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Thursday, March 6, 2008
Waddell addresses some of the issues
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sorry for the late blog today. I’ve been working on a story trying to pinpoint the Thrashers collapse during this losing streak, and containing that to the space I’m allowed was certainly a challenge. I mean really, how do you explain the fact that teams spend three-quarters of the game in the Thrashers zone in only two paragraphs? Ultimately, the four problem areas I highlighted were: 1. Lack of accountability, 2. No bang from your big contracts like Holik, Kozlov and Zhitnik, 3. Not enough core players and 4. Defense. Which one do you think is the biggest issue and what do you think I left out?
If you’re looking for insight about the game against the Wild, I don’t have much. My reporting today was more big-picture, trying to get at the root of some of the problems. I had two interviews end abruptly when Ilya Kovalchuk and Don Waddell both walked away in mid-interview. I was trying to get answers from Waddell about Brad McCrimmon and that didn’t go particularly well. “It’s not an issue,” was all Waddell said before ending the conversation. And I didn’t even get to ask why Todd White didn’t practice. Oh well, what are you going to do?
I’d heard that Kovalchuk told Russian reporters that he thought some teammates left early for summer vacation. He denied that he said that, and then hit the showers before I could ask other questions. Some of the other Thrashers were a little more forthcoming in discussing the issues. Garnet Exelby was really good and honest. He said this about his play this year: “It’s been up and down. I’m certainly not happy with where I am and how things are going.”
Bobby Holik and I got into a philosophical discussion because I’m contending that yes, he does raise his play with the magnitude of the game - but the opposite is also true. His play declines as the importance of the game declines. I’m not suggesting he’s mailing it in or tanking it, just that his level of play reflects the importance of the situation. And if the Thrashers games are now meaningless… He disagreed. But it was an interesting discussion regardless.
Before bailing after the McCrimmon questioning, Waddell was really good about addressing everything else. He said that the trade deadline was a huge distraction for the team, which now raises the question - did he hurt this year’s team by waiting so long to trade Marian Hossa?
Waddell on the distraction: “There’s no doubt in my mind the trade deadline was a big factor for a week to ten days. It’s a poor excuse, these guys are all paid professional athletes to perform.”
Naturally, since I asked him on multiple occasions before the deadline if it was a distraction and he denied it, I wondered why the story changed.
“I’m not giving these guys excuses, we dealt with it at times. I addressed it with the team because I knew it was a distraction. There was no reason for it to be a distraction, that was the problem,” he answered.
I asked about the underachieving big contracts, like Zhitnik, Holik and Kozlov - to which Waddell responded: “I don’t single out guys - to me it doesn’t matter if they make $4 million or $500,000, you expect the same thing when they come to the rink,” he said. “Saying that, there are definitely guys that we expected more from. We got it at times, we got it in doses but no solid dose. That’s a concern. That’s a big reason why we’re in the spot we’re in right now.”
Since he wouldn’t do it, I singled out Kozlov and Waddell responded with: “The frustrating part is that in Kozzy’s case, he knows he can be better. It’s not like we’re asking a fourth line guy to contribute to us, we’re asking a guy we believe can. We’re aware of it, we’ve talked about it, talked to [Kozlov] and certainly we’re not giving up on him.”
I think accountability is an issue, but Waddell said it’s more of a respect issue on the team. He said there isn’t enough respect among the Thrashers players. “If a guy is having a bad night, you have to pick him up instead of hammering him further into the ice. You can say whatever you want about coaches doing this or coaches doing that, but the end result is if you look at good teams and look at the respect factor they have for each other… that’s something that is a factor here that I’m aware of. We’re aware of.”
And on the lack of a strong, core of homegrown talent? “We made a little bit of a philosophy change a few years ago to sign some of the older players and obviously that’s going to take away the opportunity for some of those things to happen. But I also think we’re at a good juncture of the franchise where a lot of the young kids, in their RFA days, now have an opportunity to grow together.”
Pretty good candid stuff. That is until inquired about why McCrimmon isn’t the head coach. “It’s not an issue,” he said. “I’m done talking about it.”
