AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > October > 26 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USPavelec starting plans on hold
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Greetings from the bowels of the Sommet Center in Nashville, where they play live country music between periods.
Hey, it was comforting to a southern gal like me who is transitioning into this sport, learning more and more by the day, and being so bold as to blog in place of Craig today. Be gentle.
The team is loading up for Chicago right now, heading out this afternoon and before they left Don Waddell said no, it won’t be Ondrej Pavelec in goal tomorrow night in Chicago. It’ll be Moose again.
Chicago might have been the logical time to get Pavelec his first start. Waddell has said he plans to play him before these next four games of the trip are through, and the Blackhawks are the only team left that doesn’t have a winning record. They’re 5-5. Montreal is 4-2, Ottawa 8-1, and Tampa 5-3.
But this is also not a good time to take Johan Hedberg out of goal. He made 31 saves last night against Nashville, this after building some momentum in the shootout win over Toronto. So smart move. Agree?
As for the rest of the team, Waddell said after this morning’s practice that despite the 3-0 loss to the Predators - the team’s third shutout in 10 games - he’s not getting in anybody’s face.
“We’re not going to be knocking these guys down, it’s all positive reinforcement,” Waddell said. “What we talked about today was consistency (game-to-game). I don’t think we were that bad last night, we’ve got to give (the Predators) a lot of credit. I was talking to their coaching staff this morning. It was by far their best game of the year. They did a good job of shutting us down. They didn’t give us a lot of opportunities.”
He won’t get down on the team, but I will for just a second. As much of an ability as they showed Tuesday to come back from adversity in Toronto, after they gave up their second goal in the second period last night, I pretty much knew I was free and clear to bang out my game story. This team isn’t coming back from that much.
Yes Ilya Kovalchuk hit the post, but as Moose pointed out after the game, so did the Predators. Marian Hossa did get off four shots, which was better than his previous two games when he combined for three.
And looking for things to build upon, rookie Tobias Enstrom led the team in ice time with 24:49, getting more time on penalty kill and making an all-around impact.
That’s it for now. Off to Chicago. Does Oprah go to hockey games?
Comments
By Brian
October 26, 2007 1:17 PM | Link to this
I know it’s not Rawhide, but first!!!
By Brian
October 26, 2007 1:23 PM | Link to this
Carroll - welcome to the sport. Once you watch it live you will be hooked, and Philips is a great place to watch it. We are definitely in a dry spell right now so bring us some good luck.
By Paul
October 26, 2007 1:29 PM | Link to this
Any chance we might see some changes soon on the defensive side of things? How about bringing up Boris Valabik. This guy is 6’7” & 230 lbs. I agree that the Moose has been playing well but improved defense could really help.
By ThrasherNY
October 26, 2007 1:32 PM | Link to this
Two telling stats about the Thrashers this season are our special teams rankings PK 29th & PP 29th and that Enstrom is our top preforming dman. A close third is the -10 SOG per game average…want to guess what rank that gets us…30th.
By Brian
October 26, 2007 1:35 PM | Link to this
Carroll - I guess I should also explain my first post… See, there’s this guy Buzilla who tried to be the first one to post on Rawhide’s first ever blog, and won some beers on the bet (I still haven’t paid up do to this long road trip). Now we do it everytime for Rawhide’s blog. The fear though is that Buzilla will win again and there is a correlation between him winning and the Thrashers losing as Stroz has pointed out…
By silverpork
October 26, 2007 1:44 PM | Link to this
I don’t think Boris would improve our D. Yes, he’s huge, but he isn’t exactly mobile. Right now so many of our problems in the defensive zone stem from poor positional play, and although a physical presence is something we need more of, I don’t know that a big, immobile d-man will help. I’d rather see McCarthy sit and Popovic get more of a chance. (Didn’t they say Pop was our most NHL-ready of the young guys?).
By moo
October 26, 2007 1:49 PM | Link to this
good lord. The same excuses for the same garbage day after day. Atlanta Spirit screwed up their own management, then the Hawks, now this. Craig, it’s time someone starts asking the basic questions of the ownership….”How much longer?”
Is this business as usual for those knuckleheads? All the money must be family funds because between them, this is Nero fiddling while Rome burns.
By moo
October 26, 2007 1:50 PM | Link to this
good lord. The same excuses for the same garbage day after day. Atlanta Spirit screwed up their own management, then the Hawks, now this. Craig, it’s time someone starts asking the basic questions of the ownership….”How much longer?”
Is this business as usual for those knuckleheads? All the money must be family funds because between them, this is Nero fiddling while Rome burns.
By Ilya k
October 26, 2007 2:03 PM | Link to this
NUMBER OF TIMES THE TRASH HAS OUTSHOUT THE OPPONENT THIS YEAR…………0000000000000
By Totonto Tom
October 26, 2007 2:11 PM | Link to this
The obvious question is the ONLY question: How many free passes does Waddell get? Then again, it must be this lifeless; passionless sports town we live in for he wouldn’t make it one week in any of the hockey meccas. I know of two lifetime jobs: become GM of the Atlanta Thrashers, or get elected as the next Pope!
By wvubru
October 26, 2007 2:12 PM | Link to this
“I was talking to their coaching staff this morning. It was by far their best game of the year.”
Is that right, DW? What the heck do you expect the opposing coaching staff to say to an opposing GM that just spanked you?
I’ve never been a DW basher but geez!!
By SHOOT THE PUCK DAMMIT
October 26, 2007 2:17 PM | Link to this
I don’t know what game Waddell was watching(maybe that’s the problem) but that effort last night was puh-thet-ICK. Where was the effort to “build on a good win against the Leafs” in this game? Too much standing around and not enough chasing after loose pucks. And only 5 1st period SOG against a team that hadn’t won in six games??? How does that happen??? This team has had double digit 1st period SOG’s only twice this season, and the first time it happened were still outshot 14-13 by NYR. In six of the ten games played, 1st period SOG’s are 4(TB), 5(OTT), 3(BUF), 4(NJ), 2(TB), and 5(NAS). HOW DO YOU ONLY HAVE 2 SHOTS ON GOAL IN 20 MINUTES??? I would love to see more energetic play at the start of the game like when they played the Rangers. Someone needs to tell these guys you can’t keep taking the 1st period off and expect to win!
By Barry Melrose
October 26, 2007 2:22 PM | Link to this
Hey, Atlanta: Does anyone else realize we are witnessing one of the all-time great Spin Doctors work his magic? If Don Waddell ever gets run out of town he will undoubtedly have some believe that he is leading a parade!
By Matt H
October 26, 2007 2:29 PM | Link to this
Ah, good times…
By kracker
October 26, 2007 2:34 PM | Link to this
Pavelec. Start him, why not? We are 2-8. Moose (and I LOVE Moose) is not in such a good groove that you don’t want to disrupt him, as evidenced by his SV % of .877
Mabye DW wants to start him VS an opponent we won’t beat anyway, like the Sens on Nov. 1. That is the only reason I can see for not starting Pavelec. Unless DW is waiting for the next blowout either way to put Ondrej in.
By Rutherford Seydel
October 26, 2007 3:07 PM | Link to this
My bad! I didn’t realize “DW” stood for “Doesn’t Win!”
By Tom
October 26, 2007 3:11 PM | Link to this
Ever get the feeling that Don Waddell could play Kevin Bacon’s role in Animal House…
You know, the guy in the uniform at the parade who is attempting crowd control saying…
Remain calm. All is well!
http://www.tigerboard.com/userimages/1animalhouse508.jpeg
As he gets trampled.
Waddell - leader, motivator, coach…
By Ken Dryden
October 26, 2007 3:29 PM | Link to this
Just a thought…since it worked so well the first time, maybe Waddell can resign Byron DeFoe and put his lame a$$ between the pipes. Hedberg won’t last a shell-shocked season and will continue to get lit like the proverbial Christmas tree the way this gang plays defence.
By five_hole
October 26, 2007 3:33 PM | Link to this
So, they play country music between periods in Nashville. Is that supposed to be a good thing?
It is painfully obvious to me that our power play misses someone who goes to the net and blocks the goalie. Scott Mellanby excelled at that, and his absence is missed.
It is also obvious to me that our defense misses that big body that blocks tons of shots per game (can anyone else say Andy Sutton?). Perhaps bringing up Valabik might not be a bad thing. He’s supposed to be as slow as a tree, but we need size on D. And Zhitnik is just absolutely killing us. How about resting him in favor of Popovic?
By Gilles Courteau
October 26, 2007 3:38 PM | Link to this
The Atlanta Thrashers? Please, don’t make me laugh. You guys want to see graet hockey, come watch the QMJHL. It’s a tad cooler in Quebec than Atlanta in the winter but you’ll get every cent of what you paid for…and much more!
By Ilya k
October 26, 2007 3:54 PM | Link to this
Can you place a GM on IR and call up someone else?
By Ilya k
October 26, 2007 3:57 PM | Link to this
There is a Junior B team at the MIC. They are a little slower but just as big.
By Brendan
October 26, 2007 3:59 PM | Link to this
Y a-t-il des vols de bon marchE jusqu’au QuEbec? Je suis d’avis qu’il nous faut rester ici et suffrir avec le produit que nous avons cultivE, Gilles Courtreau.
Mais bientOt, les choses peuvent changer. On verra … si ou non.
By Brendan
October 26, 2007 4:04 PM | Link to this
Carroll, Welcome, we’re glad to have you. Maybe you’ll be the team’s “good luck charm.” But be advised, if the team does manage to put a little win streak together, I doubt Craig will surrender full-time blogging duties to you. Though, the “superstitious” among us might ask for it!
Every so often, you’ll hear us refer to RAWHIDE’s lucky jersey, demanding to know where it is now, and if it’s been washed or is at the dry cleaners. Or if it’s neatley folded in a drawer or hanging in his closet.
By Rawhide (Just plain Rawhide in these parts)
October 26, 2007 4:32 PM | Link to this
Brendan a raison. Le Delta part quotidiennement pour toutes parties du Grand Nord Blanc. Nous ferons juste condamne à une amende avec nos combattants de glace de ville natale, merci beaucoup !
By Gilles Courteau
October 26, 2007 4:40 PM | Link to this
Brendan…
I understand. Take it up with the fans. By the way, my name is spelled “CORTEAU” in any language!
By Gilles Courteau
October 26, 2007 4:40 PM | Link to this
Brendan…
I understand. Take it up with the fans. By the way, my name is spelled “CORTEAU” in any language!
By Gilles Courteau
October 26, 2007 4:40 PM | Link to this
Brendan…
I understand. Take it up with the fans. By the way, my name is spelled “CORTEAU” in any language!
By Gilles Courteau
October 26, 2007 4:40 PM | Link to this
Brendan…
I understand. Take it up with the fans. By the way, my name is spelled “CORTEAU” in any language!
By Gilles Courteau
October 26, 2007 4:40 PM | Link to this
Brendan…
I understand. Take it up with the fans. By the way, my name is spelled “CORTEAU” in any language!
By Gilles Courteau
October 26, 2007 4:40 PM | Link to this
Brendan…
I understand. Take it up with the fans. By the way, my name is spelled “CORTEAU” in any language!
By Gilles Courteau
October 26, 2007 4:41 PM | Link to this
Brendan…
I understand. Take it up with the fans. By the way, my name is spelled “CORTEAU” in any language!
By Gilles Courteau
October 26, 2007 4:41 PM | Link to this
Brendan…
I understand. Take it up with the fans. By the way, my name is spelled “CORTEAU” in any language!
By Gilles Courteau
October 26, 2007 4:41 PM | Link to this
Brendan…
I understand. Take it up with the fans. By the way, my name is spelled “CORTEAU” in any language!
By Gilles Courteau
October 26, 2007 4:41 PM | Link to this
Brendan…
I understand. Take it up with the fans. By the way, my name is spelled “CORTEAU” in any language!
By Boulton's Bruisers
October 26, 2007 5:06 PM | Link to this
Gilles Courteau—I don’t know any French, but you must be a virgin blogger. You only need to press “post” once.
By Hockeyfan
October 26, 2007 5:15 PM | Link to this
Welcome Carrol. Big shoes you have to fill.
Ask Don if he plans to sit Steve McDevries and his -12 tomorrow in favor of Popovic. Really, how much worse could it be?
By Tom
October 26, 2007 5:16 PM | Link to this
Gilles had too much Cointreau
http://www.cointreau.com/
:)
By puckjunque
October 26, 2007 5:16 PM | Link to this
My my my Gil-boy, you need to be more patient and wait the five minutes for your comment to post.
Brendan, Rawhide, Love the french, don’t know what you said but it’s getting warm in here.
As for last night, it was disappointing. yada yada. I just hope that Ilya and Toby don’t get frustrated and give up since they seem to be making up for alot of dead weight.
I saw the wolf cubs practice here before they were sent up to Chicago and i have to say Boris Valabik looked EAGER and physically ready. He’s a big guy, but a young guy and can work on his speed if that’s the issue. Is he ready for the mental game? I don’t know.
Is it too early to make predictions for the Young Stars/All Stars? At this point, it seems that is all we can look forward to. How sad.
By Boulton's Bruisers
October 26, 2007 5:18 PM | Link to this
Scratches should be: Ken Klee, Brad Larsen, Jim Slater. This guy should be playing, not Slater: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDiafWzAvjk]
By t
October 26, 2007 5:18 PM | Link to this
Keep up the multiple posting, Gilles, and your name will be spelled “Dumba$$” in all languages.
By Shoot it
October 26, 2007 5:54 PM | Link to this
“I don’t think we were that bad last night,…”
Not sure what game he was watching. But it will stay this way forever with a GM that can not see how bad his team plays compared to the rest of the league.
Is there any way to contact these owners so they can be educated at how bad things are?
By Brendan
October 26, 2007 6:05 PM | Link to this
Ya know, I see a “u” in the spelling of ol’ Gilles’ last name in his ID. Which is it? Corteau or Courteau?
By the way, “Courteau” means “short water” in French. I don’t know if that means there’s not enough water for “pond hockey,” or what.
Puckjunque, all I said (in French) was “Are there any cheap flights to Quebec? I think we’re just going to have to stay here and suffer with the product we’ve got.”
Rawhide wrote, “Brendan is right. Delta leaves “daily” for all parts of the Great White North, but we’ll be condemned to follow our ‘ice warriors’ in our native village. Thank you!”
Does anyone know the French word for “Halloween.” They don’t celebrate it in France, as far as I know. But they just might in “La Belle Province” du Canada.
By puckjunque
October 26, 2007 6:18 PM | Link to this
Brendan Thanks for the translation, talk aboot a bucket of cold water. There goes my Friday night.
By Rawhide (Just plain Rawhide in these parts)
October 26, 2007 6:24 PM | Link to this
OOOooooooo,….I meant to say “content” to watch our “ice warriors”…..
Silly, silly me,…..
(But look, I only posted it once)!
By Brendan
October 26, 2007 6:26 PM | Link to this
Eh bien, je pourrais le dire autrement. Dans n’importe quelle manniere que vous voulez. :)
By Brendan
October 26, 2007 6:33 PM | Link to this
Magnique, Rawhide. “Content” est le mot que vous cherchez. “Content” veut dire “satisfied, content.” Le mot “heureux” veut dire … “happy.” Il y a une trEs bonne distinction la-dedans.
Indeed, I think you did mean “content.”
By Boulton's Bruisers
October 26, 2007 7:07 PM | Link to this
Silly old me, let me try it again…. This guy should be in the lineup, not Slates
By puckjunque
October 26, 2007 8:07 PM | Link to this
Bouton’s Bruisers Okay- Thorburn is in. Nothin like a good hockey fight.
By wtiller1436
October 26, 2007 9:47 PM | Link to this
Brendan, mon français est presque aussi mauvais que l’offense de Thrashers maintenant.
By Tony C.
October 26, 2007 11:38 PM | Link to this
Looks like Thorburn isn’t that strong a fighter, but hey, anybody with the cojones to take on Darrien Hatcher when he’s a head and a half shorter-he’s alright with me.
Seems like he might’ve taken exception to Hoss getting dumped on his can the other night.
So what if he’s not a good fighter? At least he fights back
GO BLUE !!!
By Brian
October 26, 2007 11:51 PM | Link to this
Boulton’s Bruisers & t - that’s the most I laughed here since we were making fun of Buzilla that one day, thanks.
Tom - what’s an easier substitution to make, Popovic for Klee or Cointreau for Triple Sec?
By Brendan
October 27, 2007 6:17 AM | Link to this
Well, don’t worry about it, Wtiller1436. The Thrashers will find a way to get the offense turned around. But it’s got to start with the Power Play. And in that regard, Kozlov and Hossa must start to put up some better PP stats.
By jerry
October 27, 2007 8:32 AM | Link to this
I don’t believe that hockey-especially bad hockey-will ever fly in Losersvilli. This is worse than baseball in Montreal.
By kracker
October 27, 2007 12:16 PM | Link to this
jerry This is worse than baseball in Montreal. Ouch.
By Tony C.
October 27, 2007 8:10 PM | Link to this
Hrrm.
Atleast they had more than one good team in MTL…remember Vlad back in the day? Most exciting right fielder I’ve seen. Young Pedro? Johnson with the Mullet? Larry Walker? At least two of those guys are going to be HOF-candidates, if not 3.
Now let’s look at Le Thrash.
jerry has a point.
By DaNooch
October 27, 2007 9:04 PM | Link to this
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HOLY, TRANSITIONING IS NOT A WORD!
By Tom
October 27, 2007 9:19 PM | Link to this
Ah, Division IIA Football is more important to Sports South than the Thrashers….
By Tom
October 27, 2007 11:44 PM | Link to this
Brian,
Both are no brainers. :)
By Brian
October 28, 2007 12:04 AM | Link to this
Tom - my point exactly. Glad you got that though, what’s next, a Tom Collins analogy???
By Brian
October 28, 2007 12:09 AM | Link to this
Tom - just looked at the box score (see complaint on other blog, was the game not on, my dvr is blank), but Popovic was in for McCarthy!!! Maybe DW can do some good stuff there that BH wouldn’t.
By kracker
October 28, 2007 12:20 AM | Link to this
As far as the game not being on TV, the Hawks never televise a home game (Billy Wirtz wanted you to pay to go to the United Center) so it would be problematic and expensive for the Thrash to pay all the associated costs for televising the game.
Wirtz recently died so perhaps that bone-headed policy will change.
By sisu
October 28, 2007 5:34 AM | Link to this
Boris is not ready and may never be…he is slow, he hooks, he can’t skate,he may be a big bust in the draft!
By LAC
October 28, 2007 8:26 AM | Link to this
FYI… There are good highlights from the Chicago game on NHL.com.
Go to the Chicago site and click on game highlights… a couple NICE goals from Slava !!!!!
By Midfield
October 28, 2007 9:58 AM | Link to this
From a game report, sounds like the team finally stood up to fight this thing through the bitter end. These are the best games, no matter how ugly they appear to be. But there’s no production from Hossa and they still get outshot badly.
By Robert
October 29, 2007 9:32 AM | Link to this
Boris Valabik…slow…hooks…can’t skate…a big bust in the draft! This can’t be…WADDELL drafted him. But I’am reminded of many other Waddell can’t miss picks.
By Tom
October 29, 2007 9:33 AM | Link to this
Here is a dumb question.
The Blackhawks do not televise their home games, the Thrashers did not televise this game, right?
Then how come NHL.com has all the camera angles of a televised game on their site????? There must have been a full camera crew working the game to get these shots so why could the Thrashers not have piggybacked off of the feed since SportsSouth according to DirecTV had the time scheduled to show the game.
Enquiring minds want to know.
By Brian
October 29, 2007 10:21 AM | Link to this
Tom - I have Directv and the game was supposed to be on channel 772 but nothing was on. As for how the NHL had some footage, my guess is that some of that has to be for replay (what if a goal was scored with a high stick?) or let’s say Marty McSorley did something to render another 25 game suspension, they would need something to show. But it wouldn’t be all the other necessary things to show a complete game on a network.
Robert - the best players on this team this year besides Kovy (one of DW’s can’t miss picks) are rookies like Enstrom & Little, not to mention rookies Sterling & Popovic are seeing time, and rookies Pavelec is about to crack the lineup. With that said, the DW draft comments are getting old…
By Tom
October 29, 2007 10:43 AM | Link to this
Thanks Brian, that makes good sense.
By Brian
October 29, 2007 11:01 AM | Link to this
Tom - I also went to the nhl.com and Blackhawks site that either Tony C or LAC referred to above, but the links for footage are not there now. One of them said they saw Kozzy footage, but I don’t know how much was there.
Another point is that the NHL can have totally different camera feeds since all goals are reviewed in Toronto, not at the game itself. Whether or not those camera feeds are compatible with network feeds or what additional things must be provided, you got me there.
By sharon
October 29, 2007 1:14 PM | Link to this
Brian - Yes, there’s a big mix of crew positions to televise a game, other than cameras. Typically there’s a director, technical director, graphics, audio, replays, video engineers, satellite, stats, producers, announcers and of course, cameras.
There’s also an in-arena crew that uses a mix of their own handheld cameras and a camera feed from the broadcast crew. They add their own graphics and audio to entertain fans in the seats, but not at home. It’s basically a closed-circuit production for the jumbotron. However, if the game is not being televised, they typically add additional cameras to compensate for the loss of the broadcast camera feed. Then fans in the arena can see on the jumbotron more than just the handheld shots positioned behind the goalies.
So even if the broadcast crew is not present, the in-arena crew should be. I imagine they could uplink those camera shots if needed, or the NHL may have some dedicated cameras just for replays. I’m not sure what Chicago’s set-up is.
Ok, I probably could have been a lot less wordy there, but I’m somewhat of a techno-geek. And I work in television. Anyhoo, you get the point.
By Thrasher Ryan
October 29, 2007 3:28 PM | Link to this
Looks like Montreal is starting a rookie in goal on Tuesday (per TSN). Could we match with Pavelec? Moose has earned a break, I think. Only DW knows…
By Russ
October 29, 2007 3:47 PM | Link to this
Thrasher Ryan - I was thinking the same thing. I think the Montreal game would be a good time to give Pavelec his first start.
By Brian
October 29, 2007 4:30 PM | Link to this
Thrasher Ryan & Russ - Why do you think Montreal is a good game for a Pavelec to start in?
I definitely think Moose deserves a break, but why now?
By Russ
October 29, 2007 5:24 PM | Link to this
Brian - DW said he would get his first start during this road trip and I think it is important to let him start a game with the best chance for success. IMO the Thrashers best chance to win of the three games left on the trip is Tuesday in Montreal. Ideally, he could win that game and gain some confidence at this level, then start 7 or 8 games until Glass Groin returns. I think Hedberg is a great back-up, but has never had a great deal of success when being the #1 goalie. I think the Thrashers are in trouble if they are expecting Hedberg to play 90% of the time while Lehtonen is out…they need to get Pavelec in there and hopefully have success so the team gains confidence playing in front of him. Unfortunately, we all know about the blue line that will be trying to help him out, but not much can be done about that right now.
By Brian
October 29, 2007 5:51 PM | Link to this
Russ - ok, I was wondering why you were considering Montreal such an easy start (4th in conference, 14 pts), but considering the other 2 options are Ottawa & Tampa Bay, yeah, take the start against Montreal…