Thrashers

By Jim

January 11, 2007 05:12 PM | Link to this

I hope that the spirited practice included a new approach to the power play both in strategy and practice. The dump and chase to pass to Hossa has been spotted by every team and it’s just not working. Also the slow Hossa/Kozlov/Havelid passing is leading nowhere.

By GT Baby

January 11, 2007 05:16 PM | Link to this

Thrashers have played good all season..Its normal to have skids within the season.Its learning and not repeating the mistakes that determine if this team is championship material.

By Brian

January 11, 2007 05:27 PM | Link to this

The thing that hurts about losing now is the teams we are playing. If you take the last 2 and next 2 games, we play the 2 teams that are behind us in the conference and the 2 teams that are behind us in the division. These are all 4 point games, not 2 point games like against Phoenix…

By Brendan

January 11, 2007 05:50 PM | Link to this

The Thrashers have won six (6) in-a-row versus New Jersey. Even Michael Garnett holds two victories over Martin Brodeur. Atlanta might have his number!! It’s a great time to get off the schneid, and go 3-0-0 in the season series with the Devils, who incidently own the #3 playoff seed, if it started today.

In this roadtrip, the Thrashers are 2-3-1. I know it seems WORSE than that. But, that’s the tally. I always said that if Atlanta can go .500 on this eight-game roadstand (8/9 on the road), then they’d be allright. We’re 2-3-2, if you include the home game against Phoenix, where the Thrashers managed to bungle a 4-1 third period lead into a 5-4 overtime loss.

By Brendan

January 11, 2007 06:05 PM | Link to this

Changing the subject a bit, I saw Allan Muir at CNNSI.com had an article that said Atlanta had successfully lobbied to stay in the Eastern Conference, but that the Southeast Division would be realigned. And here is what he article says the new division might look like, if 2/3 of the board of governors agree to it.

Southeast: Rangers, Islanders, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Florida.

Hmmn. Interesting. But it made more sense to me to keep Pittsburgh and Philadelphia together than to separate them, unless they know the Penguins are moving. I’d swap out Philly for Washington, in a division called “Southeast.” Laughing, then again, what are the NYC-area teams doing in a “Southeast” division??? Oh well. Muir wanted to name the divisions after Gretzky, Orr, Howe, and Sawchuk, I believe. “Gretzky Division Champions??” Somehow I think these players’ legacies are somewhat secured. LOL.

By Hotrod

January 11, 2007 06:39 PM | Link to this

We really need to fix the mental 3rd period breakdowns. They should be able to be coached through it. But that really needs to be fixed this next half of the season.

I know the team would not like to hear this but now is the time to do a few more sprints after practice. It will pay huge dividends down the road and maybe help our 3rd pd. lapses. The more stamina left in the 3rd period, the clearer the head.

Good luck Thrashers, we finally have a good season at hand so lets step on the gas!

By pondscum

January 11, 2007 07:43 PM | Link to this

Brendan- those are some crazy ideas he’s got.

Why not move the Predators to the southeast division instead? If it’s possible put the Caps and Stars in there aswell.

As for the team,no it’s not time to panic but time to take notice.Some of the problems are from lack of effort(maybe conditioning) and some injuries.

But the one porblem that can’t be fixed that easily is the centerman position. I threw out some names on another blog yesterday like Conroy and Armstrong from the Kings and Reinprect from the Coyotes,somehting has got to be done at this spot.And I also am on the more ice time for Metro also.

Maybe they are trying to showcase Kapanen to trade?

By UpperDeck4Life

January 11, 2007 09:06 PM | Link to this

Just thought I would throw this out there….The Thrashers have waived Jason Krog. They had to put him on waivers to send him down. This is per TSN. More than likely he will get claimed and never make it down to the Wolves. I guess Hartley didn’t see anything he liked. I kind of liked his play.

By Brendan

January 11, 2007 11:26 PM | Link to this

Upperdeck4Life, that move (waiving Krog) screws Chicago, too. He was their leading scorer. That is, if Krog gets claimed. I hadn’t heard anything about it. Speaking of “ex-Thrashers,” some of them had a pretty good night. Joe DiPenta scored for the 1st time in 67 games for Anaheim in a route of Dallas, 5-1. Dany Heatley’s empty-netter allowed Senators fans to exhale, after nearly blowing a 5-0 lead at the NY Rangers. The Rangers closed within one, 5-4, when Heatley scored for Ottawa. And Marc Savard scored in the shootout session vs. the Islanders, in a “must score” situation for Boston to prolong the shootout. The Islanders prevailed, however. I wonder if (NY Islanders owner) Charles Wang has a sign hanging in his office that reads, “he who laughs last, laughs best?” I can’t explain it. I still say Wang’s a “whacko” who has pulled a Homer. (Note: “The Simpsons” Dictionary defines this expression as: “To succeed despite idiocy.”)

The Florida Panthers FAILED to provide any relief for the Thrashers by blowing a 3-0 lead vs. Carolina, which won 6-4. All six (6) of the ‘Canes goals came in the 3rd period, after they Coach Laviolette had seen enough of Cam Ward, pulling him from the net. D’ohhh!!! (Mumbling under my breath,)Stupid timely, game-changing, revitalizing, re-energizing, outcome-reversing, intelligent move. Dang.

Okay, how many of you died and went to the hockey HEAVEN known as “Center Ice” last night? Don’t be shy. Raise your hands. Unfortunately, I got the price wrong. It’s $119, not $109. And I think you’ve got to pay it all at once, instead of $30-a-month for the next four months.

Finally, (poster) “Russian,” did you see the Red Wings vs. NJ on Versus this week? If not, I think Comcast Cable will have a condensed 15-minute version of the game “on demand.” Pavel Datsyuk “undressed” Martin Brodeur in the shootout in one of the best tallies all year. Immediately afterwards, Zetterberg topped Datsyuk’s goal! Two of the prettiest shootout goals you will ever see! Roll the VCR or burn it to disc.

By Russian

January 12, 2007 12:15 AM | Link to this

To Brendan: Yep, I saw it. He is good. He got 5 points in Phoenix. I do not think that Detroit will not keep him for next season. Also 4 point is different between us and Carolina. It is not good. We have to win game tomorrow. End of Story!!! :-)

By Jameson

January 12, 2007 04:32 AM | Link to this

Well, I’m bored at work, so I thought I’d stir up some more center trade talk. I was looking at some stats, and started picking out centers from teams that will likely be sellers (especially from the west) at the deadline. Here’s the list I came up with: * O. JOKINEN FLA $5.250 3YR * A. KOPITAR LAK $0.956 2YR * M. CAMMALLERI LAK $1.700 RFA J. STUMPEL FLA $1.625 UFA D. ARMSTRONG LAK $0.760 UFA S. FEDOROV CBJ $6.080 1YR B. SMOLINSKI CHI $1.881 UFA * D. WEIGHT STL $3.500 1YR P. FORSBERG PHI $5.750 UFA P. CAJANEK STL $1.850 1YR

Keep in mind that the first two are very unlikely, and the third would be a hard sell, but like Brendan, I really like Cammalleri. I selected these players because they are in the top 60 centers in points or assists. The players marked with *s are in the points list, and also in the top 30 in assists. Interestingly, the Thrashers have one center that fits into both top 60 categories, Glen Metropolit. For the life of me I can’t figure out why he doesn’t stick to the top 2 lines. Theoretically, being in that list would make you a top 2 center.

For your reference, here are those teams cap space: FLA $ 5.439 LAK $ 4.183 CBJ $14.775 CHI $ 6.244 STL $13.631 PHI $ 2.277

If we did work a trade with Columbus of St. Louis we might even be able to dump some extra salary on them. I think the over-paid people we could afford to lose are probably Rucchin, deVries, Holik and Waddell. (J/king about the Waddell part, but I know how much you guys love slights against him.) Don’t get me wrong, I like Holik, and we may need him come playoff time, but I don’t know if I like him $4.25 million worth of cap space. DeVo isn’t the worst d-man in the league, but I think his $2.166 is too much in cap space as well. Rucchin has probably degraded to the point of a $1 million max role guy in my mind.

Speaking of those two teams, I think it would be fun to watch Federov with either Kovy or reunited with Slava. That being said, I seriously doubt we could stomach his $6 million cap hit next year. And I can’t deny that it would be interesting to see Doug Weight start a career as a rent-a-cup guy.

As a side note, it seems kinda counterintuitive, but I’m actually a little happy that Jim Slater isn’t having a stellar year. Looking at this cap information, I noticed that Jimmy will be a restricted free agent this year, and that could go a long way for us to lock him down on the cheap for a while.

By Jameson

January 12, 2007 04:38 AM | Link to this

Wow, those tables didn’t come out the way I’d hoped at all. Anybody know how to make this thing obay carriage returns?

By Lew39

January 12, 2007 05:18 AM | Link to this

It’s great to see we have fans that can help Wadell figure out how to spend the Thrashers money wisely. Please don’t take this as a jab, that is not my intent!

For me, I’d rather see this team of Professionals (Trashers) for which I am a season ticket holder, come out and show some pride by playing at 100% for a full 60 minutes of hockey.

I do my part by paying for my tickets on time, let the team do there part by demonstrating heart and a killer instinct by holding on to a win and finishing off an opponent.

We all talk about about needing a Center, being weak on Defense, firing Wadell, yadda, yadda, yadda.

This team has the ability and talent to win, they have shown that..Do they have the desire and heart to play for a full 60 minutes. The question is; DO THEY BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES???

By UpperDeck4Life

January 12, 2007 09:13 AM | Link to this

Haydar and Sterling seem to doing OK without Krog, so it hurts the Wolves, but not as bad as I thought it might when he was orginally called up.

I would love to see Rucchin moved. He has played OK since returning, but he is not an offensive weapon which is what you need on your top 2 lines. I think Metro has been playing a wing on Kovy’s line a little lately, so he is getting a chance to prove himself, just not enough. He has played a lot better on the wing than in the center this year, so I think he is a wing now and that pretty much limits him to either the Kovy line or the 4th line because they are not going to break up Hossa-Kozlov, and he doesn’t belong on Holik’s line.

I agree that Holik makes to much, but the guy has been a monster lately. Winning face offs, laying people out, blocking shots, and chipping in the occisional offense. Holik is a shut down center and he does his job well. He is offerpaid for that job, but he always steps his game up in big games and he was huge down the stretch for us last year and I can’t wait to see him in the playoffs.

On a defensive note….I think with Vish’s drop to the third pairing with XLB’s return that he is the most likely canidate of the impending defensive FAs to be moved.

By Jameson

January 12, 2007 10:08 AM | Link to this

UpperDeck4Life, I’m in agreement with you for the most part. I didn’t know that Vish had been dropped to the 3rd pair, though. (A lot of recent games haven’t been televised, and my third shift computer operator job doesn’t quite pay for the center ice package.) I was pretty disappointed in him, actually. I thought we got a pretty good deal. Too bad to see this one go bust. Just when I thought he was starting to find his game, d-men started getting injured, and he started playing horribly.

Lew39, I understand what you’re getting at, and to an extent I agree with you. In fact, along with what UpperDeck had to say, it kind of upsets me that people are willing to forgive “big game” type of players like Holik for playing way under their ability most of the time, and waiting on the big moment to finally put their all into it. That being said, I also think that there are a few trades out there that would improve the team’s talent level. And like I said, I created the list because I was bored, and it’s fun to weigh the situation, not because I was trying to do DW’s job. Besides, I thought that’s what these blogs were really for.

By wristshot

January 12, 2007 10:22 AM | Link to this

That was a tough pill to swallow last night watching Florida blow a three goal third period lead to the Canes… Five goals in the third!!! Now Carolina is nipping at our heels. Time for the boys to snap out of their mental vacation…

By wristshot

January 12, 2007 10:35 AM | Link to this

Actually it was six goals in the third, I forgot about the empty netter…

By UpperDeck4Life

January 12, 2007 11:07 AM | Link to this

Jameson, Vish has been playing on a pairing with Coburn since XLB returned and getting close to 5th or 6th in TOI for defenseman as well.

The list is fine, I would rather see Weight, or a younger center, unless we can move Rucchin, because I don’t think that this team needs 3 centers over 35. Weight or Forsberg, with their playmaking history and playoff experience, would be my acceptable “older” centers to aquire.

By drew

January 12, 2007 11:52 AM | Link to this

upperdeck…where did you read this krog/waiver story…i see nothing on thn, tsn, espn, ajc, cnn, thrashers.com, etc…if it is true,that would suck. we need to clean out the hartley love connection…devo, larsen, vigier..who i dont think could shoot the puck in the ocean…the list goes on….this is an old hockey team. what really disturbs me is the lack of players on the roster that we have drafted, developed and are now on our nhl roster….giving it a quick look…i only see 4, maybe 5. this doesnt say much for our gm, scouting, coaching and player development. take a look at nashville’s roster…they appear to be doing a much better job at that. we may have to rebuild this whole thing again next year looking at free agents, retirements, etc…

By UpperDeck4Life

January 12, 2007 12:24 PM | Link to this

I read about it on Hockey Futures board last night, on both the Thrashers message board and on the Trade and Rumors page (people were talking about how they would like their team to pick him up).

By drew

January 12, 2007 05:22 PM | Link to this

upperdeck - thanks for the heads up on the web page. just read that the rangers picked up krog. that’s just great.

By Brendan

January 12, 2007 06:12 PM | Link to this

Let’s “turn up the heat” on the Devils tonight. Jameson, good blogging. I know you’ve been here ALL year. Keep it up. People love to hear about what options are out there. Who knows, you might actually give DW some ideas!! Someone on his staff probably monitors this message board. I wish Cammalleri could really be acquired. I’d even take Kopitar. It’d be tough to re-sign them, though. They’d be “rentals.”