Thrashers

By Bob

January 17, 2007 04:40 PM | Link to this

I am so pleased that Coach finally woke up and saw what I’ve been calling for all year, to give Metro more ice. Every time he’s out there he makes things happen.

He can play center on Kovy’s line, Rucchin should be pushed down to the 4th when we get a center in here at the deadline. Kapanen can go ride the bus in Chicago.

By David Lee

January 17, 2007 05:28 PM | Link to this

I think they should trade Kovy and Hossa while they have value. Keep Holik as he has been lighting the lamp. That slapper against Ward the other night was stuff of Legend.

By thrashersfan24

January 17, 2007 05:52 PM | Link to this

You have got to be crazy to suggest that Kovy and Hossa should be traded. without them the team would have little to build around. They will have value for wuite a bit longer, but there is no use shooting the team in the foot by getting rid of them.

By Bob

January 17, 2007 07:49 PM | Link to this

I would hope David is being facetious with the trade Kovy and Hossa talk.

Waddell can bring in a couple of rent a players for a playoff run on the cheap, draft picks, mabye a minor prospect.

We need to do what Rutherford did in Carolina last year. He brought in a 37 year old Mark Recchi and a 35 year old Doug Weight for a playoff rental, and look what it did for them. Both Recchi and Weight are back with the same clubs this year, that “rented” them out to Carolina last year.

By Brendan

January 17, 2007 10:13 PM | Link to this

I think the Thrashers need more speed. They’ve got plenty of “30-something, playoff-tested” types. Holik is 36, Rucchin, 35, Kozlov, 34, Hedberg, 33, Mellanby, 40. I want a younger guy, if possible. What if the Thrashers put together two decent rounds and reach the Conference Finals, where the super-speedy Sabres are waiting for them, rolling four fresh, youthful lines? What do they do, clog the neutral zone with four (4) guys? Play Nic Havelid (33-years old) ‘til he keels over and dies? 40-minutes every night.

I really don’t know who the right center is. But if there’s a D-man to be had, I am starting to like Eric Brewer, UFA, who I think is only 26-27. (I need to check that, however.) What do you think St. Louis will want in return? What’s an acceptable loss?

By the way, gazing at the blog title made me think of the timely playing of Berlin’s “The Metro” over the P.A., after Metropolit scored vs. the Kings. Well done. I even thought I caught Glen groovin’ to it on the bench, as he watched the replay of his goal.

By michael

January 17, 2007 11:06 PM | Link to this

Went to the town hall meeting with Wadell before the kings game. He basically said that teams want player for player swap outs this season, unlike last year when teams would give up a first round pick for a player. He said this is due to everyone thinking they have a legitimate shot at the playoffs. He also sounded like he was satisfied with the defense, especially with Sutton coming back sooner than they expected. He also said that their is a player that they think will be available. He did not mention what position or anything about the player, just that they think he will be available. He said he could not talk about it.

By Jameson

January 18, 2007 03:02 AM | Link to this

I definitely agree with everyone who says it would be nice to move our team toward a more youthful position going into the playoffs. However, I’m not sure how realistic that’s going to be. Obviously the teams that are out of it this year will want to hold on to their younger players for future runs. I’d like to see a young playmaking center brought in as much as the next guy, and I don’t know how happy I’d be to see a new 35 year old center, but I don’t know it’ll happen, so I thought I’d bring the Rucchin vs. Smolinski debate into this blog.

Rucchin has 5G + 11A = 16P good enough to be tied for 83rd among centers.

Smolinski is tied for 46th with 11G + 16A = 28P.

Smolinski is eating $1.881m worth of cap space compared to Rucchin’s $2.125m. In case you were wondering about defensive liabilities, Rucchin is currently a -5 and Smolinski is a +4. However, Rucchin has won 52.1% of his faceoffs comapred to Smolinski’s 50.7%.

Obviously, Chicago isn’t just going to send us Smolinski for Rucchin, unless they’re just dying to have a 35+ year old center under contract for next season, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a mistake to rent a center at his age. None of this has taken into account linemates, but what do you guys think about it? What do you think we’d have to give up for Smolinski?

By Bob

January 18, 2007 08:54 AM | Link to this

Teams do not give up young established players, ESPECIALLY now that we’re in the cap era. You can forget about the pipedream of getting younger at the deadline, not going to happen.

The best we can hope for is to get a rent a player type who is an impending UFA next year, or at best, take a guy who also is signed for next year. Waddell can take a guy that we keep for next year since he has so many UFA’s of his own. We basically can rebuild the club next year around Hossa, Kovy, and Lehtonen. Might as well start by taking someone on now.

By Chris

January 18, 2007 10:30 AM | Link to this

I don’t believe we’d be a very good match w/ Chicago. As mentioned in other recent posts here our most marketable asset is young D. Chicago already has Keith and Seabrook, along with some less talented younger guys. I would think they would be looking to add more of a vet presence there for next season.

By Tony C.

January 18, 2007 12:25 PM | Link to this

I still think we could market Goaltending….and some of the younger D-men…Smolinski does look attractive, and I wonder what exactly we have that Chicago would want…Bourett?(not gonna happen) LaValle?? (really) They are pretty set with Khabibulin and Boucher in net, if for no other reason than the contracts they are signed to. So who do you trade? we have epth at forward but not marketable depth. I wonder if DW could’ve done a trade of Krog and other minor leaguers for Smolinski??

Who knows? I am still intrigued by the idea of Toronto putting Sundin’s name out there…incredible I would’ve thought he was a Leaf For Life….we do have a lot of room coming up in the offseason to sign some UFAs (please be Gomez)…so it will be interesting to see what DW can pull off, if anything.

Big game tonight, the team needs to get two points out of this.

LET’S GO BLUE !!!

By Brendan

January 18, 2007 02:18 PM | Link to this

Getting Brewer would be getting “younger” at the trade deadline. But what would St. Louis want for him?

By Brendan

January 18, 2007 03:05 PM | Link to this

Well, “younger” in sense of … not 35 or older. Our blueline is a mixture. Hnidy is 31, and so is Sutton. Havelid and DeVries are both 33. McCarthy and Exelby are 25, I believe. Popovic is 24, I think. Coburn is just 21. Brewer is 26-years old. His plus-minus numbers aren’t “there” for a top free agent. But he hasn’t been on winning teams. When he was with the Oilers, they weren’t that good. And we’ll all seen St. Louis for the past two seasons. How old is Vishnevski?

By Midfield

January 18, 2007 03:47 PM | Link to this

DeVries is only 33, ah? He seems to be pushing mid-forties every other shift on the ice.

By Geoffrey Paul

January 18, 2007 04:18 PM | Link to this

Columbus would be a good trade partner… They are in the West, are going to be a “seller” at the deadline, and could use young prospects for the blue line and between the pipes. We have plenty of cap room to be able to absorb Federov’s pro-rated salary at the deadline. The cap is projected to go up next year, so I don’t think it is a given that we couldn’t afford to keep him around next year. How about Vishnevski/XLB/DeVries (take your pick) and Michael Garnett for Federov?