AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > January > 23
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Kovalchuk talking with the league
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As I write this, Ilya Kovalchuk and Don Waddell are in a conference call with the league over Kovalchuk’s hit on Michal Rozsival. The feeling around the team is that the hit wasn’t that bad and that a suspension beyond the game misconduct he served isn’t warranted. But it’s also the kind of hit the league is trying to crack down on, so we’ll see. By now, I’m sure you’ve seen the hit, what do you think? Suspension-worthy?
The big question is if Kovalchuk is out, who is going to score for the Thrashers? His goal-less streak is now at five games and you see the goal totals the Thrashers have been putting up lately. Honestly, not taking anything away from Lundqvist, but that might have been the easiest shutout I’ve ever witnessed. I thought Kari Lehtonen was the better goaltender on Tuesday night, because that could have been another loss like the one in Buffalo if he hadn’t played so well. You hate to waste an effort like that in a 4-0 loss.
Depending on how things go with the league, the Thrashers will be calling up at least one player from Chicago. Brad Larsen has a sprained knee and will miss, at least, a week. So they’ll need another body for him. If Kovalchuk is suspended, they’ll need two players.
Brad McCrimmon lit into the team at the practice this morning, and then skated the heck out of them. The players knew they deserved it and one of the players called it a wake up call. Bobby Holik said the punishment was probably long overdue.
We’ll see how the players respond. If they don’t come out fired up against the Rangers on Thursday night, you really have to question the character of this team and the players on it. They met this morning to talk about their sluggish start, then Beast let ‘em have it at practice. Holik also addressed the team between periods last night. But at some point, it has to start showing on the ice.
I’ll have updates this afternoon for you - on Kovalchuk and who the Thrashers decide to call up.
