AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > March > 14
Friday, March 14, 2008
Big, physical line pays off
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Where did that win come from last night? I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong about the Kovalchuk-Holik-Thorburn line. I didn’t see them scoring a bunch of goals. I wondered if Bobby could keep up with Kovalchuk, but that wasn’t an issue. I have my doubts as to whether Bobby Holik will return next season, but Thorburn is under contract. Where do you see him fitting in? He’s shown a willingness to be physical and some offensive flair. I think Don Waddell is fixing a mistake that you can’t go as small as he did this season.
I even heard that the Devils were willing to move Brian Gionta in a deal for Marian Hossa, but Waddell had concerns over the size of the team if your big return for Marian was the 5-foot-7 Gionta. He’s a great player, don’t get me wrong, but when you factor in the fact that you’ve already got smallish players like Todd White, Eric Perrin, Slava Kozlov and presumably Brett Sterling all in the mix next season, that wouldn’t be a good fit.
Big and fast, now that’s a different story. I think the Thrashers should and will continue in that direction this off-season. I’m curious about a quick straw poll - for the right price, would you bring Bobby Holik back next season? Maybe a one-year deal for $2.5 million? And would he still be your captain? He’s shown this season he still has a lot to offer, although not at the price he was being paid.
Another interesting thing about last night’s game is the fact that Kari Lehtonen wasn’t sharp and the Thrashers still won. Honestly, when was the last time you heard that? I asked him what it meant to get a win on a night he didn’t play particularly well, and here was his answer: “It means a lot, sometimes it’s the other way where they’ve been letting me hang in there, but this feels so good. I have to thank the guys for the effort tonight. Especially the last period.”
It was funny to watch him sort through that sentence because you could see he didn’t want to throw his teammates under the bus by saying there have been nights when they hung him out to dry, but he didn’t exactly let them off the hook either with his “letting me hang in there” comment.
I know some of you get riled about about the perceived pro-Canadian bias of the Toronto media and some of the anti-Southeast division stuff that’s out there. How about this? Friend of the blog, Luke DeCock has done some serious reporting and came to the conclusion that Canadian teams get a break when it comes to suspensions.
Here’s a snippet from the story: “A News & Observer analysis of NHL discipline since the 2005-06 season found that almost one-third of the suspensions handed down were assessed for offenses committed against Canadian teams, which represent only six of the league’s 30 franchises — but are the six most visible.”
Give it a read, it’s interesting stuff. Nice work, Luke.
