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July 2008
I’m back; what about the Thrash?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pardon the two weeks since my last post. I was using up my vacation; it is now spent. I had a great time, but my guess is John Anderson had at least one better day. The Thrashers coach told me before I left that he was scheduled to have the Calder Cup on July 23. As with the Stanley Cup, Calder Cup winners get to enjoy the trophy they won for a day during the offseason.
Anderson, who coached the Chicago Wolves to the AHL title, planned to celebrate in Toronto.
“We’ll have the tape of the [cup-clinching sixth] game [against Wilkes-Barre Scranton], and we’ll watch the third period probably because that was our best period,” Anderson said. One of his favorite highlights: Jason Krog scoring the team’s fourth goal and his third. “[Arturs] Kulda made an unbelievable pass right through his own goal line all the way to the far blue line. It landed right on his stick,” Anderson said. “You watch Krog and he’s kind of smiling because he can’t believe he got it. As soon as it hits his tape the crowd stands and when he scores they go nuts. It was unbelievable. Those are the things you watch over and over again.”
In the two weeks I was gone, the Thrashers re-signed Kari Lehtonen and signed Marty Reasoner. If you are waiting for a bigger splash, consider this: There’s no deadline for it to happen.
“It doesn’t have to be today or tomorrow,” Anderson said. “We’d like it to be. It could be 20 games in, where a trade comes up which is so great for us.”
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Anderson shows sympathy for Esposito
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My story about Angelo Esposito should be posted sometime Thursday night. Esposito, you might remember, is the guy who was once touted as the top prospect of the 2007 draft, wound up getting picked 20th and was traded from Pittsburgh to Atlanta in February.
Thrashers coach John Anderson can testify first-hand that the entry draft is an imprecise measure of a player’s ability or worth. He was the 11th pick in 1977. Four picks later, the New York Islanders selected some guy named Mike Bossy.
“I got my general manager fired,” Anderson said. “So I can understand the pressure of what you can go through. I’m in the minors, Mike Bossy scored 50 goals his first season in the National Hockey League.”
The Thrashers would love for Esposito’s career to end up like Anderson’s, of course.
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Nikulin, free agents and camp
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Thrashers remain hopeful of signing defenseman Ilya Nikulin, their second-round pick from 2000. The latest: His agent has to prove to the NHL that Nikulin’s 2008-09 contract with the Russian team Ak Bars of Kazan has an escape clause that allows him to play in the NHL. That contract, of course, is in Russian.
“The agent has to prove that his contract has an out. The agent is spending a lot of money, $1,000 to get it translated,” Thrashers general manager Don Waddell said Wednesday. “It’s got to go to the NHL office, and they have to be able to read it to approve it. That’s the process that’s going on right now.
“We’re encouraged. We would like to add this player. We’ve been in this spot before, though. I caution you. The player has changed his mind before. The hope would be that he would sign the deal and we would move on.”
Nikulin, 26, will have to take a pay cut of hundreds of thousands of dollars to play in Atlanta, which is limited by NHL rules in what it can offer him. Basically, all he can get is a two-way contract (NHL and minor league) for one year at entry-level salary. Nikulin is making $1.75 milion in Russia, said his U.S. agent, Scott Lites.
“We don’t have a choice,” Waddell said. “He’s taking a $600,000 or $700,000 pay cut to play in the NHL.”
If he does sign, and if the rules remain as they are, Nikulin would become an unrestricted free agent after one year. The NHL, however, is considering adjusting the rules and “stopping the clock” in recognition of the fact that players’ entry into the NHL has been slowed by the lack of a transfer agreement.
On to other topics:
—The Thrashers re-signed unrestricted free agent left wing Eric Boulton, filling a key need for a tough guy (or avoiding creating a key need, depending on how you look at it). The team also signed unrestricted free agent forwards Junior Lessard, Grant Stevenson and Mike Hoffman. Those three have limited are to add organizational depth. That doesn’t mean they might not all play in Atlanta by season’s end, but they’re not Plan A.
—Yes, there is a Plan A. Look for some kind of trade from a team that’s in salary cap trouble to a Thrashers team that can absorb some salary and needs some players. No, I don’t have specific trade rumors, although you guys seem to have no trouble producing those without my help. “A lot of teams are getting full [in terms of cap space],” Waddell said. “There’s a lot of players being shopped around the market. The way free agency started off, with a lot of money being spent, we all envisioned that at some point some teams were going to get themselves in a cap situation where they were going to have to move players.”
—Coach John Anderson and Waddell plan to interview some assistant coaching candidates this week. The timetable isn’t set in stone, but Waddell said the new staff could be hired within two to three weeks. Look for at least one of Anderson’s coaches to be someone with recent NHL experience, because that’s something Anderson doesn’t have. Waddell said he and Anderson are both conducting the search, that they agree on names, and that candidates are coming from both inside and outside the organization. “The process will be John will interview and then I will interview, and if we’re in agreement, which I fully suspect we will be — the names that have been brought forward are guys both of us are very high on — then we’ll negotiate a deal,” Waddell said.
—The Thrashers plan to re-sign restricted free agent goalie Kari Lehtonen, but the ball is in his court. “We had some talks before the draft with his agent,” Waddell said. “We made a qualified offer [meaning one whose terms meet or exceed the collective bargaining agreement requirements for the Thrashers to maintain the right to match any other team’s offer sheet or get draft pick compensation if Lehtonen signs elsewhere]. He’s got until the 15th of July to pick that [Thrashers offer] up or turn that down. We’ll see what happens. Negotiations if he doesn’t pick it up will be ongoing.”
—Third-round draft pick Danick Paquette sat out the second day of prospect camp with an illness and said he is heading home. His Lewiston major junior teammate, defenseman Patrick Cusack, also sat out, with a groin injury, but he said he plans to be on the ice Thursday. Cusack is one of 10 players in camp whose rights do not belong to the Thrashers. The other 22 either were drafted by the Thrashers or, in Angelo Esposito’s case, obtained in a trade.
—Defenseman Zach Bogosian, the No. 3 pick, looked good again on Day 2. He scored the first goal in a four-on-four scrimmage.
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Prospect camp, Day 2
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The big news of the day is the re-signing of Eric Boulton for two years and $600,000 per year. The Thrashers also signed three other free agent forwards — Junior Lessard, Grant Stevenson and Mike Hoffman — who have had limited NHL experience.
That inches the Thrashers closer to filling out their roster and spending the league minimum in salary. Don Waddell isn’t done with either task.
My apologies for not blogging from Day 1 of prospect development camp. I was busy working on the Zach Bogosian story.
More later, the prospects are back on the ice.
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An insult, reality, or both?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you wanted a window on how the modern-day Thrashers are perceived by the rest of the NHL, you might have got it this weekend. And it’s not a pretty picture.
Dan Boyle, the top-flight defenseman the Tampa Bay Lightning traded to the San Jose Sharks, had a no-trade clause in his contract. The Lightning issued him an ultimatum: Waive the clause, or we could waive you.
Boyle’s reaction, from a story in the St. Petersburg Times: “I’ve given this franchise everything I had. I love the area. I love the fans. But at the end of the day, I was misled and lied to and completely disrespected. When you threaten to be put on waivers and end up in Atlanta, it was an eye-opening situation for me.”
So, the prospect of ending up in Atlanta is the NHL equivalent of your worst nightmare?
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Could restricted free agents be next?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Thrashers have money to spend, and the pool of talented unrestricted free agents has dried up considerably since Tuesday at noon. There are still some restricted free agents out there, though, and it might be the Thrashers can get some talent by paying a bit more than others are willing or able to pay.
Here’s a for-instance about Ottawa’s Antoine Vermette and Andrej Meszaros, courtesy of my alert colleague Jeff Schultz.
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Free agency, Day 2
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So, Marian Hossa is now with the Red Wings, and Bobby Holik is now with the Devils, and Orpik and Hainsey are still out there, unsigned and presumably being pursued by the Thrashers.
The only good news if you are an Atlanta fan is that the prices for good players appear to be high enough that eventually some of the other teams will run out of cap room or budget room and will need to unload some salary in trade or be unable to bid for whatever is left in free agency.
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Free agent update (2:30 p.m.)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No Thrashers signings to report yet.
The Thrashers made qualified offers not just to Kari Lehtonen but also to Joey Crabb, Nathan Oystrick and Brett Sterling, the NHL announced.
Here is the official list of Thrashers unrestricted free agents: Milan Bartovic, Eric Boulton, Kevin Doell, Darren Haydar, Bobby Holik, Jason Krog, Joel Kwiatkowski, Steve McCarthy, Karel Pilar, Mark Recchi, Steve Rucchin, Mark Popovic, Jesse Schultz, Guillaume Desbiens*.
*Desbiens would have been a restricted free agent if the Thrashers had made a qualified offer.
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