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Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Hossa update and captain news
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Traverse City — It’s off to the beautiful Flint airport to head back to Atlanta. Before I go, I wanted to offer up a little news and some wrap-up from the prospects tournament. The Thrashers play one more game today, but like Bob Hartley before me, I’m bailing early. Gotta get ready for the real training camp.
The communication between the Thrashers and Marian Hossa’s camp continues in an attempt to get him signed to an extension before the season starts. There hasn’t been a formal offer from the team, but it sounds like they could whip one up real quickly if there are indications from Hossa that he’s ready to sign. All signs point to a possible deal in the four-year range. If he gets Joe Thornton-type money, that would put the total around $28-30 million.
The advantage, from the Thrashers perspective, is that by keeping the contract under five years, GM Don Waddell wouldn’t need unanimous ownership approval. He said ownership would support a 3-4 year deal. From Hossa’s perspective, a four-year deal would mean he’d likely have another big contract in him before he hangs up the skates. We know he’s concerned about winning a Stanley Cup, so keeping a deal under five years would give him a chance to hand-pick a team while still in his early 30s.
“We’ve been talking. We’ve thrown numbers around,” Waddell said after the Thrashers win against Tampa last night. “If they were looking for a formal offer, we would have one quickly. I wouldn’t say we’re at that point yet.”
Expect a captain soon
One of the biggest voids at the upcoming training camp will be the leadership hole created by the retirement of captain Scott Mellanby. Mentally, I’ve already penciled in Bobby Holik in that role, but Waddell said a final decision hasn’t been made.
But expect a captain to be named fairly quickly once camp opens.
“There are some meeting that need to take place with individual players,” Waddell said.
Top three performers
We’ll have a Bryan Little story in the paper for Wednesday, but I wanted to list my top three performers from prospect camp to give you guys an indication of who played well in the three games I attended.
Bryan Little - Despite what the team was saying, I was skeptical that he could make the Thrashers out of training camp. I’m still skeptical, but not as much. He’s a complete player and showed an ability to finish, scoring four goals in the three games I saw. I’m really interested in seeing how he does against NHL-caliber talent.
Spencer Machecek - I liked this kid. He wasn’t afraid to mix it up in front of the net, and it’s no surprise that the three goals I saw all came from the same spot, to the right of the crease. He’s headed back to Vancouver (WHL), but the Thrashers could have done a lot worse with their top pick (third round) in this year’s draft.
Chad Painchaud — You know, I don’t think he scored a goal in any of the games I watched, but it seemed like good things always happened when he was on the ice. He’s ticketed for Chicago (AHL) where I think he could be in for a strong season.
Honorable mention: Tobias Enstrom, Grant Lewis, Riley Holzapfel, Mike Hamilton
