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Friday, April 4, 2008
Prepping for Stamkos Sweepstakes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, this was it. The final practice in Duluth for the 2007-08 season. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. Okay, not really. This has been a long season, it seems like years since the beginning of training camp when you consider everything that has happened this year.
But last year’s season finale seems like a lifetime ago. Kari Lehtonen said that he was thinking the same thing today, and how the stakes were so different for game 82 last year. If you remember, the game was for seeding and if the Thrashers would have lost the final, they would have played the Lightning in the first round of the playoffs. I wonder how different things would have been if the Thrashers played Tampa Bay?
But they won and got swept. I tried to tell Kari, who is starting against the Lightning, that it’d be a good idea to lose on Saturday, but he wasn’t hearing it. The Thrashers don’t have a shot at the bottom two spots in the league, but they certainly don’t want to catch St. Louis. Lehtonen said the players don’t even think about that stuff, and he said his focus is to give the fans a win in the final game of the season. It is Fan Appreciation Night, isn’t it? But wouldn’t you appreciate it if they lost.
Don Waddell got a memo from the league that had the percent chance of landing that top pick in the lottery on Monday night. He was kind enough to share it, and here’s how it breaks down using the standings from right now (Friday at 1:55 p.m.).
25 percent: Los Angeles Kings
18.8 percent: Tampa Bay
14.2 percent: Atlanta
10.7 percent: St. Louis
Now remember, teams can only move up four spots so only the bottom five have a shot at Steven Stamkos. He’s why it wouldn’t be so bad if the Thrashers lost on Saturday, and I know that kind of talk upsets some of you (Hi Sam!). But do you really want Tampa Bay to land him if the Thrashers can’t?
I talked with Stamkos’ coach in Sarnia today and he said one of the issues that Stamkos is dealing with is that there aren’t a lot of players who can keep up with him in the OHL. So he hasn’t had a chance to really blossom as a playmaker. I’m guessing that Ilya Kovalchuk would be able to keep up with him, no? Here’s a taste of what Sarnia Sting coach Dave MacQueen said about his star center: “He has the ability to put a team on his back and carry it. He’s got two or three gears and I’ve never seen anybody do the things he can with the puck at high gear.”
Waddell said today that the team will hold a drawing on Saturday consisting of season ticket holders to pick a fan who will represent the Thrashers at the draft lottery on Monday. Waddell will watch it from Atlanta and instead send a fan in his place. I’m guessing the fan who goes would be an instant legend among season ticket holders if they can bring home the No. 1 pick.
Beast’s Blueprint: Soon we’ll be focusing on the next head coach for the Thrashers, and some players are making their pitch for Brad McCrimmon to get a shot. Mark Recchi said he’d come back in a heartbeat if McCrimmon were the coach and Ilya Kovalchuk said today that McCrimmon is his choice. Recchi said some interesting things yesterday, basically saying that McCrimmon should by no means be held responsible for the rough season. He said he’s heard some of McCrimmon’s ideas for how to run a team and who he would bring in as assistants and loved what he heard. “I’m a big fan of Beast,” Recchi said. “I’d like to see him have full control. I think he would be good with full control and I don’t think we saw the best of him because he didn’t have it. He’s a good coach, one of the better I’ve had. He has great ideas and likes to surround himself with great people. When you hear the people he’d like to bring, you know he’s confident in what he does. A lot of people don’t do that.”
