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Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Lehtonen working with Weeks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was an optional practice this morning, so I didn’t catch a lot of it. I spent most of the practice interviewing Tobias Enstrom for a feature (I know, it’s about time. Right?). Toby was great and this is a fun story because really there’s so much we don’t know about Enstrom. It’s a clean slate. It’s the opposite of the Ilya Kovalchuk feature, where it seems like everything has been done with him. Bet you didn’t know that Enstrom is a die-hard hip-hop fan? That’s one of the reasons he was excited to come to Atlanta. His favorite artist? Jay-Z. Yeah, this is most definitely a younger Thrashers team this year than last.
Garnet Exelby was back at it today so I think things look really good for his chances going into the Carolina game. Steve McCarthy was limping a bit today after taking a shot off the leg when he blocked a shot last night. It was a great play as Mac showed once again a willingness to sacrifice his body to stop a puck.
The medical staff has officially turned Kari Lehtonen over to Steve Weeks to get some of his timing back and start getting back in hockey shape. Lehtonen has been pain free for over a week and the fact that he’s now skating and working with Weeks is a good indication that he’s really close to returning to practice. It could happen as soon as Sunday, so that would be a real positive development for the Thrashers. Don Waddell hasn’t ruled out a rehab assignment in Chicago, but hasn’t given any indication that’s what the team is planning on doing. There’s a busy stretch of games coming up in which a healthy Lehtonen would be a big boost.
No word on who the starting goalie will be in Carolina. I know that Waddell hasn’t changed too many things after a win so putting Pavelec in there would be a slight strategy change. But he has said in the past that he doesn’t want to get locked into keeping a lineup just because the team won. What do you think? Is it a bad idea to swap goalies after a win?
Did you guys see this story? Apparantly some racy pictures of Toronto’s Jiri Tlusty made their way to the internet. He issued a statement, saying “I used poor judgment in this instance last season, and I have learned a valuable lesson.” He promises it won’t happen again. It’s just a stark reminder that you have to be extra careful in the internet age.
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