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Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Who is targeting Thrashers free agents?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First, I’d just like to thank everyone who e-mailed and called about the Thrashers prospects series that ran last week in the paper. It was fun to do, plus I’m always looking for an excuse to go to Chicago. The Wolves were knocked out of the Calder Cup playoffs on Saturday night in the Western Conference finals. (see: Wolves’ season comes to an end) Hamilton took the series 4-1. Darren Haydar finished with 10 goals and 14 assists, to top all AHL players in postseason scoring.
To answer a few common questions I was asked about the prospects: 1. Why no Chad Denny or Ondrej Pavelec or Andrei Zubarev etc, etc.? We decided to focus on Chicago Wolves because it was also a way of acknowledging their Calder Cup playoff run, plus they have the most players close to helping the Thrashers next season. Also, the Thrashers still need to sign Denny, Pavelec, Nikulin and company. There is a June 1st deadline, so expect some action in the real near future regarding those players. If Don Waddell signs Tobias Enstrom or Ilya Nikulin this week, they immediately become the favorites to fill holes on the blueline over guys like Boris Valabik and Nathan Oystrick. I see Enstrom as a strong possibility and Nikulin a longshot since he has a healthy (read: expensive) contract in Russia.
The other question I was asked a couple times is who I thought had the biggest upside of all the players we featured. Based more on interviews than any live action I witnessed, I’d lean towards Bryan Little. There’s hope that he comes in and earns a spot on Thrashers in training camp, which seems like a little bit of a reach. He was a guy who played mostly on the fourth line as an energy guy and on the power play for Team Canada in the World Juniors this year so you have to wonder if he is ready now. But long term? He has all the tools, and everybody I talked to loved his work ethic and determination. The consensus was that he’ll be a good pro, most likely in the next couple years.
We’re getting close to the point where we can ramp up the off-season speculation about the Thrashers free agents. I’ve now read in multiple places where Slava Kozlov is being rumored to be on the Red Wings radar. Now, right now it is more media speculation suggesting he’d be a good fit with the Red Wings, but it’s not out of the question. Before he re-signed with the Thrashers in 2003, Kozlov was interested in returning to Detroit but the Red Wings never made an offer. If they’re interested in the veteran winger this time around, I think they’d have to be the front-runner.
More news regarding Thrashers and their free-agents-to-be:
Ross McKeon of the San Francisco Chronicle wonders if anyone will remember Keith Tkachuk’s stint with the Thrashers.
NHL.com’s Larry Wigge says that Slava Kozlov would be a nice replacement for Robert Lang in Detroit.
John Niyo thinks Kozlov would look good on a line with Pavel Datsyuk.
Andy Sutton should be near the top of Pittsburgh’s wish list, says David Pagnotta.
Don Waddell does some scouting during Memorial Cup tournament.
This is a little old, but Jim Matheson at the Edmonton Journal suggests Greg de Vries as a candidate to help Pittsburgh’s defense.
So who should the Thrashers target? It’s hard to say before we see which of their own free agents will stick around. It’s looking like many of the defensive holes will be filled by younger players, but they’d have to take a hard look at retaining guys like Shane Hnidy and Steve McCarthy if the price is right. Andy Sutton might cost more than the Thrashers want to spend, but I could envision a Thrashers blue line that looks like: Havelid, Zhitnik, Exelby, Hnidy, Popovic, Enstrom. If they do that, that frees up some money to spend on offense. I can’t see them in the running for the big names like Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Ryan Smyth or Daniel Briere - not with a Marian Hossa extension on the horizon. They’ll need an affordable center, especially if Eric Belanger walks, a second-tier guy like Mike Comrie ($3 million last season), Jozef Stumpel ($1.75 million last season), or maybe a Robert Lang ($3.8 million last season) could be the answer.
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