AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > October > 15
Monday, October 15, 2007
Hossa back on the ice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a bit of good news for the Thrashers, Marian Hossa was back on the ice to start practice this morning. The best case scenario on Saturday was for Hossa to skate on his own Sunday, practice today and play against Philly on Tuesday. So far things are on track in that department. I’ll have more when I chat with him and Bob Hartley after practice.
EDIT (12:35 p.m.): Alright, just chatted with Hoss and he said that most likely he’s going to play against the Flyers. Hartley said Hossa was at 95 percent, which is pretty good. The only thing you have to worry about his Marian waking up in the morning and the groin in really sore after today’s practice. If that doesn’t happen, he’ll play.
The biggest development out of practice today was that Hartley is splitting up the top defensive pair of Alexei Zhitnik and Niklas Havelid. The biggest reason, he said, is communication. Z and Havelid are pretty quiet on the ice, which doesn’t help. Look for Havelid to skate with Tobias Enstrom, which should immediately help communication since the two Swedes are pretty close. Steve McCarthy will be paired with Zhitnik, and Mac is pretty chatty on the ice which should help Zhitnik. Klee and Exelby will be the other pair.
The all-rookie line looks like it will stay together. The Thrashers have the roster space to keep Darren Haydar up, and he played pretty well on Saturday. If that’s the case, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chris Thorburn and Eric Boulton sit against the Flyers.
