Thrashers

By Bob

December 15, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this

Good news on Bogosian, the quicker he gets back on the ice, the better.

In theory, Bogosian, Enstrom, Hainsey should be a solid base for our backline, going forward, if Bogo can turn into a #1 dman quickly, like Phaenuf did for Cal-Gary.

By Mike Knobler

December 15, 2008 10:35 AM | Link to this

More on Thorburn playing shorthanded: He played 2:18 shorthanded all of last season and 50 seconds in that situation so far this season. It’s worth a try, though. One issue with the Thrashers’ penalty kill is they’re small. By replacing Perrin with Thorburn, they get bigger.

By B. Thenet

December 15, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this

Valabik is going to be a very good PKer down the line. That size, reach, and physical pressence in the crease is perfect for the job.

By Nate

December 15, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this

I agree on the foundation of D-men. I think Valabik has a future on this team and in this league as well. He still has lapses, but he’s getting better each game. And you can’t teach size. Oystrick looks good most of the time as well. Another big d-man signing in the summer would be good. Two scorers plus Tavares could put this team back into playoff contention next year as long as Kovy doesn’t get traded.

By Nikita

December 15, 2008 11:18 AM | Link to this

More on Thorburn playing shorthanded: He played 2:18 shorthanded all of last season and 50 seconds in that situation so far this season. It’s worth a try, though.

IMO, Thorburn would be good to try on the PK once we’ve fully established that he can play solid full-time minutes (he’s doing fairly well, but hasn’t been doing it long).

One issue with the Thrashers’ penalty kill is they’re small. By replacing Perrin with Thorburn, they get bigger.

Yabbut, who’s on the 2nd PK? I doubt they’ll drop Perrin from it entirely.

By Nikita

December 15, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this

P.. I know Slater struggled a lot on the PK, but why haven’t we tried Boulton? He’s gotten faster this season.

By dhj_1962

December 15, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this

does not matter who JA puts out there, they all stink, aint they the worst in the league at the PK??? slater can’t move anyone out of the crease, remember ryders 2nd goal? ostrich looked like a bull heading thru a red cape, i think i heard ryder say “ole” while ostrich went by. but, you gotta keep trying…might as well put kovy on the PK, it would be a 5 on 3 and 1/2, but at least if he gets his stick on the puck, he might score.

By Russian

December 15, 2008 11:55 AM | Link to this

Anybody! I heard the rumor that Don is going to take Gabornik from Wild. Mike Any Comments? Is It True? Please let us know. It will be next topisc to talk. :-)

By Mike Knobler

December 15, 2008 12:00 PM | Link to this

Nikita Yes, I might have read more into what I saw than I should have. Chris Thorburn said he was out there on the PK in place of Eric Perrin because Perrin was working on the power play today (though not on the shifts Thorburn was on the PK).

By Mike Knobler

December 15, 2008 12:05 PM | Link to this

BTW, Zach Bogosian did jump into a couple of drills.

By Stevo

December 15, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this

Trade in the works?

I would love Gaborik to help out Kovy, but who are we going to give up for a guy who is a free agent to be? Unless we could resign him then trading for him would be another dumb move on DW’s part.

By GaVaHokie

December 15, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this

Well, the “Waddell visiting Minnesota” rumor has hit the Eklund blog… check out this rumor. Would be nice, but Gaborik is an impending UFA. So, seems like a throw away of assets.

It seems to be understood that Gaborik and Hossa want to be a package deal this summer to play together… would Hossa come back? Does this mean that Gaborik would make a short stint?… discuss.

By Stevo

December 15, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this

I guess my other post dissapeared, but the Blueland Blog has an article discussing a possible trade with the Wild. Do you have any info to pass along Mike?

I would love Gaborik to help out Kovy, but who are we going to give up for a guy who is a free agent to be? Unless we could resign him then trading for him would be another dumb move on DW’s part.

By The Other J.B.

December 15, 2008 12:52 PM | Link to this

Mike ~ Good to meet you this morning at the rink. I enjoyed chatting with you albeit briefly. You and the team have a safe trip to Ottawa. Hopefully the results will be better than last time ~John

By GaVaHokie

December 15, 2008 1:00 PM | Link to this

I don’t understand why Gaborik is the rumor considering he’s injured and wasn’t playing the last two games in LA and Anaheim… why would Waddell or the scouts need to be in attendance for Gaborik?

I hope someone else is involved, like Harding.

By Russian

December 15, 2008 1:03 PM | Link to this

to Hokie seems to be understood that Gaborik and Hossa want to be a package deal this summer to play together… would Hossa come back? It will be as same as Sinderella story. Dream comes true. It never happend only IF ATLANTA get a CUP!!! LOLOLOLOLOL

By Jim

December 15, 2008 1:13 PM | Link to this

Lemaire definetly wants to unload Gaborik and he wants out of MN. He’s be a good addition if we can get him signed as part of any deal. If we use up any good kids as part of a “rent a player” deal, I.m against it. The PK unit is not only small, it’s non-aggressive and lacks any toughness around the net. As soon as I see X out there, I can almost hear a European announcer screaming “GOAL”. Stuart added some spark Sunday and now he’s back in Chicago. Go figure. Winning 20 games this year is going to be a stretch. JA is likely to age more this year than George W. did in eight years.

By B. Thenet

December 15, 2008 1:15 PM | Link to this

If DW attempts to throw away our assets for a couple of months of Gaborik, hopefully someone at ASG vetoes the deal and fires DW on the spot.

That would be a colossally bad move.

By Bob

December 15, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this

Even Waddell is not moronic enough to trade for an impending UFA, Gaborik.

By GaVaHokie

December 15, 2008 1:58 PM | Link to this

What could we possibly offer that Minnesota couldn’t get at the trade deadline from a cup contender?

Minnesota is sitting at the 8th spot right now… they’ll want to stay competitive. Giving them Perrin, White and a draft pick doesn’t necessarily do that.

By Brendan

December 15, 2008 2:01 PM | Link to this

I completely agree with B.Thenet and Bob. Gaborik is a “banaid” move, at best. He’s surely not going to re-sign HERE. And any notion that Hossa would join him here, in Atlanta, is quite dubious. Nobody jumps onto a “runaway train.” They jump … off.

By B. Thenet

December 15, 2008 2:05 PM | Link to this

IF this were to happen, I suspect Lehtnonen or Pavelec would have to be involved. Perhaps even Alex Kangas who is currently playing G for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

I believe the Wild are having problems getting their solid G Backstrom resigned, so they may want a goaltender coming back.

By Thrashy Thrashy

December 15, 2008 2:29 PM | Link to this

Congrats to Esposito for making Team Canada. It would be nice to see this guy turn into a big-time player.

By Fred

December 15, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this

Trade Kovy NOW.

It’s really simple - there are only 2 ways it plays out:

(1) he bolts and we get nothing, or (2) by some God given miracle (does God work miracles with communists?) he resigns and renders the team without any other money to improve the team, we are back where we started - horrible.

BTW - Point #2 is why Kovy will go for Point #1.

Trade him NOW when you could get the most for him. The team is a disaster - blow it up and rebuild. Hate to say it, but it’s true.

I’m STILL searching the yellow pages for a shrink to calm me down after plunking down over $300 for a family of 4 to witness the Bruins catastrophy last Friday night.

You have 1 good forward (good, not great), a broken down goalie and still the worst defense in the league. I will not return to Philips until a new direction has begun.

By Nikita

December 15, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this

If he bolts, we get his salary back.

And he’s not able to leave until 09-10.

By Mike Knobler

December 15, 2008 2:45 PM | Link to this

Thrashy Thrashy Yes, it’s a good sign for Angelo Esposito, especially after he didn’t make the team in previous years.

Others I obviously wasn’t at the Wild games with Don Waddell, so I couldn’t see which player(s) he was there to see. Were I him, I’d be looking to make some kind of trade that would: a) bring a top-six forward to team with Kovalchuk, and/or b) bring someone who could help out the penalty kill.

By Alan

December 15, 2008 3:03 PM | Link to this

(2) by some God given miracle (does God work miracles with communists?)

I hope you’re just being sarcastic.

By GaVaHokie

December 15, 2008 3:03 PM | Link to this

Mike… or c) looking for more first round underacheivers to give a second chance to in Atlanta… ie. McCarthy, Armstrong… In this case Benoit Pouliot.

I still think it odd that he’d trek across country to watch two games that Gaborik wasn’t a part of.

Perhaps Minnesota being on a back-to-back, Waddell was expecting to watch Harding play on Sunday.

Gaborik makes no sense to me… I’m going with Pouliot and Harding… and I’m not ruling out Backstrom (UFA to be).

By Sara

December 15, 2008 3:06 PM | Link to this

Minnesota huh? I want Boogaard. :D

Hmmm…not much there worth trading for (after automatically excluding those things which we could not possibly obtain ie Bouchard or Koivu and bearing in mind at this point DW has to be looking for a significant impact player - not 3rd/4th liner swaps).

My guess (along with that of some others) is that Minnie would likely want some combination of goalie, young D-man, and/or two-way forward. We’ve got a number of D prospects so we could certainly spare one (though it would be prudent to be picky about the “one” - I’d tag Bogo, Kulda, and Oystrick as off-limits myself but that’s just me). As for a two-way forward, White fit in there before. Perrin might be appealing to them as well. As for the “goalie” part - ugh - I don’t want to part with either Lehts or Pavs, especially not if we’re talking about a deal centered around Gaborik. Maybe they’d like Moose as a nice mentor for Harding??

Question is what to get back. Outside of that…you have to figure either C or RW is what Waddell is perusing. Other than the obvious Gabby there isn’t much else. Nolan and Miettinen are the two other notable RWs. Nolan is OLD - UGH and Miettinen just signed a new deal (though nhlnumbers.com lists years 2 and 3 as options but I’ve yet to see that confirmed anywhere else). For C, the only one I would consider an improvement would be Belanger (Belanger for White anyone?? how weird would that be - not too mention unlikely but then again…White is a known two-way player).

I dunno - you have to figure this involves Gaborik, though I may fall over in shock to see AS LLC add payroll like that. But Gabby is the most obvious piece. I’d take him, but it better be for a steal. DW’s done that before a la Savard and Kozlov and technically Riseborough isn’t in any better position than we are. Everyone knows Gabby’s walking at the end of the year anyway, not too mention he can’t stay on the active roster for more than two weeks at a time. shrug who knows.

By Fred

December 15, 2008 3:11 PM | Link to this

My guess is that DW was in Minnesota to scout Avery - but hadn’t found out yet that he wasn’t there!

By Fred

December 15, 2008 3:16 PM | Link to this

Alan - yes, quite sarcastic.

By harleyman

December 15, 2008 3:36 PM | Link to this

FIRE WADDELL

By PUTTING ON THE FOIL

December 15, 2008 3:48 PM | Link to this

FIRE WADDELL Bring in Pat Quinn and bring in some beef. At least we will win the fights.

By GaVaHokie

December 15, 2008 3:57 PM | Link to this

But Gabby is the most obvious piece. I’d take him, but it better be for a steal.

Sara… why would he be a steal?… certainly Riseborough saw what we got for Hossa at the deadline last year. I’d think he’d take his chances with a deadline deal to a Stanley Cup contender… I wouldn’t be surprised if Pittsburgh “went to the well” one more time and ponied up for Gaborik.

By Russ

December 15, 2008 4:00 PM | Link to this

Is it just me or does the thought of a major trade going down (even if it’s just a rumor) with DW still at the controls just scare the hell out of anyone else?

By TableHockey

December 15, 2008 4:09 PM | Link to this

Nope Russ - it’s not just you. Hope he doesn’t trade away our next first rounder.

Speaking of - here is my Thrasher’s dream - we get Tavares in the lottery, ASG fires Waddell and Kovy gets so excited with the prospect that he resigns for 4 more years.

Hey I can dream can’t I??

By dhj_1962

December 15, 2008 4:22 PM | Link to this

gabby is injury prone, he would not play enough to help Kovy, or the thrashers, sure, it would be great to get him if he stayed healthy, you could give them armstrong, christensen, slater, and perrin and get stuart back up, is hoffman ready yet? anyone?

By GaVaHokie

December 15, 2008 4:25 PM | Link to this

How about Waddell gets fired and Bruce Levenson takes over GM duties? Take your pick.

About the only legitimate candidate to step in immediately would be Cheveldayoff.

I don’t see things being any different in the short term, but I’m all for a fresh face.

But here you go… Waddell on thin ice.

By Brendan

December 15, 2008 4:27 PM | Link to this

Hokie, who would the Pens part with to get Gaborik. I’d say they’d give up pick #29 all over again. But aside from that, what can they part with, that they don’t need, to return to the SCF?

By Thrashy Thrashy

December 15, 2008 4:35 PM | Link to this

Here’s the most likely scenario:

Waddell trades our first rounder for Gaborik, straight up. Gaborik plays, oh, 15 games the rest of the year and leaves a free agent. The Wild (via Thrashers) end up with the first overall pick in the draft.

Waddell is given a ten-year contract extension.

Our brains spontaneously combust.

By Brendan

December 15, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this

Russ and TableHockey, I don’t think Don should be permitted to make another decision beyond who gets called up and sent down, at this point. And if he gets to trade Kovy …. No, I promised myself I wouldn’t go there. I’ll just stop. I’ll reiterate my earlier promise, if Waddell trades Pavelec, I’ll lead the lynch mob. There is absolutely no reason to trade Pavelec. He’ll either be our #1 goalie or our #2 goalie, in the coming years. And we coughed up an 8th overall pick to get him. At this point, we’d lost both our 8th overall picks. Braydon Coburn was the other.

By Brendan

December 15, 2008 5:01 PM | Link to this

Thrashy Thrashy, I really don’t put a whole lot of stock in Gaborik coming to Atlanta. We just don’t have anything to give them. And as braindead as the Spirit Boys are, there’s no way they’d be willing to exchange a lottery draft pick for anything short of Crosby. Even the Spirit morons do realize that Atlanta needs its draft picks. Gaborik, alone, can’t get this team into the playoffs. And even if he could, what’s hosting two playoff games in the “big picture” over the loss of “franchise player,” whose rights we’d control for another 8 years?

And if, seriously, Levenson told Waddell to do this move, I’d hope that Don would intervene, in the hopes of ever, everrrr finding another GM gig in the NHL.

By the 409ers

December 15, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this

HOFFMAN is ready. he has dropped the gloves a few times in CHI and has owned. youtube it.

By Thrashy Thrashy

December 15, 2008 6:02 PM | Link to this

Brendan,

‘Twas a joke, my friend. I try not to take these teams too seriously if I can help it. Waddell should have been fired many moons ago. It’s obvious that ASG is bereft of common sense.

By Bruce Levenson

December 15, 2008 6:25 PM | Link to this

Atlanta has a hockey team?

By Brendan

December 15, 2008 7:52 PM | Link to this

It’s times like these, Thrashy Thrashy, that I want to post my Onion Interview with Bruce Levenson. Althought it was conducted in October, it’s still apt!

By kevin

December 15, 2008 11:33 PM | Link to this

Get Slater and Exelby off the PK and off this squad. They are far the two worst hockey players on this team.

By oldref

December 16, 2008 7:46 AM | Link to this

ASG has no interest in making this franchise a winner. I believe they will sell and make a nice profit in the next year or two. Therefore, firing DWAD makes no sense to them.

As for Bogosian, I think the kid really needs to work hard on his skating ability, from what I’ve seen of him, that is the weakest part of his game.

By dhj_1962

December 16, 2008 8:40 AM | Link to this

thanks 409ers,, there you go, get rid of slater and exlb, bring up hoffman and stuart.

By Rockem Sockem Thrasher

December 16, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this

Looks like D.W. is getting serious about trading Kovy. I found an article from the Toronto Sun that says that the Habs could be ready to make a big package deal.

The same article says that the Thrash are going to trade Mathieu Schneider by the March 4 trade deadline.

Toronto Sun article

By ranallo10 (in AT)

December 16, 2008 12:04 PM | Link to this

The same article says that the Thrash are going to trade Mathieu Schneider by the March 4 trade deadline.

That was a foregone conclusion when he came to Atlanta in the first place. He’s an ideal chip to have when you’re a seller at the trade deadline.

I consider that “rumor” a statement of the abundantly obvious.

Toronto Sun is just as “reputable” as Bruce Garrioch, Eklund, etc. Rumors are to be taken with a grain of salt, but it’s interesting that somehow they always tend to include Montreal or Toronto as potential suitors for the castoff superstar. I wonder why…

Lecavalier was rumored to be on the blocks and heading to Montreal for two years prior to his most recent re-signing.

I chalk that rumor up as wishful thinking turned “authenticated” rumor.

By A$G

December 16, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this

Buy more tickets suckers!!!

By NASCAR Dave

December 16, 2008 12:12 PM | Link to this

Well, well, well… Has everybody figured it out yet??? You know, the “Black Cloud” they keep talking about??? Yeah, the Black Cloud is none other than DONNIE FRAUDell, the Master of Disaster… The sooner you people figure out that he is the One and Only Problem, the better off your lives will be…

I told you PAVELEC was ready… I told you VALABIK was ready… I told you our young Wolves would contribute more than our washed up retreads/”Team” guys…

I told you ERICA PERRIN and ERIKA CHRISTENA are in COACH’s doghouse… He wants them both OUT, can’t you see???

RANALDO, SARA, and the usual flock of apologists have to feel pretty silly trying to argue with me all season that players like VALABIK/PAVELEC/OYSTRICK/CRABB were not ready… Once again, I prove them all wrong, AGAIN…

I know the truth hurts and I know you must feel pretty silly knowing that a guy with “NASCAR” in his name knows more about hockey and THIS team than any of the “alleged” educated fans up in here… LOL

Keep watching, see me be right again and again, and in the meantime let’s get SLATER/CHRISTENA/ERICA PERRIN/and MOOSE out of here and bring up some more Rookies… Oh yeah, and FIRE WADDELL!!!

NUFF SAID.

By A$G

December 16, 2008 12:14 PM | Link to this

buy more tickets

we want your money!

By GaVaHokie

December 16, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this

Agreed, that was a horrible article… especially the part about Gainey “moving any of the 10 unrestricted free agents to be in the package”… why would we take UFA’s in a package for Kovalchuk? That’s just stupid.

Toronto Sun sucks.

By Brendan

December 16, 2008 1:02 PM | Link to this

I place ZERO credibility in a Toronto Sun article about the Thrashers. Ranallo is exactly right in his characterization of the source.

By for4rest

December 16, 2008 1:37 PM | Link to this

As a Wild fan I’m visiting the blog to see your perspectives on the Thrasers/Wild trade rumors. The rumors around here have the Wild trading Kim Johnsson to the Thrasers for a 3rd line forward. I would be surprised if the Thrasers took Gabby, but you are one of the few teams that has the cap space to afford him. I have also heard the rumors that the Wild are looking to ship a goalie and possibly Gabby for prospects and a forward.

By GaVaHokie

December 16, 2008 2:11 PM | Link to this

Thanks for4rest… that’s an interesting rumor.

The 3rd line player is most likely Eric Perrin if I could wager a guess. Not sure I can get excited about Kim Johnsson though.

If Waddell found a way to get Backstrom here and Backstrom showed an interest in staying long-term, I’d be very happy.

I’ll say Hedberg, Perrin and Grant Lewis for Backstrom and Kim Johnsson… just for fun.

By TableHockey

December 16, 2008 2:54 PM | Link to this

for4rest - we were hoping you guys were offering Waddell a job :o)

On a serious note I went to the Thrashers/Wild game last season and a ton of Wild fans came to town for the game. They were first class and very friendly.

As for the trade I’m good with that deal as long as you guys don’t ask for next years first rounder.

By ranallo10 (in AT)

December 16, 2008 3:41 PM | Link to this

for4rest — Personally I don’t see the benefit of Atlanta trading for Johnsson, as he’s not a drastic improvement over most of the defenders on the roster currently. Plus, Atlanta has a plethora of able bodied defenders, with one about to come off the IR (Bogosian) meaning another has to be sent to the AHL (Valabik).

Johnsson makes no sense to me, since his offense is underwhelming at best, and his defensive ability leaves much to be desired (from the games I’ve seen). He’d be a second or third line defender for a team full of second and third line defenders.

If anybody helped the system in Atlanta, it’d be Bergeron, Burns, or maybe Schultz. But I’m guessing two of those three are deemed untouchable and the third (Bergeron) is far too helpful to Minnesota to be traded. Offensively it’d be your other untouchables, Koivu or Bouchard (Gaborik’s two games played makes it hard to say he’d actually help this team at present).

Offensively, your team needs a solid two-way player who can score. Thus, Perrin makes a little sense to me. He wouldn’t be any worse than Belanger (except in the faceoff circle), and might compliment the MN system. If I were in Risebrough’s position, I wouldn’t look too far past Perrin or Havelid as potential targets. If Minnesota is looking to dump Gaborik, I’d ask for Little, Oystrick, and a pick (from a MN perspective).

Either way, I wouldn’t pull the trigger on most trade offers that could be thrown around between both teams, as I don’t see the two being a good fit for trade partners.

Dave — As usual your memory is flawed. Earlier in the offseason you seemed to recall this, but now apparently you have forgotten…I have always been a proponent of getting this team younger by bringing up the Wolves. I still am.

Since that’s not a realistic option (the GM wont waive and trade the entire roster just to bring up youth), I’ve resigned myself to understanding there is room for 2 unproven forwards (Little included in that group), and 1 unproven defender. Injuries have expanded the usefulness of the youth, but when healthy there is only room for one defender, and one forward. Little and Bogosian started the season, filling to two spots I felt were available to youth.

I’m a Valabik fan, always have been. I’ve defended him from the first time somebody mentioned how they think he’s __ (insert whatever knock you may deem fit, such as: slow, dumb, too tall, too dark haired, or whatever other junk people come up with). I got in arguments with Bob last season over Pavelec’s ability.

You couldn’t be any more wrong lumping me into a group of people who disliked a youth movement. I like the philosophy, wanted the majority of the youth to get a fair shot, and haven’t wavered from that stance since before the whole JP “Quasimodo” Vigier arguments of two years back. If you remember those, the crux of my argument then was that he was wasting a spot that could easily be filled by the younger grinders in our system (players like Lavallee, Stuart, Crabb).

Good try though.