Thrashers

By 74 Dawg

January 17, 2008 4:00 PM | Link to this

Hossa needs to make up his mmind so Waddell isn’t standing there like an idiot with no place to go to get value back if Marian tells him at the last minute he is not going to re-sign.

By Moonlight Mile

January 17, 2008 4:00 PM | Link to this

HOSSA! HOSSA! HOSSA!

By B. Thenet

January 17, 2008 4:02 PM | Link to this

The real question is if DW can move Hossa and get someone useful for the playoff run in return. Not many teams have the depth to aquire Hossa and give up solid NHLers in the deal.

If Hossa is not signed by the trade deadline, he will be moved. I don’t think the ownership wants to risk losing a talent like Hossa in the offseason without getting something back. He might re-sign over the summer with Atlanta, ala Tkachuk with St. Louis, but I just don’t see him committing to a long term deal before the deadline.

With the Thrashers in the playoff hunt, you have to figure that Hossa will be heading to the Western conference if he is traded.

By ranallo10

January 17, 2008 4:13 PM | Link to this

74 Dawg — I’m sure plenty of teams have already contacted Waddell with offers in case the dreaded scenario (last minute decision) comes to fruition. He’s not a complete imbecile (though many here would disagree), he’s likely got his backside covered.

By Sara

January 17, 2008 4:28 PM | Link to this

But the million-dollar question is…if we’re in the hunt for a play-off spot, a hunt that promises to be tight, and we can’t get NHL-ready talent back, which scenario is worse…letting Hossa go for nothing and maybe making the playoffs or ditching your second-highest scorer a month and a half before the season ends, getting picks/prospects in return, but missing the playoffs?

Now, to the die-hard fans, losing Hossa for nothing might be the worst case scenario. But to the general masses that ASG is desperately trying to get in the door, missing the playoffs this year could spell fiscal suicide. They can afford to just lose Hossa more than they can afford to let the team regress this season. Cause even if you lose Hossa, you still get the benefit of having his projected $7.5M/$8M+ to go shopping with.

Bottom line, I’m liking less and less the idea of trading him. Although I’m still wavering about whether it’s a good idea or not to pay him out the nose and potentially wreck our cap space.

By Bob

January 17, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this

Well at least McKenzie’s blog yesterday got Hoss to be more honest today. He is not ready to sign here, or it’d be done already. Now, does Waddell try to make an early move to bring someone in soon to sway Hoss into changing his mind?

By Craig Custance

January 17, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this

ranallo: The Thrashers are not actively shopping Hossa at this time. The focus is on signing him, so Don’s not at the point where he’s weighing offers. When and if that point comes, the teams that are the right fit will know.

By Matt

January 17, 2008 4:37 PM | Link to this

Hossa for Brian Campbell and Tim Connolly from Buffalo.

Buffalo just doesn’t have it this year, missing their Star power when they let Drury and Briere walk last summer. They appear out of playoffs this year sadly.

Finally get a playmaking(although injury proned) young proven centerman for Mr. Kovalchuk to play with (scary to think how his numbers could even be better if he had a center to get him the puck more), and a proven young solid #1 defenseman.

Both will be cheaper than keeping Hossa who wants 9 mill a year to play in Atlanta.

By Christy

January 17, 2008 4:41 PM | Link to this

Sara, I agree with you on that one. And if DW has money to be a buyer, and Toronto is selling, maybe Kaberle for some desperately needed prospects might be a nice trace to improve our chances in the Playoffs.

By Neil

January 17, 2008 4:54 PM | Link to this

Hey Craig and Carroll enjoy the posts. I was curious if you know what Pasi Nurminen (sp) is up to these days. I know he had the knee injury. What happened to him after that?

By bob )other)

January 17, 2008 5:13 PM | Link to this

Let’s let things play out versus continually speculate. Don waddell is a capable GM as are most in the NHL. Hoss will either sign or be traded. If neither occurs we still have $7M to spend. Let’s not panic peole. Look at the parity in the NHL, resulting from the cap and it will be that way from now on. Each conference has about a 12-15 point gap between 2nd and 14th. It’s toght and there will not be many sellers if things remain this way.

Let DW do his job, he knows what he is doing.

By Mike Greenlay

January 17, 2008 5:28 PM | Link to this

Neil — I remember hearing in the offseason after Pasi had that great finish with the Thrashers that he suffered a “career-ending” knee injury overseas. I was really dissappointed to hear that as I thought he had really turned out to great.

By Sara

January 17, 2008 6:14 PM | Link to this

Neil Pasi now is a partial owner of the Pelicans hockey team) in Lahti, Finland.

By Brendan

January 17, 2008 6:25 PM | Link to this

If I had to guess, I’d say Hossa finishes the year with Atlanta, then signs with whatever team HE THINKS will win a Cup in the next four years. If you look at the last 4-5 years, the perennial contenders are teams like Detroit and Ottawa. So, I wouldn’t be shocked that that’s where he goes.

I don’t know, for sure, that any bridges were burned in Ottawa. Hossa seemed like a popular player there. And why wouldn’t the Sens what Hossa AND Heatley?

I don’t know of any bitterness between Hossa and Heatley. If you ask me, they both have something in common. Neither particularly BELIEVES in Blueland.

By Gsu-Lee

January 17, 2008 7:04 PM | Link to this

Brendan, clever blueland comment, and though it’s easy to assume that, I, for no other reason than I am optomistic, am going to assume that Hossa is going to sign until something else happens.

By Brian

January 17, 2008 7:54 PM | Link to this

Brendan - Ottawa has too many other FAs to sign to even think about Hossa.

Matt - Buffalo will want nothing to do with Marian Hossa. The only way it can happen is if we trade Hossa to someone for some picks/prospects, then take those and trade them to Buffalo for Campbell. Buffalo would rather hold on to Campbell and let him walk this summer than bring in Hossa and let him walk this summer. And if they aren’t going to sign all those other players they let go, they won’t sign Hossa.

bob (other) - I will take that advice now and sit back and watch what happens. I can’t promise not to dream though.

By Brendan

January 17, 2008 8:43 PM | Link to this

GSU-Lee, when it comes to Hossa, no one know what he’ll do. There may not be any assumptions to make.

Brian, I have the feeling Ottawa may not be bringing back some of those free agents. Wade Redden, for example, may not be back. And losing Redden and gaining Hossa might not be all that terrible for Ottawa.

Thrashers are being outshot against Montreal. It’s 1-1, after two. Ottawa leads Carolina 1-0, after one period. Edmonton leads Washington, 3-2, in the second period.

By Gsu-Lee

January 17, 2008 8:53 PM | Link to this

Yeah, I agree Brendan. at the end of the day I would rather keep him though. Hopefully he will wise up.

By shoot it

January 17, 2008 9:33 PM | Link to this

Now that was a 60 minute game regardless what happens in OT.

By David

January 17, 2008 10:29 PM | Link to this

great game even though we lost in shootout.

By cosape

January 17, 2008 11:00 PM | Link to this

Pasi is also assistant coach of Pelicans (helping former Finnish national team coach). Nobody guessed them to make as good as they are (third in the elite league at the moment after leading for a quite long time) and they have young, solid, goaltending as well so he seems to know how to coach goalies addition to being in the rink.

By Brendan

January 18, 2008 12:20 AM | Link to this

Everybody loved Pasi Nurminen. I think he was a 6th round pick. I loved Bob Hartley’s quote. “I didn’t even know who Pasi Nurminen was when I got hired as Coach.”

Had the Thrashers had a “healthy” Pasi in the 2005-06 season, there’s no doubt in my mind the Thrashers would have made the playoffs that year. Instead, we used five goalies that year. Four of them wound up with groin injuries.

Kari, Adam Berkhoel, Michael Garnett, Steve Shields and Mike Dunham were the five goalies. Only Berkhoel escaped the season without a groin injury. But he was ineffective in relief.

By Bob

January 18, 2008 9:27 AM | Link to this

What the heck is with Lehtonen claiming the ice is too slippery?!?! Did he complain his beer was too wet when he hit the pub after the game? Is that the stupidest lame excuse, why does he not have the ability to man up and say “I sucked in the shootout”.

Decent effort, but we got manhandled by the Habs, Enstrom especially. It was brutal watching him get knocked around.

Need to step right back in and get 2 pts tonight. Kari needs to sit for a game, get Moose in there, and then Kari back in against the Oil

By RS

January 18, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this

After last night’s game how about Hossa to Montreal for one of those damn Kostitsyns?

By Tony C.

January 18, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this

No way you trade Hoss In-Conference.

That was a good game, and it took some of the best in the biz to find but KL does leave some room under the pads….,Honestly, I’m not to upset with the SO loss IF our guys stay hungry and p!ssed off - really bring it to close ut the home stand.

GO BLUE !!!

By ranallo10

January 18, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this

Bob — But that’s what happened, I just see it as him clarifying why he felt upset about that particular goal. He didn’t get p** at Klee and Zhitnik for the first goal (though he should’ve, and could’ve, Carroll just didn’t report it). He didn’t say any excuse for the first shootout goal (five hole all the way, nice shot).

After the Winter Classic shootout Miller stated that it was hard to see the puck during the shootout because of the snow on the ice, and how hard it was to pick out the puck. Is that an excuse, or an explanation?

I thought it was an interesting perspective, and understand his point. Who usually thinks about ice conditions being a factor in giving up a goal? Apparently NHL goalies do.

By Thrasher Ryan

January 18, 2008 12:10 PM | Link to this

So Eklund has his “Most Tradeable” list out. He has Mark Recchi #3, Bobby Holik #9, and Hossa #13. WHAA???
Recchi is not going anywhere, IMO. I could deal with losing Holik and Hossa, as long as we get “proper return”.
Thoughts?

By Thrashers27

January 18, 2008 12:32 PM | Link to this

Not that it matters, but has anyone heard anything about Rucchin lately? I have to believe the guy is done at this point.

By ranallo10

January 18, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this

TR — My thoughts:

Recchi is staying. He costs too little to NEED to move him and he seems to like Atlanta (he’s been quoted as such).

Holik can go, likely to a contender IF Atlanta stumbles. Otherwise he’s staying here for the remainder of the season. Many teams will take his grittiness, faceoff percentage, and vast playoff experience in exchange for a prospect or a higher round (2nd at most) draft pick.

Hossa is all about proper return, I agree. I’m hoping he re-signs…without Hossa this team cannot make the playoffs this season. Who cares if he “disappears” in the playoffs if we don’t even make them to begin with? I’d wager that the division title is unattainable if Hossa is moved, and 8th spot is the most this team can hope for (sans Hossa).

By Brian

January 18, 2008 1:06 PM | Link to this

Recchi = sweetener

By Russian

January 18, 2008 1:14 PM | Link to this

to ranallo10 I like to keep Recchi for this season, but not for next one. He is old. It will be a same story as Scotty Mellanbi. May be a crazy idea, but I like to keep Holik for next year. But he needs to be moved to 4-line and salary around 1.2-1.5 mln maximum. Hossa is a tricky thing. We can lost him easely at July, but we can get someone good now. We will see what happend. I am really do not care about transaction on our team. If they play good and push to PO just keep whole team.

By pond scum

January 18, 2008 2:40 PM | Link to this

Eklund is a d&mn idiot! You know why he chooses to not show his face….cause it probably looks like it caught on fire and someone put it out with an ice pick from all the lies he spews out and dreams up.He doesn’t even report a trade till it’s already been made.

As for Recchi,sorry he is no Mellanby (which I do like).Recchi has averaged a point a game since he was picked up.Not everyone feels or plays to their age.He doesn’t look to slow to me.

As for Holik, he has picked up his game since calling out the team.He was only about 3-5 inches away from netting one just last night.Huet got a lucky bounce from the goal post or else we take the Habs down again 3-2 in regulation.Sure,Holik is alittle overpaid….but would you if in his skates turn it down saying “well that’s more than my market value,I’ll take less”.No,you wouldn’t.He got signed to a deal that had alot more to do with the lockout than anything else.

I’m more on the fence about Hossa now than before,I’m willing to give it the benefit of a doubt.

As for the game last night,was glad Excelby stood up for the boys in blue.Where in the heck was Boulton and Thorburn at? NO way Toby should’ve been railroaded 2 times.It’s time for this 2 guys to get it going on the gritty side alot more often and mix it up.

As for the team itself,again why some want to only poin tout the negatives? I mean,after the 0-6 start this team could have just tanked it in…..but instead has fought tooth and nail to get back into it.The league as a whole has seen just about every team be streaky this season. All the guys need to do is just keep plugging away until the dust settles.

No one thought we’d get back to first place,but here we are.Waddell needs to start tweaking the roster as Rutherford in Carolina has already started.It’s now more about where you end rather than where you started for the Thrashers.They can do it.

By Alan

January 18, 2008 2:49 PM | Link to this

Recchi is going nowhere because the CBA says anyone picked up on waivers can’t be moved until after the playoffs of that season.

Even then, I’d like to see him re-signed. Perhaps to a one year, $1.5m deal, to test the waters and see what he can do for an entire season for us.

By ranallo10

January 18, 2008 3:05 PM | Link to this

Russian — While I do agree that it’s not smart to re-sign a soon to be 40-year-old player, I think Recchi has proven his abilities to the NHL thus far as a Thrasher. As Alan said, I wouldn’t mind seeing him re-signed to a one year contract, nothing more than $1.5M. But that’s barring his performance for the remainder of this season.

As a player, I already like Recchi more than Mellanby.

I wouldn’t mind Holik at a cost more akin to his role ($1-$2M), but I think we’d be better off giving someone younger his spot. Slater can fill that role, or even White.

By Brendan

January 18, 2008 6:29 PM | Link to this

Recchi is a -4 and that’s the WORST THING I can find about him. He’s worth re-signing. Whether now or in late April. But on a team that sees Holik, -13, Hossa, -10, Kovy, -7, Todd White, -7, Kozlov, -6, it’s not so bad to be a -4, if you’re Mark Recchi.

19-points in 19 games says it all. I’d like to offer him $850,000, with incentives for games played and 60-points to bring his total salary to $1.6 million. Without incentives, $1.0 million. I’d even throw in a “limited movement clause” for him, as far as trades are concerned. He’s winning puck battles along the boards. And, as a Thrashers fan, I can’t ever see enough of that!