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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Lever would love a return to Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You know, for a town that isn’t exactly a hockey hotbed, I’m finding a surprising number of coaching candidates who have connections to Atlanta. The latest? Hamilton Bulldogs coach Don Lever. I spoke with Don yesterday, he was kind enough to take a few minutes out of a Canadian holiday to talk some Thrashers.
First some nuts and bolts. Lever hasn’t officially been contacted by the Thrashers other than some cursory e-mails between his agent and the team. He has one year left on his contract with Hamilton, but would be allowed to leave for an NHL head job. He’s very interested in this job and not just because he’s ready to be an NHL coach.
He played in Atlanta during the last season the Flames were in town and he said he has vivid memories of then-Flames GM Cliff Fletcher gathering the team before the playoffs that last year and making it clear to the team that something drastic needed to happen if the NHL was to stay in Atlanta.
“It was put very plain to us that if we were going to save the franchise, we’d have to go far in the playoffs,” Lever said.
You know how that story ends, but Lever said he still keeps in touch with the Flames in the area like Tim Ecclestone and Eric Vail. Speaking of which, who is up for watching some Stanley Cup finals at Tim’s sports bar TJ’s in Alpharetta?
The connection doesn’t stop there. Lever’s daughter Caitlin played college softball at Georgia Tech and will be playing on the Canadian Olympic team. She’ll be finishing up her management degree at Tech this fall.
So what are Lever’s qualifications to be the next Thrashers coach? He led Hamilton to a Calder Cup Championship in 2007 and has a ton of NHL experience as an assistant. He was an assistant in St. Louis for two years (the Blues went 80-54-22-8 in that span) and spent 12 years coaching in the Buffalo organization.
One of the knocks I occasionally hear about the Thrashers is that there aren’t enough former NHL players in the organization. Lever would bring that to the table. He played in 1,020 NHL games, scoring over 300 goals in that span.
Here’s how he describes his coaching style: “My style is to adapt to what you have. If you have someone like Ilya Kovalchuk, you have to let him go loose. You don’t want him to be trapping. You have to be sound in your own end, I think it’s all about the type of team you have. I’d love to have an offensive-type team but you’re still not going to win if you don’t play in your own end.”
Around the league: Had this New York Times story sent to my e-mail, and thought it was pretty interesting. With Detroit set to take on Pittsburgh in the Finals, this story wonders: Is Hockey Fixed? It does seem to be an ideal matchup for the league, but I laughed at one of the comments that suggested that the NHL wasn’t capable of such a conspiracy.
I know we’re late to the party on this one, but I haven’t blogged since the Hurricanes announced that Peter Laviolette is coming back as head coach. I know there were people close to the Thrashers who thought Laviolette was the favorite to be the next head coach if Carolina didn’t bring him back. At least that’s one person we can cross off the list. Interesting sidenote: Carolina raised ticket prices ten percent despite not making the playoffs for the second consecutive season. I wonder if the season ticket holders there are as angry as they were in Atlanta when that happened here?
Steve Schrader at the Detroit Free Press points out that Penguins are the natural enemy of octopi. I had no idea. Yahoo’s Ross McKeon suggests that this Red Wings team is just as good as the Detroit teams from the late 1990s. That’s a pretty bold statement considering those teams were loaded with Hall of Famers.
Darren Eliot weighed in on Marian Hossa’s fine playoff performance. Eliot said Hoss and Sidney Crosby are perfectly suited to play together and that Marian is having a great time during Pittsburgh’s run. “Winning always makes things easier,” Hossa told Eliot and SI.com. A baby on the way means I won’t be able to leave town for the Finals since my wife would kill me if I was in Pittsburgh when the baby arrived, but I’m hoping to catch up with Marian and Pascal Dupuis this week on the phone for a story. I’m really looking forward to it. Sounds like they’re having a great time.
Pierre LeBrun breaks down how the Penguins went from one of the worst teams to one of the best.
Responding to your comments from last blog: Good active discussion late in the week, nice work.
Draft dandy: I stand corrected. I said Pavelec was the first Thrashers second-rounder to make it to the NHL. DD points out that Luke Sellars beat Pavelec to the punch. Thanks for keeping me honest.
Mark: I hear everything you’re saying about Filatov. The Thrashers need defensemen, and there are some good ones at the top of the draft. Taking Filatov would be a HUGE risk, and there is a lot on the line this draft for the Thrashers. But if they did take Filatov, that would mean they are absolutely convinced he’s a difference-maker. And that would also mean they did their homework on how tough it will be to bring him over. I still think it’s a longshot.
Brendan: I think this Finals matchup will be good for ratings, at least as far as hockey goes. The Conference Finals ratings were up 14 percent over last season. Although, I have no idea if that’s good. I guess it’s better than lower ratings.
Falconer: I think you and I are on the same page regarding the Thrashers drafts. Average. I’d love to do a good concrete analysis of their free agent signings, any suggestions on how to quantify success or failure in terms of money spent?
