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Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Enstrom will be part of All-Star festivities
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So I’m not sure which was less of a surprise - Ilya Kovalchuk making the All-Star game or Tobias Enstrom being named to the YoungStars game. Like Don Waddell said this morning in his scrum, if Toby didn’t make it, I’d like to see the defensemen who made it in his place. But congrats go out to Enstrom, who has been a pleasant surprise this season for the Thrashers. I asked him if the long NHL season was wearing him down at all, and he said it wasn’t. In Sweden, he said he played 55 games in the regular season, so he’s used to a much shorter season. But the bottom line, he said, is that he loves playing hockey and relishes the extra games.
Here’s a link to the roster for the YoungStars event, I guess we can’t call it a game.
Mike Babcock put an end to the Scotty Bowman rumors this morning, saying he spoke with Bowman and here’s what Bowman told Babcock: “I’m not going anywhere, I’d like my name on the Cup one more time.”
Babcock seemed to have a healthy respect for the Thrashers. He had some great things to say about Ilya Kovalchuk, saying he’s always loved guys who are so eager to shoot the puck. “We’ll have our hands full,” Babcock said about tonight’s game. “But saying that, we have some good players too.”
Kari Lehtonen will have a challenge tonight as Tomas Holmstrom said the game plan is to create as much traffic in front of Kari as possible. Lehtonen is going to have to battle tonight, because it’s would be hard to find anyone better in the game than Holmstrom at playing in front of the net. “it’s tough to save the puck when you can’t see it,” Holmstrom said, in explaining his plan for tonight. If you haven’t seen it, the video of Kari Lehtonen and Johan Hedberg working on avoiding screens is fantastic. Maybe that’ll help tonight. Some great work being done at ThrashPractice.com
I asked Slava Kozlov if he came close to signing with the Red Wings during the off-season because I knew he liked it here. He said the Wings offered him a two-year deal and that he preferred staying in Atlanta where he enjoys playing and his family is comfortable. Now, if they would have gone to that third year like the Thrashers did, maybe things would have been different. Down in the depths of Joe Louis Arena, Don Waddell’s and Slava Kozlov’s names are painted on the cinder block walls for winning the Cup here. Kozlov joked that he was glad it was still up and nobody scratched it out with black marker.
I got to all the lineup stuff yesterday, and there are no changes. All the scratches for tonight’s game are injury related - Brad Larsen (groin), Steve McCarthy (strained ribcage) and Jim Slater (groin). Eric Boulton said he was feeling a little sore in his first game back, but overall was pleased with the effort against Pittsburgh.
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