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Monday, November 12, 2007
Thrashers updates: Exelby, Rucchin, Lehtonen
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This will be a kind of newsy blog today, since some of this stuff will be difficult to weave into the Eric Perrin feature I have planned for the Tuesday paper.
Ilya Kovalchuk and Garnet Exelby didn’t practice this morning. Ilya Kovalchuk played over 28 minutes against Carolina on Saturday and let’s not forget that he’s just a couple games removed from missing time with a sore back. So Don Waddell is trying to rest him when he can, because it’s becoming evident that Kovy is going to be ridden pretty hard this season. 28 minutes for a forward is a heck of a lot of ice time. As for Exelby, Waddell called his chances of playing 50/50. So I would peg him as questionable for Tuesday’s game against Florida. According to Waddell its still the ankle that’s bothering Exelby.
Sara asked about Steve Rucchin, well, here you go. He won’t be examined again until February, so he’s out in California right now. The team isn’t saying it, but I will. He won’t play this season. The strongest Waddell will commit to is that the Thrashers aren’t counting on him this season. Even if he’s cleared to play in February, he’ll have to work back into hockey shape and is going to really risk another head injury to come back a play a week or two? It doesn’t add up.
Johan Hedberg will be back in goal for Tuesday’s game, so the rookie Ondrej Pavelec will get a little rest. The Thrashers will catch a little bit of a break, getting Florida the day after they host first-place Carolina. We’ll see if they can capitalize on it.
Kari Lehtonen’s progress continues, and Waddell said they hope he can get back out on the ice and practice next week. Personally, I think any talk of trading Lehtonen is crazy. First, Kari got off to that slow start and he’s coming off an injury, so for any trade purposes his value would likely be lower than in the past. Second, Pavelec is 20 years old with four NHL starts under his belt. Third, Johan Hedberg is a free agent after this season. So let’s say you trade Kari and you don’t get good value. Then after this season is up, all you have left is a rookie goalie - who no matter how good you think he is, is going to have ups and downs. Me? I’d continue to give Ondrej the majority of the starts while Kari is hurt, and assuming he continues to play well and that’s a big assumption at this point, you can let Kari work out the kinks in a rehab assignment in Chicago. Then you swap them out and IF everybody is playing well in February, you trade Moose near the trade deadline to a contender looking for a solid veteran goalie. But it’s a fun debate, anyways.
