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Thursday, January 4, 2007
Mellanby: Facing ‘Great One’ no big
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A lot to discuss after today’s practice in Duluth, so let’s jump right in. On the injury front, Bob Hartley confirmed that both Garnet Exelby and Steve Rucchin will play on Friday against the Coyotes. Scott Mellanby skated with the team, but was limited to no-contact drills.
For Exelby, it’s a long time coming. He’s been out since November with mono, an experience he said was miserable. For one, most of his friends in Atlanta are on the team, which made life pretty lonely when he first got sick.
“I couldn’t go anywhere near the team, it’s kind of like quarantine lockdown on my house for a little bit,” he said. “It was a little boring to say the least.”
But he said his conditioning is getting to the point where he’s ready for game action, and looks forward to upping the intensity during games.
As for Mellanby, he’s still not putting a timetable on his return. He called the practice today “so-so” but said he’s made serious strides in the last four or five days.
There was a nice turnout from fans as well as media in Duluth. Maybe it’s the fact that Wayne Gretzky is coming to town, his first appearance in Philips Arena with the Coyotes. Gretzky’s arrival got me wondering if players get nervous playing in front of “The Great One.” It’d be like shooting jumpers in front of Michael Jordan, or trying to complete passes with Joe Montana looking on. I’d be thinking about it all game.
Mellanby assured me that it won’t be on the minds of any Thrashers.
“When you’re a young kid and you play against him, that’s one thing, but he’s coaching now,” Mellanby said. “He’s trying to win a game; you can’t be concerned about what he’s doing. He’s not going to take the puck down to the other end of the rink and score like he used to be able to. He’s good but not that good.”
Ilya Kovalchuk said it’s always fun to play in front of the former greats. He regretted never getting the chance to play against Gretzky, but enjoyed meeting him at an All-Star game.
In her Thrashers blog, Brittany Morgenstern started a nice discussion debating the use of Kari Lehtonen in back-to-back games. She said she thinks it’s time to “Set the Moose loose.” So we checked with Johan Hedberg this morning, to make sure he wasn’t getting too frustrated watching Lehtonen play all these games. If you’re wondering, he’s doing just fine.
“At times I get frustrated, but at the same time I know the situation I’m in. You just try to make the most of it,” he said. “You just have to stay on top of everything, sooner or later you’re going to get a chance to play.”
Here’s what else I’m reading from around hockey:
• It’s going to be Canada versus Russia in the World Junior Championships gold-medal game on Friday. Sweden and the U.S. will play for the bronze.
• David Vest of the The Arizona Republic reports that Mike Ricci left the Coyotes to consider retirement. Ricci is one game away from playing in his 1,100th regular-season NHL game - although it seems even more than that.
• Vest also reported that the Coyotes traded Mike Cromrie to the Senators for the rights to Russian forward Alexei Kaigorodov. The move creates some salary cap space for the Coyotes, who Vest reports will likely make at least one more deal.
• SI’s Allan Muir says it may be time for the NHL to rethink the shootout format and follow the lead of the IIHF.
