams, and neither was ideal. The center pretty much has to come from one of those two players. Does he put them both out there with Kovalchuk and scratch another forward? We’ll probably see Wednesday night.
Latest comments
Tell ya what, Boulton is one of the few guys on this team that goes into the corner and isn’t afraid to take the hit to make the play (and can still make the play afterwards). When’s the last time we saw Perrin do that? I like the guy,... read the full comment by Tony C. | Comment on It's halftime; where's the band? Read It's halftime; where's the band?
Well, the employee isn’t going to shovel any faster, either. He’s probably just going to quit. Pretend the shovel is a hockey stick (TM, J.P. Dellacamera & Darren Eliot, Fox Sports South, all rights reserved), and the employee is wearing... read the full comment by Brendan | Comment on It's halftime; where's the band? Read It's halftime; where's the band?
and there isn’t the kind of support in this town to see this franchise through the bad times (read: Chicago and Boston, each of which who have suffered poor ownership and management). There were some games where Chicago only managed to... read the full comment by Alan | Comment on It's halftime; where's the band? Read It's halftime; where's the band?
Face it. This is a sad, sorry franchise that ain’t gonna get any better, and there isn’t the kind of support in this town to see this franchise through the bad times (read: Chicago and Boston, each of which who have suffered poor ownership and... read the full comment by Gina Fingerhut | Comment on It's halftime; where's the band? Read It's halftime; where's the band?