AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 17
Monday, December 17, 2007
Splitting up Kovalchuk and Hossa
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First, a shout out to Delta for getting me on a 7 a.m. flight out of Ottawa before the storm hit up there on Sunday. Because of that, I’m sitting here at Thrashers practice instead of an airport in Canada somewhere trying to make it South. Oh yeah, I take back all the complaining I did about the 70 degree weather in Atlanta last week because I didn’t feel like it was wintry enough. I got enough winter in Ottawa to last awhile.
So, four consecutive losses, I think it’s safe to say we can expect some changes. What are they? We’ve seen the last of Kovalchuk and Hossa on the same line, for now. The addition of Mark Recchi gives Kovalchuk a potential scorer on the right wing, so that enables Don Waddell to move Hossa back to the second line. Perhaps this will help spark Slava Kozlov and boost Marian Hossa’s production. Hoss hasn’t been bad, but I don’t think he’s approached the production he had at this time last season. He’s on pace for under 80 points this season. Last year at this time, he was one of the most dominating players in the game. That hasn’t been the case this year.
Defensively, look for Alexei Zhitnik to be paired with Ken Klee and for Garnet Exelby to skate with Steve McCarthy. Mark Popovic practiced and said he felt great out there but Waddell said he’s most likely a game away from returning to the ice.
You saw the move to send Darren Haydar down to Chicago. It’s obvious now that if something happens to one of the Thrashers forwards, Haydar is probably no longer the answer. I wonder how long until Brett Sterling, who has been lighting it up in Chicago, gets another shot at the NHL? in 19 games since being sent to Chicago, Sterling has 15 goals and nine assists. But again, where do you put him? Bryan Little had two goals on Saturday in the Wolves 10-2 blowout over Iowa. Expect somebody to get the call from Chicago, although Don said it wouldn’t happen before Tuesday’s game against the Lightning. He said he’d evaluate how the team responded to these changes and see where the team needed help. He said the addition could be at center, wing or defensively. So basically, he ruled out Ondrej Pavelec. So let the speculation begin. He did indicate that any player added in the next couple days would be from Chicago and not through a trade.
Fun on the Internet: See, now this is the kind of stuff the Thrashers need to be doing after wins to capture the hearts of the Atlanta fans. Okay, maybe not, but it sounds like there is a great atmosphere after wins for the MHC Martin team in the Slovnaft Extraleague. I want one of those jerseys, those are fantastic. Check out the YouTube clip. And you know you’ve always wondered it: Could an NHL team ever put a really fat guy in goal? This is a book excerpt from the Wall Street Journal, and it’s very well done. There are a couple great lines while author Todd Gallagher answers the question. Including: “…From Johanna’s veiled threats it was clear that this idea had merit, so I decided to continue researching how to ruin pro hockey forever. And no, that doesn’t mean seeing if I could get their Versus deal extended.” The excerpt comes from the book ‘Andy Roddick Beat me With a Frying Pan.’
New Euro league? A Russian tycoon and former NHL great Igor Larionov are starting a new European hockey league that will supposedly compete with the NHL. It’s a pretty ambitious goal, and usually these league don’t pan out. But at the very least it could help drive salaries. Can you imagine if that league was around now, and Ilya Kovalchuk got a huge offer to play for Moscow? That’s all the NHL needs. What do you think the chances are of that league making it? Great line from Waddell today concerning this new league. He joked, “Maybe they’ll need a coach.”
