AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 30
Monday, April 30, 2007
Lehtonen back in action - and still quotable
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hey - I thought the Rangers were unbeatable. It took a two-overtime win on Sunday for the Rangers to get their first win of the second round. The Sabres look really good don’t they? But that’s how you respond in Game 3, you have to give the Rangers a lot of credit. Tuesday’s Game 4 should be fun to watch.
But here at the Thrashers Beat Blog, now updated weekly, we don’t much care about the Stanley Cup playoffs - not when there are Thrashers and future Thrashers still playing.
The IIHF World Championship started in Moscow, and it features two of the Thrashers youngest stars in Ilya Kovalchuk and Kari Lehtonen. Both are undefeated (okay, it’s early) and Kari was his usual quotable self after Finland’s win on Sunday. Here was an interesting quote that Kari told Lucas Aykroyd after Sunday’s won:
“It was a weird game,” Lehtonen told Aykroyd on his story for IHWC.net. “Our guys showed up, so that made it easy for me. I can’t remember when I last had a game like this, where I get one shot and then have to wait 10 minutes for another.”
Nope Kari, I can’t remember a game like that either.
Lehtonen and Fredrik Norrena may be the best goalie duo in the IIHF World Championship in Moscow, but Finland will win with offense.
Ilya Kovalchuk had an assist in Russia’s first game, a blowout win over Denmark. He was scoreless in the second game. But according to someone who saw the games, Kovalchuk’s all-NHL line with Malkin, Frolov, Gonchar and Markov really struggled. Russia plays Finland on Tuesday night, although I don’t know if Lehtonen is starting.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Wolves are slated to start the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs on Wednesday against the Iowa Stars. Here’s a breakdown of the matchup on the Chicago Wolves playoff blog.
Don Waddell was in Chicago, doing some scouting. He was also planning on making the trip to Moscow to watch some of the Worlds.
Other interesting reading:
NEW ADDITION: I just found this great Q and A with Ilya Kovalchuk done by Pavel Strizhevsky, a friend of the Beat Blog. It’s been translated from Russian to English, so you have to take some of that into account, but it’s great reading.
Holly Gunning at Hockey’s Future breaks down the rookies expected to make an impact next season with the Thrashers. Her locks include Brett Sterling and Mark Popovic.
Gerry Fraley, writing for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch expects the Rangers to make a strong run at Keith Tkachuk.
This is a little old (that’s what happens in a weekly blog), but former Thrashers forward Marc Savard breaks down the second round in this ESPN.com piece.
Some responses to some of your responses:
Brendan: I’m hearing a salary cap more in the $46 million range for next season rather than $47.5, but it’s speculation at this point.
JayBird: In defense of the Red Wings lack of fan support, which you brought up by linking to this article by the talented Michael Rosenberg (Playoffs? Where are fans? Where is excitement?), playoff ticket prices in Detroit are outrageous. It’s hard to get in the Joe for under $100 and considering the Red Wings are kind of like the Braves in that they’re always in the playoffs, I think you have to cut the Detroit fans some slack for not showing up like gangbusters during early playoff action. I think they showed signs of coming around last game. Alright, I’m done defending the D.
UpperDeck: I’m not counting out McCarthy’s return at all. He genuinely seems like he wants to return, despite his lack of playing time down the stretch. And I think the way he handled the situation, with class, goes a long way. Bob Hartley really seems to like him, despite not playing him (if that makes any sense).
Lastly, just so we have it somewhere on our website, here’s a list of unrestricted free agents - compiled by the Hockey News.
Anaheim: J-S Giguere, G, 30; Brad May, LW, 35; Sean O’Donnell, D, 35; Teemu Selanne, RW, 36.
Atlanta: Eric Belanger, C, 29; Eric Boulton, LW, 30; Greg de Vries, D, 34; Pascal Dupuis, LW, 28; Shane Hnidy, D, 31; Slava Kozlov, LW, 35; Brad Larsen, LW, 30; Derek MacKenzie, C, 26; Scott Mellanby, RW, 41; Jon Sim, RW, 29; Andy Sutton, D, 32; Keith Tkachuk, C, 35; J-P Vigier, RW, 30.
Boston: Bobby Allen, D, 28; Nathan Dempsey, D, 32; Brian Finley, G, 25; Joey MacDonald, G, 27; Jeremy Reich, LW, 28; Petr Tenkrat, LW, 29; Jason York, D, 36.
Buffalo: Daniel Briere, C, 29; Ty Conklin, G, 31; Chris Drury C, 30; Adam Mair, RW 28; Teppo Numminen, D, 39; Dainius Zubrus, C, 29.
Calgary: Tony Amonte, RW, 36; Jeff Friesen, LW, 30; Eric Godard, RW, 27; Roman Hamrlik, D, 33; Darren McCarty, RW, 35; Jamie McLennan, G, 36; Marcus Nilson, C, 29; Wayne Primeau, C, 30; Byron Ritchie, C, 30; Brad Stuart, D, 27.
Carolina: Anson Carter, RW, 33; Bret Hedican, D, 36; David Tanabe, D, 26; Josef Vasicek, C, 26; Scott Walker, RW, 33; Glen Wesley, D, 38.
Chicago: Denis Arkhipov, C, 28; Peter Bondra, RW, 39; Jeff Hamilton, LW, 29; Michal Handzus, C, 29; Patrick Lalime, G, 32.
Colorado: Tyler Arnason, C, 28; Patrice Brisebois, D, 36; Ben Guite, C, 28; Ken Klee, D, 36; Ian Laperriere, RW, 33; Brett McLean, LW, 28; Scott Parker, RW, 29; Mark Rycroft, RW, 28; Pierre Turgeon, C, 37; Ossi Vaananen, D, 26.
Columbus: Bryan Berard, D, 30; Brian Boucher, G, 30; Anders Eriksson, D, 32; Derrick Walser, D, 28.
Dallas: Krys Barch, LW, 27; Matthew Barnaby, RW, 34; Stu Barnes, C, 37; Jon Klemm, D, 37; Eric Lindros, C, 34; Ladislav Nagy, LW, 28; Patrik Stefan, C, 27; Darryl Sydor, D, 35.
Detroit: Todd Bertuzzi, RW, 32; Kyle Calder, LW, 28; Chris Chelios, D, 45; Dominik Hasek, G, 42; Robert Lang, C, 36; Josh Langfeld, RW, 29; Kirk Maltby, RW, 34; Danny Markov, D, 30; Mathieu Schneider, D, 38.
Edmonton: Jan Hejda, D, 28; Jussi Markkanen, G, 31; Petr Nedved, C, 35; Petr Sykora, LW, 30.
Florida: Ed Belfour, 42, G; Martin Gelinas, 37, LW; Ville Peltonen, 34, LW; Jozef Stumpel, 35, C.
Los Angeles: Sean Burke, G, 40; Noah Clarke, LW, 28; Mathieu Garon, G, 29; Jamie Heward, D, 36; Tom Kostopoulos, RW, 28; Aaron Miller, D, 35; Jaroslav Modry, D, 26; Marty Murray, C, 32; Mike Weaver, D, 29.
Minnesota: Nicklas Backstrom, G, 29; Martin Skoula, D, 27; Wyatt Smith C, 30; Wes Walz, C, 37; Todd White, C, 32.
Montreal: David Aebischer, G, 29; Radek Bonk, C, 31; Aaron Downey, RW, 32; Mike Johnson, RW, 32; Andrei Markov, D, 27; Janne Niinimaa, D, 32; Sheldon Souray, D, 30.
Nashville: Peter Forsberg, C, 33; Scott Hartnell, LW, 24; Paul Kariya, LW, 32; Scott Nichol, C, 32; Jerred Smithson, C, 28; Kimmo Timonen, D, 32; Vitaly Vishnevski, D, 27.
New Jersey: Scott Clemmensen, G, 29; Jim Dowd, C, 38; Scott Gomez, C, 27; Brad Lukowich, D, 30; Brian Rafalski, D, 33; Erik Rasmussen, RW, 30; Mike Rupp, LW, 27.
New York Islanders: Arron Asham, RW, 29; Jason Blake, RW, 33; Joel Bouchard, D, 32; Wade Dubielewicz, G, 28; Mike Dunham, G, 35; Sean Hill, D, 37; Viktor Kozlov, C, 32; Tom Poti, D, 30; Deron Quint, D, 31; Randy Robitaille, C, 31; Chris Simon, LW, 35; Todd Simpson, D, 34; Ryan Smyth, LW, 31; Richard Zednik, LW, 31.
New York Rangers: Brad Isbister, LW, 30; Michael Nylander, C, 34; Jed Ortmeyer, RW, 28; Sandis Ozolinsh, D, 34; Thomas Pock, D, 26; Brendan Shanahan, RW, 38; Jason Strudwick, D, 31; Kevin Weekes, G, 32.
Ottawa: Dean McAmmond, C, 33; Tom Preissing, D, 28.
Philadelphia: Robert Esche, G, 29; Todd Fedoruk, LW, 28; Denis Hamel, LW, 29; Mike York, C, 29.
Phoenix: Owen Nolan, RW, 35; Curtis Joseph, G, 39; Mike Ricci, C, 35; Jeremy Roenick, C, 37.
Pittsburgh: Eric Cairns, D, 32; Nils Ekman, LW, 31; Joel Kwiatkowski, D, 30; Josef Melichar, D, 28; Ron Petrovicky, RW, 30; Mark Recchi, RW, 39; Gary Roberts, LW, 40; Rob Scuderi, D, 28; Jocelyn Thibault, G, 32.
San Jose: Bill Guerin, RW, 36; Scott Hannan, D, 28; Mark Smith, C, 29; Craig Rivet, D, 32; Vesa Toskala, G, 30.
St. Louis: Radek Dvorak, RW, 30.
Tampa Bay: Rob DiMaio, RW, 39; Ruslan Fedotenko, RW, 28; Johan Holmqvist, G, 28; Doug Janik, D, 26; Andreas Karlsson, C, 31; Eric Perrin, LW, 31; Nolan Pratt, D, 31; Luke Richardson, D, 37; Cory Sarich, D, 28; Jason Ward, RW, 28.
Toronto: Nik Antropov, RW, 27; Jean-Sebastien Aubin, G, 29; Bates Battaglia, LW, 31; Travis Green, C, 36; Tyson Nash, LW, 32; Jeff O’Neill, RW, 31; Michael Peca, C, 33; Yanic Perreault, C, 36; Aleksander Suglobov, RW, 25.
Vancouver: Jan Bulis, C, 29; Jeff Cowan, LW, 30; Rory Fitzpatrick, D, 32; Josh Green, C, 29; Trevor Linden, RW, 37; Taylor Pyatt, LW, 25; Sami Salo, D, 32; Tommi Santala, C, 28; Bryan Smolinski, C, 35; Brent Sopel, D, 30.
Washington: Bryan Muir, D, 34.
Services »
