AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > December
December 2007
Letting it ride with Lehtonen
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s another quick-hit road trip, this time to Boston. The team changed plans and will practice in Duluth on New Year’s Day. A win this afternoon guarantees that the Thrashers are at least .500 at the halfway point. But as you know, the games don’t get any easier from here on out.
The most encouraging thing for the success of this team has been Don Waddell’s decision to give Kari Lehtonen a majority of the starts, and Lehtonen responding to it with solid play. Waddell said this morning he’s been impressed with how Lehtonen has battled during this stretch, which sometimes isn’t always the case with the young goalie. He’s starting today and this will be his eighth consecutive start. With the way the schedule is set up in the next couple weeks, Lehtonen could theoretically start every game. There isn’t another back-to-back until January 17th and 18th, although Waddell indicated this morning that he’d like to get Moose some work during this stretch.
Jim Slater didn’t make the trip to Boston as his illness continues to keep him off the ice. Waddell said it’s been tough because Slater was playing so well (minus the lack of goals) before the illness. I don’t expect to see many changes from the 5-0 win the other night.
Happy New Year’s everybody. Anyone have a New Year’s resolution for some of the Thrashers?
Thrashers can’t afford to coast
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I tell you what, the Thrashers don’t seem to handle success well. They absolutely coasted through the game against the Blue Jackets tonight. I know they come right back to play Florida on Thursday and I know you’re going to lose games over the course of the season, but this team can’t afford to play games like they did tonight.
It was weird, they were lifeless out there. Columbus only scored twice, but I think the post finished with at least four saves that I could count. Mix in the fact that Peca and Nash sat this one out and it could have been a lot worse than it was. I don’t know how you solve this recurring issue of showing up flat when things are going well. Bobby Holik puts it this way: At times, the Thrashers think they’re better than they are. Especially after a couple wins.
I don’t want to harp on it, and I won’t. Especially since Carroll Rogers is picking up coverage for a couple days so I can get a Ford Explorer full of presents, luggage, a wife, a kid, my brother, a labrador and a golden retriever back from Detroit to Atlanta. And most of the time, I appreciate Don Waddell’s positive nature. It seems to work with this team. He said he was going to quickly forget this game and move on. And he mentioned that he thought the team played better in the third period after a slow start. That’s fine. Me? I would have ripped the team. I would have called them out for sleepwalking in the middle of a winning streak. The Thrashers 0-6 start means they can’t afford to mail in games. But they did and I would have publicly let the team know that it isn’t acceptable. Like Niclas Havelid did and Bobby Holik did. Okay, now you can insert your “But Craig, Don is 18-12-1 as head coach, he knows what he’s doing.” That’s fine, I’m just saying.
Sounds like Kari Lehtonen will get the start again against Florida, although Don said they hadn’t finalized anything. But based on a quick conversation, I sensed he was leaning that way. And it also sounded like they’ll consider getting Mark Popovic some action. But again, that hadn’t been decided after the game.
Best win or most frustrating?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This blog would have come sooner, but evidently everybody in Atlanta left work at lunch today and it took me two hours to get home from the Thrashers practice facility. I take it a lot of Christmas vacations are starting today. Thankfully I’m not traveling until Sunday to cover the game in St. Louis. Hopefully the craziness slows down by then.
There’s not much more that can be said about last night’s win that hasn’t been said. It was a complete win - every line played well. The team got great goaltending from Kari Lehtonen, who will start again Saturday (and possibly Sunday if he keeps getting better). After the excitement of a good win died down, part of me started wondering - where has this effort been all season? Listen, I’m not going to get negative in the middle of a two-game winning streak in which the team is playing its best hockey of the season, but why does this team consistently back itself into a corner before playing good hockey?
Don Waddell wasn’t about to question the effort before last night, but I asked him about it this morning anyways.
Me: When you see the team play as well as it did last night, obviously you’re happy, but isn’t part of you like ‘where was that effort…’?
DW: No, we’ve seen the parity in the league. Have we given that effort every night? No. Sometimes the circumstances dictate it too. We really played well on Tuesday night, we had a lot of confidence coming out of Tuesday night heading into this game. We also had something - we’re 0-3 against that team, so we knew this would be the last time we’d see them during the regular season, so I think we wanted to prove something that we could play with them.
Me: So that’s the team amping up their effort, taking it to another level, wouldn’t you want to say, ‘Guys, do that every game?’
DW: We’re going to try, obviously. Sometimes too, games, you don’t get the tempo depending on the power play or the penalty kill. We were good, we didn’t get a penalty until the third period which enables you to get the guys all in the game. Sometimes they take their power plays and we take our penalties and that [fourth] line doesn’t get an opportunity to go as much. When we can play the fourth line on a regular basis, it gives our whole team a lot of energy.
Uh oh, what if the Lightning actually gets some goaltending? We all know Tampa Bay can score with anyone, but as long as goaltending was an issue, the Lightning would always be a flawed team. Evidently 21-year-old Finnish goalie Karri Ramo was sharp in his debut last night against Toronto. Here’s what he told the Tampa Tribune: “I wasn’t real nervous, I was kind of surprised,” Ramo said of his first career NHL start. “Wednesday night I got really good sleep and I didn’t stay up long, like it was kind of different than my first pro game in Finland. A couple of the first shots came and I started to feel pretty good. The first save is the hardest to make in a game, especially here, first game and guys are so much faster here so I feel that there was … just kept going, kept going and doing what I can.”
So who ultimately is going to be the best goalie from Finland in the Southeast? You know, that reminds me of a totally unrelated story. I was in Columbus covering the draft and the Thrashers selected Niklas Lucenius, a center from Finland. So I grab him after the selection and we’re chatting and I assumed every kid hockey player in Finland had a poster of Kari Lehtonen on his wall. That just shows my ignorance of Finland. So I ask him if he was excited to maybe one day play with Kari Lehtonen. And he goes, “Who?” He’d never heard of him.
If you’re traveling for Christmas, be safe. And have a good one.
What’s Hossa supposed to say?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Had a pretty candid chat with Kari Lehtonen this morning and he said tonight is a huge game, not only for the team, but for him personally. It’s no secret confidence has been an issue after the rough start, then the injury, and I’d imagine a strong showing against the best team in the East would help that. I got the feeling around the room this morning that the Thrashers are pretty amped up to play the Senators. They’re coming off one of their best games of the season, and this is a good test to see where the teams stands. It’s a home game, they’re playing well and it’s not the second game of a back-to-back like Saturday’s game was. If they get blown out tonight, then it’s just safe to say the Sens are that much better than they are.
Good stuff from the Ottawa media today, who had Marian Hossa good and surrounded after the skate. Somebody this morning joked, “So does this mean we get a week’s worth of Marian Hossa rumors?” I didn’t see Bruce Garrioch, so maybe not.
Interesting stuff from Don Brennan, who also writes for the Ottawa Sun. One of my favorite things to do in Ottawa is get coffee and some breakfast at a little joint named Cora’s in downtown Ottawa and read the hockey coverage. It’s great food, and good reading. Today, I was stuck reading online and in the clips handout. Brennan wrote today about Hossa and his pending free agency. Hossa said the usual things. He likes Atlanta. His focus is on winning. It’s up to this agent, etc. But the interesting comment came from an unidentified player with the Senators: “What’s he going to say?” the player told the Ottawa Sun. “It would be tough to play at home if he says he wanted to go somewhere else. Take it for what it’s worth.”
It’s a great point. I guess Marian could say he doesn’t want to negotiate during the season any longer and that talks with the Thrashers are no longer an option. But that hasn’t happened, and I talked to Don Waddell about that possibility and he didn’t seem concerned about it. He said he continues to communicate with Hossa’s agent and he looks at that as a positive. But it’s important to keep that in mind the next time you hear Hoss say he likes Atlanta. What’s he supposed to say? He hates it here and can’t wait to leave?
Good stuff from Ken Warren at the Ottawa Citizen, who points out that the Senators aren’t a huge draw on the road in the U.S. In it, he talks about the attendance woes in the US and quotes Dany Heatley, who said this about the South: “It’s the southern U.S., and fans are used to weekend sports,” he said. “[The Thrashers] do well on Saturday, Friday nights. The problem is those mid-week games.” Now, I know some of you will get defensive, especially since it’s coming from Heatley, but the Thrashers aren’t exactly drawing like gangbusters on Tuesday nights. I’ve also been to a packed Turner Field on a Tuesday night, and the Hawks drew over 17,000 last night, so I know it’s not only a day of the week issue.
Last, John Paddock confirmed that Martin Gerber will start tonight. Ray Emery threw me for a loop, leaving the ice before Gerber today at the morning skate. Typically, the starting goalie is the first one off and the backup does the heavy lifting for the remainder of the practice. Under Bob Hartley, who wasn’t always forthcoming about who was starting in goal, that’s how you could figure out the starting goalie. Paddock was asked about Emery’s early exit at the media scrum and he declined to make a big deal out of it. If he’s not going to make a big deal out of it, I’m not going to either. But I certainly couldn’t imagine a scenario where Johan Hedberg would leave the ice before Kari Lehtonen on the morning of a Lehtonen start. Maybe Emery’s hip was still bothering him, or he had a lunch date. Who knows? I just thought it was interesting.
Can Lehtonen steal one against Ottawa?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thought maybe I’d see an optional practice today, but everyone is out there. Big stretch coming up here — three games in four days. But the guys had a lot of spirit today in practice. A big win will do that for you. Now comes the big test.
The Thrashers haven’t beaten Ottawa yet this season and get one more chance on Thursday. It would help if they’d stop spotting Ottawa huge leads then try to come back in the third period. As bad as the loss the other night in Ottawa was, if Toby Enstrom doesn’t hit the post on the power play, that would have been a one-goal game in the third period. But the Thrashers were clearly outplayed on Saturday night and it can’t happen again if they want to beat the best team in the East.
For one night, the new combinations worked. Yes, it helped the Thrashers were playing a horrible road team in Tampa, and I’m becoming convinced that the Southeast is BY FAR the worst division in hockey. Quick, find me another division where every single team has been outscored this season. No other division in the East has anybody with losing records. The Southeast has three (Atlanta, Tampa and Washington). So can you defend the Southeast? Good luck with that. But if the Southeast were any better, the Thrashers wouldn’t still be in the thick of it, so it has that going for it. But you had to like what you saw from all four lines last night. Lots of scoring chances for Hossa, almost instant chemistry between Recchi and Kovalchuk, and the quietly reunited Greek God line had good shifts. Chris Thorburn was an assist away from a Gordie Howe hat trick.
Simon gets 30: Chris Simon got the largest suspension in the history of the NHL for an on-ice incident. He stepped on Jarkko Ruutu over the weekend, and is paying the price. The amount seems about right to me. Here’s an interesting read from the National Post, that defends Simon.
No lineup changes: Not that you expected any changes, but the Thrashers will stick with the same lineup for the game against Ottawa. I’m still in the ‘Play Kari until he works things out camp’ as well as the ‘Play Zhitnik until he works things out camp.’ This stretch is an opportunity to do both. Lehtonen played well on Tuesday night and was pretty solid in relief of Johan Hedberg in Ottawa. But this is a big test for him. It’s been awhile since a goalie stole one for the Thrashers, it would be huge for this team if Kari stole one against the Sens.
Roster freeze: Since I’m admittedly not an expert in the CBA, Don Waddell clarified the roster freeze, which starts at midnight tonight. The team can call up anybody from the AHL during the roster freeze and send them down. And at some point, probably will. The roster freeze is primarily for waivers and trades. And no, Waddell doesn’t expect to make any call-ups from Chicago today. Not with the way the team played against Tampa.
Fill the extra roster spot
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First, the lines we talked about yesterday were in tact today at the morning skate as were the defensive pairings. So no surprise there. As expected, Kari Lehtonen is in goal. I grabbed him in the hallway this morning to ask about the unveiling of his new goalie mask. Evidently that’s on hold. He’s still waiting for it, and his order became less of a priority for the company after his injury. So those of you waiting for Lehtonen’s new mask will have to wait a little longer.
Besides this being a big divisional game, the Thrashers absolutely need to stop this losing streak. The key in the parity-filled NHL is to limit those losing streaks as much as possible. You’re going to lose games, you’re going to lose some in a row, but you don’t want to get beyond three or four if possible. Now, it’s not like teams are pulling away while the Thrashers are losing, because they’re not. But if you can limit the losing streaks and tread a little water when you’re not playing well, that’ll go a long way.
So let’s talk about roster changes for a moment. Don Waddell has some flexibility and said he might call up a player from Chicago based on what the team needs. Now granted, they need a little of everything, but which player in Chicago do you think could make the biggest impact? Let’s break it down:
Bryan Little - The team hasn’t won since they sent down Little, so maybe there’s the problem right there. We know what Little brings to the table at this point — he’s a pretty responsible player defensively, he’s not afraid to shoot but he was struggling to score. You could bring him back up and hope that a short stint in the minors helped his confidence and focus. Or…
Boris Valabik - The defense is struggling. The Thrashers have trouble clearing opponents from the front of the net. They could use another physical force on the blue line besides Garnet Exelby. Valabik would provide that. But then you’d have two extra defensemen assuming Mark Popovic is healthy (which he appears to be). Wouldn’t you prefer a forward. Someone like…
Brett Sterling - He’s been lighting things up in the AHL, scoring a ton of goals and the Thrashers could use some scoring help. But we know the issues: He’s best suited on the left wing and on a scoring line. Seats taken. Ilya Kovalchuk isn’t going anywhere and Slava Kozlov is probably better of on the second line with Marian Hossa then on the third line with Bobby Holik. So where the heck do you put Sterling?
The others: Let’s see, you could call up Jordan LaVallee to give your forwards more size. He could skate on the checking line. Anyone else? Ondrej Pavelec? Darren Haydar? Which current member of the Wolves do you think could make the biggest impact right now?
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.”
Trade talks picking up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With Anaheim expected to make a trade at any moment, the trade rumors continue to circulate around the NHL and Thrashers GM Don Waddell isn’t one to be left out when there are trade discussions. Waddell confirmed that he’s spoken with Anaheim GM Brian Burke about the possibility of a trade. The Ducks presumably would like to clear salary not only for the return of Scott Niedermayer but also to clear room for the possibility of a new contract for Corey Perry.
But it’s not just Anaheim, Waddell said more and more teams are looking to deal. We’re a the the point in the season where it is clear to teams what their strengths and weaknesses are, and now GMs are trying to address them.
First, Waddell on the Anaheim situation: “I don’t know what they’re going to do.”
Thanks, Don.
But you have spoken with Burke?
“I’ve talked to him. In the last week I’ve probably talked to 15 GMs, there’s been more talk going on than there was before. Whether that means anything, I don’t know. We’ll see. “
Again, it’s hard right now to make trades. With the salary cap and parity, finding a match isn’t easy. You have to think about who the Thrashers would give up, and there’s just not the depth on the current roster to make a deal. At forward who is expendable that also has trade value? Right now, what do you think the Thrashers biggest need is?
Practice report: Today was about as optional as it gets. Heck, I didn’t even see Brad McCrimmon out there and he never misses practice. Kari Lehtonen got a good workout, and he’ll get the start against Toronto on Friday night. Waddell pointed out that December is the Thrashers busiest month, so they will continue to keep the goalies rested, but did admit he’d like to see one of the two goalies seize the starting job. “We’re looking for somebody to get hot,” he said.
Popovic setback: One day after saying he was shooting for a return on Friday, Mark Popovic said he doesn’t plan on playing at all this weekend. Day to day is suddenly pushing two weeks.
Haydar moves brings flexibility
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you’re still holding your breath for a trade, you can take a breather. For now. Yes, I’ll admit, sending Bryan Little to Chicago AND putting Darren Haydar on waivers raised a lot of red flags for me. On Tuesday afternoon, I hit the phones, e-mail, text messages, messenger pigeons, - anything to find out if the Thrashers were close to making a deal. Why clear two roster spots for one player (Recchi)?
Officially, here’s Don Waddell’s explanation: “We didn’t put [Haydar] on for re-assignment…if he clears [which he did], we can be flexible. I want to create a spot if we want to bring up a Brett Sterling or another player, now we’ll have that flexibility.”
So it comes down to flexibility. Now, I’m not sure why they’d want to bring up Brett Sterling, even though he’s tearing it up in the AHL. Last I checked he was most effective on the left side and on a scoring line. It seems to me that those spots are taken. Kozlov is best suited on a scoring line, as much as I think he likes playing with Bobby Holik. And I’m pretty sure Ilya Kovalchuk’s job is safe on the top line.
So why would the Thrashers want to call up Sterling? I don’t have an answer for you other than the fact that he’s earned another opportunity by doing everything the team asked of him since being sent down to Chicago. I think the other question you have to ask is, how long will Little be in Chicago? One of the interesting things Don said about the decision to send Little to the AHL was that he thought it would do him some good to make some long minor league hockey bus trips and get a taste of the minor leagues. Let’s not forget that this kid made the jump from junior the the NHL. He had a cup of coffee in Chicago at the end of last season, but really hasn’t experienced that life. I think there’s a feeling that he might appreciate the NHL more if he is exposed more to the other side. Whether or not that will help his scoring, I don’t know.
There are some people who thought Little would benefit from playing with Mark Recchi, and right now he’s not getting that chance. But when I asked Don about that he made it sound like eventually that would happen. So I don’t get the feeling this Little in the minors stint will last all that long.
A nod from Toronto: If you missed it, the Thrashers Beat Blog got some love from James Mirtle up in Toronto. You guys deserve as much credit as anyone for the success of this blog because without the constant discussion in the comments section this wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining for everyone. But I still think we can get better, we need to get back to the 100 comments a day we were getting during the playoff run last year. Some day we’ll be at the level of Dave O’Brien who gets 500 comments in the middle of winter on his Braves blog, and yes, I’m jealous. I think we’re doing pretty well here. So thanks.
Popovic close: Mark Popovic participated in the morning skate and he said his ankle as at the point now where he can’t do any more damage, so it boils down to how much pain he can endure. It’s a high ankle sprain, so they’re taking it slowly with him, but he’s really eager to get back on the ice especially with Toronto and Ottawa coming up. If you don’t think these North American players get fired up to play Toronto or on Hockey Night in Canada (which is the case on Saturday), you’re crazy. Popovic said it would be his HNIC debut, and doesn’t want to miss that. That reminds me, Saturday is a 7 p.m. game.
Haydar cool with it: The whole uncertainty of being put on waivers would drive me crazy. There’s a 24 hour stretch where you have no idea where you’re playing next. One claim, and you’re uprooting everything and starting over. It’s like me getting a call from my editor saying I got picked up by the Nashville Tennessean, so I need to pack. I guess that comes with the territory, and Haydar at $475,000 a year is making just slightly more than I am to help deal with the uncertainty. Bottom line, he seemed cool with either outcome. If he got picked up, there’s a team that wants his services. If not, he gets to stay with an organization in which he enjoys playing. “Don’s been great to me, he’s given me an opportunity to play longer than anyone else has in this league,” Haydar said after the skate this morning. “Uncertainty is part of this game. That’s something that never leaves this game. Even when your’e under contract, there’s talks of getting traded and stuff like that. It’s something you have to learn to deal with.”
Last - I need a favor for good friend Ken Sugiura. He’s doing a story on hockey jerseys and is looking for help from the fans. Help him out - he’s a great writer so he’ll do you right if you can help him. Here’s his request:
“Hello, Thrasher fans - I’m a colleague of Craig’s, and I am hoping you can help me out with a story I’m starting to work on about hockey jerseys. (Pardon me - sweaters) We’re trying to find fans who collect jerseys the way music fans collect concert t-shirts. Are you someone who proudly wears, like, Kovalchuk’s Russian national team or Spartak jersey, or has a vintage Bruins Bobby Orr jersey, or has paid hundreds (or thousands) for an autographed Gretzky jersey? We’re trying to figure out if the culture of fans wearing jerseys is different for hockey than for other sports.
If you fit this description and wouldn’t mind us poking around in your closet and talking to you about your hobby (or perhaps obsession), or know someone like this, I’d love it if you could get in touch with me. My e-mail is ksugiura@ajc.com thanks!
Ken Sugiura”
So much for the youth movement
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hey, remember when the Thrashers had four rookies make the team out of training camp? On Wednesday, Tobias Enstrom will be the only rookie contributing against Boston. With Bryan Little’s demotion to Chicago, which was preceeded by a Mark Popovic ankle injury, which was preceded by Brett Sterling’s demotion to Chicago, I think it’s safe to say the youth movement is over.
That’s not to say the future isn’t bright - I think Little showed us enough during his time in Atlanta to lead us to believe that he’s going to be an NHL player for a long, long time. And Sterling has been lighting it up in Chicago since he was sent down. And Popovic, when healthy, has been solid. And let’s not forget Ondrej Pavelec.
But with the Thrashers gearing up for an important stretch of the season, once again, they’ll be leaning on veterans. And it looks like that goes for the goalie situation as well. Johan Hedberg will get the start in goal on Wednesday as Don Waddell proves he’s a man of his word. He said that the goalie who played better between Hedberg and Kari Lehtonen would play more. I interpreted that as, Kari would start a majority of the games and Moose would spell him. But maybe Don actually meant what he said.
Some goalie competition is good, but what would be better is a productive offensive second line. This morning it became apparent that that second line would be Kozlov - Perrin - Recchi. There’s potential there for that to be a line that can put up some points. Perrin said he’s most comfortable at center, and he’s excited about the potential playing between two veteran scorers. Think about this for a moment: Let’s imagine Perrin skating in on Alex Auld on a breakaway with his linemates. To his left is a guy with 313 career goals. To his right is a guy with 510 career goals. Those are some good options, especially considering the same breakaway a few games ago had Perrin skating with two guys with a combined total of four career NHL goals. This isn’t a knock on Little and Darren Haydar, who both might turn out to have long NHL careers. But you can understand why Perrin is excited.
So do you like the Little move? Do you still think he has a good future with the team? How about Johan instead of Kari?
Pascal Dupuis is back on the Bobby Holik line and Larsen will be back in the lineup with Darren Haydar headed to the press box on Wednesday night.
Recchi makes practice debut
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So I try and skip a game and the Thrashers go and add a future Hall of Famer? You guys should be clamoring for Carroll Rogers to do more games, because good things happen when she picks up the baton. Although, that performance on the ice Saturday night wasn’t exactly good, now was it?
The guys were excited about the Mark Recchi addition, and here’s the bottom line from my perspective - it’s a pretty low risk move that has the potential for a decent payoff. The guy has two Stanley Cup rings, the Thrashers could use some help on the right side and now they have an extra motivated player in their dressing room. And believe me, he’s motivated. He’s willing to fill any role that Don Waddell and Brad McCrimmon have in mind. I’m guessing he’ll skate with Bryan Little and Eric Perrin which seems like a natural fit there. Recchi made a joke about Little being born one year after he started in pro hockey. Both Perrin and Little admitted to growing up huge fans of Recchi, so if they can get over being a little star struck, they should be fine. There were a few line combinations out there today, so I’ll see if anything more consistent happens at practice on Tuesday.
So who’s the odd man out? Waddell said it’s too early for that kind of talk, but I’m guessing it’s Darren Haydar to start. And the signing doesn’t necessarily bode well for Brad Larsen, who hasn’t been playing much lately anyway. The Thrashers will trim back to 22 players eventually, but at this point there’s no timetable. Remember, they’re paying Haydar anyway, so they don’t save anything by sending him to Chicago. Plus, they run the risk of losing him. So there will be some decisions made. If they decide Eric Perrin could center a line with Larsen and Recchi that could even mean that Little is the odd man out. He’s one player who they could send to Chicago and not run the risk of losing. And he’s not exactly tearing it up right now, so a stint in the AHL could be a confidence booster for him.
Mark Popovic was out again today. This day-to-day ankle injury is now a week old. They want his ankle 100 percent before they test it, so that’s the delay.
A couple of you noticed Fred Brathwaite’s disappearance from the Chicago Wolves. He got a bunch of money from a Russian team to play there. Officially, he was suspended by the Thrashers for failure to report, but there’s little the team can do about it because there’s no agreement with the Russian hockey federation. So the Thrashers lose some depth, but with Ondrej Pavelec down there it’s something they can absorb.
70 for Kovy?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Let’s start with a clarification. Dan Wood with the Orange County Register is on top of things in the Scott Niedermayer case and, in an e-mail, broke down the salary cap ramifications of Niedermayer’s return. There’s a a term called “tagging” that Dan attempted to explain, and it’s part of the new complex CBA. Quite honestly, I couldn’t make sense of it, but the bottom line is this: The Ducks are okay this season with the salary cap and would have to clear about $1 million from next year’s budget.
As Brian Burke told Dan, “We will have to move contractual obligations for next year.” That said, Wood also pointed out that the Ducks are interested in clearing more salary than that to re-sign Corey Perry to prevent somebody from signing Perry to an offer sheet. So moving a guy like Mathieu Schneider, like we talked about yesterday, could still be a possibility even though it’s not necessary.
But you guys seemed lukewarm to the idea, and that’s fair enough. He isn’t young, and if you couldn’t ship Alexei Zhitnik as part of the deal, that would leave the Thrashers with three older defensemen under contract for next season in Klee, Z and Schneider. The best point was made by Jarndyce, who said what the power play would lack under the scenario I presented is a true pivot. Good point.
We know the goalie rotation right now — Johan Hedberg tonight and Kari Lehtonen against the Caps in DC. So do you like it? I know a few of you shared your opinion yesterday, but you had to split up the back-to-back games anyways, so I have no issues with it. I would think the starting goalie would get the home start, but it’s looking like this is more of a 1 and 1a instead of a starter and backup.
As we sit here right now, Ilya Kovalchuk is on pace for 70 goals. It’s been quite awhile since that’s been done (since 92-93 season) but do you think he can do it? I asked around the Thrashers lockerroom this morning, if players thought it was going to happen. My new favorite corner is the Eric Boulton - Eric Perrin and Chris Thorburn corner of the room, so I presented it to them. I asked Perrin, and Boulton piped in, saying basically ‘good luck answering that. If you say yes you jinx him, if you say no, you’re saying no.’ So Perrin thought about it a moment and said “If anybody can do it, it’s Kovy.” Thorburn refused to talk about it altogether. So what would you put the odds at — How about this, I’ll set the over/under at 64 goals. You going over or under?
Word around the rink was that the Rangers are starting Steve Valiquette tonight, although I didn’t stick around for Tom Renney’s press conference to hear it from him. If Valiquette goes, he’s 1-0-1 with a 2.42 GAA this season in three games this year with the Rangers.
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?
Thorburn vs. Sutton II?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some good discussion yesterday on the blogger debate. If you missed it, The Falconer weighed in with a lengthy and thoughtful post on his website (which I just found out this morning is a Napoleon Dynamite reference. I know, I’m quick). We can continue the discussion on that blog post. I’ll respond to comments on there as long as people continue to visit it and comment.
The talk this morning at the skate was about Mark Recchi and whether or not he’d help the Thrashers. I asked Don Waddell about Recchi and he confirmed that the Thrashers wouldn’t put a claim on him And as we found out later today, nobody did. So he cleared waivers. What are your thoughts?
Mark Popovic is going to sit this one out. He didn’t skate this morning, his ankle is still bothering him. Officially, it’s a sprained ankle and he’s listed as day-to-day. Steve McCarthy will be paired with Alexei Zhitnik. I know there’s no cheering in the press box, but I’d be happy for Steve if he caught a break and was a +4 or something on the day. Unlike some of the other players who struggled to open the season, he’s the only one who hasn’t had a chance to consistently play while the team is playing better. Well, him and Kari Lehtonen. But Kari is back and will ultimately be able to work his stats back to normal. Poor Mac, it seems like he’s been a -13 for months.
I asked Chris Thorburn if he wanted a rematch with Andy Sutton tonight and he started laughing. And no, he doesn’t. He did say he’ll play hard and get in people’s faces and if something happens over the course of the game…
He said he got a bunch of calls after the Islanders game because evidently it looked like he had a big cut on TV, but I saw him immediately after the game and you couldn’t tell he was even in a fight. He showed me where most of Andy’s punches landed, and it was on the side of his head, not in the face. Here’s how that conversation went:
CC: So are you going to be looking for Andy tonight?
CT: We’ll just play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, and if it comes to something like that, than so be it. I’m just going to go play my game, in your face and see what happens. But probably not.
CC: Probably not?
CT: My head is still swollen from the last time.
CC: You looked alright, it doesn’t look like you got beat up.
CT: On TV, it looks like I got split open. People called me and were like, ‘How many stitches did you get?’ I checked it out yesterday and it looks like I got split open above my left eye.
CC: I’ll have to set the record straight.
CT: (laughs) Yeah, no stitches, nothing.
So there you go, no stitches. If you missed it, here’s the fight on Hockeyfights.com. Thorburn joked that he just hoped Sutton would get tired throwing all those punches so that he could get a lick in. “He’s a big boy,” Thorburn said. Yeah, he is. We’ll see how it goes tonight.
Thrashers to bloggers: Buy a ticket
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First, a couple quick things from practice: Mark Popovic sat it out and Steve McCarthy skated with Alexei Zhitnik in his place. Popovic will likely practice at the morning skate on Wednesday and I expect Mac and Popovic to come out for pregame warm-ups. So we’ll monitor that situation closely. Kari Lehtonen will start in goal on Wednesday against the Islanders.
Former Thrashers defenseman Andy Sutton whiffed when trying to clear the puck last night against Boston, leading to one of the Bruins goals in the latest Islanders loss. Not a good moment for Sutts. Here’s what he told the New York Daily News: “I shouldn’t be making those at this point in my career,” Sutton said. “It’s definitely hard to rebound from mistakes when we’re not generating a lot of scoring as a team.” I’m sure he’ll get a warm reception at Philips, considering he took a run at Kovalchuk the other night. For the record, Kovalchuk had no problem with it saying Sutton was just trying to spark his team.
Toby Enstrom was named the rookie of the month, so congrats to him for a well-deserved honor. He joined Kovalchuk, the NHL’s first star for November, as Thrashers earning league-wide recognition.
The blogging debate continues - Almost a year ago, we discussed on this blog the question whether or not hockey bloggers should get the same access in hockey as traditional media. Well, Hockey Night in Canada and Elliotte Friedman had a great feature on the same topic this weekend. I know it’s inside baseball, but I think it was a very interesting piece. Now, I’m not suggesting we rehash the debate, but I thought it would be interesting to check in locally with the Thrashers to see their take on the issue and if it’s evolving.
They have reached out to the Thrashers bloggers, like The Falconer and the folks at Southeast Shootout, through nights like Blogger Night where they credential the bloggers and let them write about the experience. And I think they’re looking to expand on events like that.
But, for now, that’s as far as it will go. If the Capitals, and their blogger-friendly credential policy are one end of the spectrum, the Thrashers are at the other end. To be fair, they are probably still in the majority with the rest of the league.
Their official stance comes from the PR department: “Our policy is only to allow bloggers from accredited news agencies.”
So if ESPN or the AJC wants to send a blogger who isn’t the beat writer, the Thrashers would give a credential. But if, any number of the Thrashers bloggers (here’s a good collection of them at Thrashers Times) want a credential, they’re out of luck.
We’ve heard a lot of the arguments back and forth, but ultimately it comes down to one thing: accountability. One Thrashers staffer explained it to me this way: “If we have a problem with you, we have someone we can go to.” Presumably my editor or somebody up the food chain at the AJC.
If the Thrashers have a problem with something The Falconer writes, who do they complain to? The Falconer? Blogger? For the record, I’d credential the Falconer and that’s where my opinion differs from the Thrashers. Instead of a blanket policy, I’d do it on a case-by-case basis, and approve a blogger I think could help increase and improve the coverage of the team.
But I understand the Thrashers stance, for sure. In light of the whole Jiri Tlusty internet photo flap teams are more careful than ever about the access to their players. I know there’s fear that if the floodgates are opened to stockbroker-by-day, journalist-by-night bloggers, that eventually there’s going to be an incident. Do I think opening the doors to bloggers would mean naked pictures of Jim Slater on the Internet because of a camera phone in the lockeroom? No. But, at this point, the Thrashers aren’t willing to take that chance. Your thoughts?
Lehtonen jumping right into the action
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How about a weekend blog? I owe you guys one anyways since I didn’t blog during yesterday’s travel day. You know what’s not easy? Driving from the Newark airport to Long Island, especially when you decide to cut through Manhattan on a Friday night. Turns out the horn on my rental Chevy works pretty well, I fit right in with the cab drivers. Plus, I barely had enough cash on hand for the tolls and tunnels. What happens if you go through the one of the tunnels and you don’t have the $6? Do they send you back? I almost found out.
Kari Lehtonen is in goal tonight, no sense making him wait around for his debut. He had some ice on his left hand after practice today, but he said it was just a stinger, nothing to worry about. He’s excited about his return to the team and said he had a great time in Chicago. The Thrashers certainly need him to be on top of his game if they want to turn around this losing streak.
A few other moves of note — look for Chris Thorburn to skate on the third line with Bobby Holik and Slava Kozlov. He said he’ll miss playing with Slater and Boulton, but looks forward to the opportunity. On the flip side, Pascal Dupuis is on the fourth line, and isn’t happy about it. We’ll see if he plays with a little extra fire tonight.
I actually missed the lines during the morning skate because of an extended interview with Andy Sutton and then Ted Nolan’s media availability coincided with the first part of the Thrashers skate.
Sutton said he’s enjoying his time with the Islanders. There was a period of adjustment for him, playing in the new system but in talking to him and some of his teammates, he seems to have picked up his play lately. He’s been physical and Bryan Berard said he had no idea how good a skater Sutton was. Looks like he’s playing about 16-18 minutes per game.
Jon Sim was around doing a workout this morning, but by the time I was looking for him, he had left. One person I talked to said that people don’t realize how big a blow Sim’s injury was to the Islanders. Evidently, he was a perfect fit for this team, and they were optimistic that he could get 20 goals this season. I’m hoping to catch up with him at the game tonight to see how his rehab is coming.
Wade Dubielewicz will get the start of the Islanders tonight, so maybe the Thrashers caught a break there.
The team is bussing it to New Jersey after the game tonight, I’m going to try and make that drive in the morning. Wish me luck.
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