AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 06
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Schneider would boost the power play
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Interesting morning today. It was an optional practice if you’re a Thrashers superstar or the vice president/GM/head coach. Marian Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk and Don Waddell sat this one out and the rest of the team (minus Mark Popovic) only went for about half an hour. But it was long enough to tick off Brad McCrimmon who ripped into the team for a lack of crisp passing and focus during an early drill. I’ll get into it more during the story for the paper but Bobby Holik and I talked for awhile about it and his conclusion is that if this team wants to be a really good team, not a team happy at .500, they have to maintain their intensity better than they do now. Look at how poor the Thrashers played in the first period against the Islanders, it was almost like they thought New York was going to roll over for them because they beat them so soundly over the weekend.
The Thrashers still don’t have a killer instinct, although I’m sure some of you would disagree. I chatted with McCrimmon for a second before the Thrasher PR mafia broke it up, they don’t like too much access to the assistants. But he was actually pretty funny about it, saying he was just sharing a humorous e-mail he got from his brother with the team. Sure, Beast. I don’t think any e-mail filter would let that many F-bombs through. He also assured me that what he did was hardly lighting into the team. I’m going to move McCrimmon two notches up my list of people I never want to tick off. But it served its purpose, after that practice was crisp and he seemed pleased with it.
Kids join in: It’s fun to see the kids hanging around, sons of both Eric Boulton and Ken Klee were there and Ken’s 2-year-old made me feel inept as a father. He’s the same age as my son Calvin, and Ken’s son was roller blading around the facility with a hockey stick and ball. My kid falls over if one of our dogs walks by. So, thanks for that little Klee.
So how do you guys really feel about Andy Sutton? The Hockey News e-mailed me asking who the Thrashers No. 1 enemy was and the only rule was that I couldn’t answer Sean Avery. I explained the Dany Heatley situation and said nobody gets booed like Heater. I guess I have to add Sutton to that list, huh? You have to admit he made a nice play on Darren Haydar to save a goal. Haydar said all he had to do was lift the puck a little bit and that’s a goal but he was falling back the other way which made it difficult to get the shot off. I certainly wasn’t surprised that Sutton was booed, especially considering the Kovalchuk incident the other night. Plus, you guys booed Keith Tkachuk, so evidently nobody is safe. Honestly, how can you boo Tkachuk? So has Sutton replaced Heatley as Thrashers enemy No. 1? Is there another player out there that you think is more universally disliked by Thrashers fans that I’m missing?
The Scott Niedermayer return is now official, and believe me, I’ll be watching that situation closely. They have to clear cap room this year and about $3 million next year. Trading Mathieu Schneider might be the easiest fix, and wouldn’t he be a nice fit in Atlanta? I’m not saying the power play could use a boost, actually yes, I am saying the power play could use a boost. I know Kovy likes the point, but you could do a lot worse than rolling out a power play that has Schneider, Enstrom, Kovy, Hoss and Kozlov on the first unit. Don Waddell said yesterday that he’s not looking to make any moves right now and that he’s happy with the current team. And I don’t know if ownership would be willing to add a salary like Schneider’s. But they have said they would be willing to add salary around the trade deadline, but the trade price of adding a veteran goes up considerably - just look at the two Zhitnik deals last year. The Thrashers could add a good defenseman and may be able to do it at a discount if Anaheim has trouble clearing cap space. It’d be worth a phone call, that’s for sure.
While Waddell isn’t tipping his hand at this point, here’s more on what he had to say about possible deals from yesterday’s interview: “As far as trades, you get in touch with guys on a need basis. You try to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on around the league and see who’s available and if they can help your hockey team.”
Seems to me if Schneider is available, he could help this hockey team. But what would it take to get him?
