AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > December > 27 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USCrusher to play Sunday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Erik Christensen took Jason Williams’ place as the center between Eric Perrin and Colby Armstrong in practice today for the Thrashers, and coach John Anderson later confirmed Christensen will play Sunday against the Boston Bruins. It’s Christensen’s first game since Dec. 2 at Montreal, when his right shoulder briefly popped out of joint. What are the Thrashers looking for from him?
“He’ll be a little rusty. I expect that. But I hope the hunger to get back in to play will overtake that,” Anderson said. “He’s got tremendous skill, and he’s got the opportunity to use it.
“I know he’s a little nervous, but I think he’s going to be a little more determined this time. We want success.”
Nervous over his shoulder or over returning after such a long absence?
“I think a little of both,” said Anderson, adding he experienced the same feelings when he was a player. “Hopefully, he’s fine.”
Comments
By Brendan
December 27, 2008 6:34 PM | Link to this
Craig Custance did a blog at TSN called, “Christen ready to be Atlanta’s #1 center” back in September. Look, it’s nearly January, and he’s getting his chance.
Good luck.
Most of the time, Thrashers fans view roster moves, at this point, like “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.” I don’t, however. I view the Thrashers as more … like a “Runaway Train.” I’m just waiting to see what happens when they run out of rails.
By Stevo
December 27, 2008 7:07 PM | Link to this
Is Williams hurt or is JA tired of his lackluster play?
By sisu
December 27, 2008 7:22 PM | Link to this
Williams is the odd man out, someone had to sit for Christen to play…
Maybe, just maybe this will get something going? If not we can just watch what could have been with Savvy
By Stevo
December 27, 2008 7:32 PM | Link to this
Williams is the odd man out, someone had to sit for Christen to play…
No sh_t sisu, but why is he the odd man out?
By Joe
December 27, 2008 7:42 PM | Link to this
Because he is garabe….. Hes ok when hes playing well but hes been far to inconsistant and hasent put up good numbers and last game about 3 of the goals where his fault when he could of caught the guys on the back check but put no effort into it
By Jeff
December 27, 2008 8:15 PM | Link to this
Fairly new hockey fan here, and I’ve really been getting into the game. Is the Christenson guy going to bring anything? How come the Thrash aren’t using more of their youngsters ala the Blackhawks? Is there any talent in the minors?
By sisu
December 27, 2008 8:29 PM | Link to this
A center has to sit, so your choices are limited, to me Williams is the logical choice. White is playing well with his line, there is no use on the 4th line for him and for what ever reason the #1 line is staying put…so there;)
By Nikita
December 27, 2008 9:29 PM | Link to this
The #1 is staying because a) he works his a* off and b) Kovy likes him. Williams has been streaky — plus he’s not the ideal companion to Perrin & Armstrong and Erik Christensen last found success on a Perrin-Armstrong line.
By garon
December 28, 2008 12:31 AM | Link to this
How is it hard to see? Williams is the odd man out because Reasoner is good at what he does. He can kill penalties, and if we actually had a first line center, he’d be a really good third line center. He’s working fairly well with Kovalchuk. White is working well with his line, and it’s not going to get broken up any time soon. Slater does about as much as you can ask for from a fourth line center, and Christensen is not a fourth liner. If someone was going to get sat for Christensen, it’s obviously Williams unless you play him on the wing and sit Perrin, Thorburn, or Armstrong, and of those, Perrin is the only one I’d really want to see sitting.
By jcwhitingjr
December 28, 2008 1:35 AM | Link to this
I’d prefer to see him on the wing, but either way, here’s hoping that he brings it.
By Alan
December 28, 2008 7:19 AM | Link to this
Our problem right now is a logjam of third line talent, just waiting for time on the third line. This will also be one of the first times we’ve seen Christensen center (don’t forget, guys, center is his natural position) all season. This might be what we need to get his motor started.
Unfortunately, if this doesn’t get him going, then he might as well be sent away for a draft pick or two at the deadline to a team that can utilize him correctly and maybe get his engine going.
By Mike Knobler
December 28, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this
Yes, Christensen is naturally a center and was put on the wing earlier this season only to make room for Williams. Neither Williams nor Christensen has had the season the Thrashers had hoped for.
Reasoner is not coming out of the lineup unless he is hurt. He has been the most solid forward defensively.
White has been the best offensive center by far and is a key to the one line that is scoring.
Slater is giving the effort you want on the fourth line.
By Nikita
December 28, 2008 11:04 AM | Link to this
I think this is a great move. Seriously, Christensen hasn’t played well since he got injured when on the Perrin/Penguins line. Hopefully this helps all three forwards.
For the long term…Reasoner is playing great. Strictly speaking, he’s not first-line talent, but he has first-line heart. Unless he gets injured, I can’t imagine why he would sit.
White’s skills are awesome, but he is both easily worn down and old. I can imagine a scenario in which Little is moved off White’s line, maybe switched with Thorbs or a large-bodied enforcing import.
I’m very happy with the Kovalchuk/Reasoner/Thorburn experiment in some regards. I think we’ve seen how good Reasoner is, and we’ve seen good development from Thorburn. His hands are better than assumed, and he plays the body well. He’s improving vastly in positioning and penalty minutes. But the line isn’t scoring as much as we’d like, and we do have a trade deadline looming and a whole slew of more or less equal forwards. I would think that the powers that be would be inclined to pursue a trade of virtually any of the struggling forwards, or even the older and more solid forwards if something sufficiently attractive were available.
By Sam
December 28, 2008 11:36 AM | Link to this
Marty Reasoner is not only a good player, but from articles I have read, a great guy. I hope he is here for a long time.
By Tony C.
December 28, 2008 12:31 PM | Link to this
Sam-I agree reasoner is the type of guy I’d like to see more of in the Thrasher’s org. but hey, what do I know?
By sisu
December 28, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this
Reasoner is a solid pk guy and also seems to fit right in to the system of Andersson. I just hope we can find a center in these guys, maybe Crusher will finally step up? Or what about a wing to support Kovy?
By Tom
December 28, 2008 4:01 PM | Link to this
Watching Tavares and Esposito play together in the World Juniors makes me want to cheer for Boston today.
GO ISLANDERS!!!
It may be what we need to keep Ilya, Tavares, Esposito, and Bogo… Some good young blood.
By Tony C.
December 28, 2008 6:54 PM | Link to this
No kidding. Esposito looks 1000% better than last time I saw him play, Tavares is silly good.
I can understand a team seriously considering tanking to get him.
Not that I agree, but I understand
By Bob
December 28, 2008 7:00 PM | Link to this
Now you understand the build year, that’s the goal, Tavares
By stendec
December 28, 2008 8:04 PM | Link to this
Kari Lehtonen and Ilya Kovalchuk are sorry aryse sons of beetches! Both are heartless quitters. Obe fails to try. Rge other plays just well enough to lose. They can go to Hell and take the other oxygen waste Toiletlids with them! Way to go Falcons.
By stendec
December 28, 2008 8:33 PM | Link to this
PLAYERS TO RE-SIGN: None. COACHES TO RE-SIGN: None. OFFICE STAFF NOT TO FIRE: None. MASCOT NOT TO FIRE: None. ICE GIRLS NOT TO FIRE: None. Hell, make next season a true rebuild season! These gutless quitter oxygen wastes can all go straight to Hell. Damn mother (X)! Especially dumb braindead SOB Finn Kari Letemin and overrated and overpaid Russian bestard Ilya “Why Should I Try” Kovalchuk. Maryann Hossa looking scumball! **Untalented sons of beetches! Way to mail another one in all you mother (X) ball-less wonders.
By bill
December 28, 2008 8:46 PM | Link to this
The only way for the thrashers to get better is to have one owner who is not tied up with legal problems, DW has been quite and I don’t think John Anderson knew exactly what he was getting into here with the ownership mess,the GM’s hands are tied we stuck with what we have. Hossa didn’t want to stay here because of it, John Anderson made a big mistake right off the bat by not naming a captain, I think Kolvy was upset that he wasn’t named and that’s way he is playing not like the kolvy of old.We don’t have a leader in the locker room and Kolvy has been very low key, he would have been a great captain. John Anderson treats these guys like children and they are responding in kind.Wehen he speaks you can hardly hear him a coach has to be heard, we should have kept Bob Hartley.
By stendec
December 28, 2008 8:48 PM | Link to this
Put everyone affiliated with Toiletlids behind bars! Accepting money under false pretenses. Not one of them has done a damn thing worth a dime to earn their generous paychecks! Can we bomb or at least embargo Finland for sending scum like Kari Lehtonen to this country? Most untalented piece of shet to ever suit up for an NHL game. When he is not feigning an injury to stay out of the lineup that is. Love good old John “More Excuses” Petrino. Damn toilet residue scumball! Enjoy the new year apologists. Along with the many defeats to come in 2009! Bless the Falcons. To Hell with the Toiletlids!
By bill
December 28, 2008 8:53 PM | Link to this
The problem is with the ownership, they don’t care they are tied in legal porblems. Don Waddel has tried but his hands are tied. John Anderson needed to name a Captain and it should have been Kovy. He would have been a great captain it was his time. John Anderson has treated his players like kids and not grown ups. We should have kept Bob Hartley he was solid and didn’t put nonsense like Anderson does.
By BlueSpark
December 28, 2008 8:53 PM | Link to this
stendec you suck worse than the Thrashers. READING YOUR POSTS IS WORSE THAN WATCHING THE THRASHERS’ PK. You add nothing to these discussions. You’re the Jason Williams of this board. I would rather you die than the Thrashers win another game.
Learn to spell, learn how to not make everything bold, and learn some clever insults instead of the monotonous garbage you post here every G.D. day.
By stendec
December 28, 2008 9:02 PM | Link to this
Another damn thing! Most professional teams win at home more than they lose (except in Detroit). The Toiletlids with Kari Letemin in goal could not get a a home ice win even if the other team failed to show up! I wish to Hell Detroit would take this bunch of totally worthless quitters as a feeder group for the Red Wings! Let that organization start swirling down the commode. The Toiletlids are the Detroit Lions on ice. Untalented sons of beetches! Choke on that unintelligent apologists. Tell me again why I should rejoice over another close loss! I knew the LaLa Land mother (X) would give the game away eventually. Oxygen waste ball-less bestard!
By stendec
December 28, 2008 9:04 PM | Link to this
I was not talking to you BlueSpark you mother (X)! People like you may embrace ineptitude and losing. I DO NOT!
By new coach
December 28, 2008 9:05 PM | Link to this
Hire Peter Laviolette. As with Hartley, NHL winning experience. THe JA experiment should be over. Hartley had a winning record here. Ron Wilson, Joel Quenneville, they win. We went with AHL and are getting AHL results.
Hire Laviolette tomorrow! wE’LL START WINNING.
By gretschdrum
December 28, 2008 9:19 PM | Link to this
Hire Laviolette tomorrow! wE’LL START WINNING.
Ahahaha, please stop, that IS rich! Do you really think that ASG will pay THREE coaches salaries this year? Just stop with the comedy routine you goose.
By stendec
December 28, 2008 10:05 PM | Link to this
The first goal went in off the glove of heartless Finn SOB Kari Letemin! Just thought you damn apologists might like to know. Game-loser was completely stoppable whiff job! Not stoppable for LaLa Land bestard. The Toiletlids are 3-6-2 with the untalented scumball between the pipes. No one gives a damn about the meaningless .901 save percentage! The 3.55 goals against average is sickeningly reprehensible. Totally unacceptable. This quitter is nothing but damn toilet residue. Send his sorry aryse back to Finland. The sooner the damn better!
By stendec
December 28, 2008 10:34 PM | Link to this
Who the Hell is responsible for Kari Letemin still being in Atlanta? Whoever he is should be executed or sent to Poughkeepsie immediately!
By stendec
December 28, 2008 10:45 PM | Link to this
Happy New Year to Knobs, Rawhide, Falcons and fans, Braves and fans and even, gulp, Hawks and fans. Hope new year brings health and prosperity. Cannot in good conscience wish the same for heartless quitters or their delusional apologist groupies. God bless!
By Peter
December 28, 2008 11:42 PM | Link to this
Doesn’t anyone else find it ironic that Coach Anderson is now having to deal with the players that he was supposed to be developing for the past several years in Chicago? I think he has done a lousy job developing players and now it has come back to bite him in the a*. The Chicago Wolves won only because the owner would do whatever was necessary to win the cup.
By stendec
December 29, 2008 12:28 AM | Link to this
I too have issues with John Petrino. However, he had nothing to do with major proportion busts Kari “Marshmallow Goal” Letemin and Ilya “Bags Are Packed” Kovalchuk being on the roster. One a defector from Finland (deport his SOB ayrse) and the other a gutless Russian (deport his ball-less prima donna ayrse).** Fair is fair! Know why the coach issued no C this season? He knows that none of the players are worth a damn! End of story. How about those Falcons?
By h
December 29, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this
BlueSpark Rules!
By FED UP
December 29, 2008 12:07 PM | Link to this
This F+++ING team SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!
Just F+++ING FIRE Don Waddell and get it over with!!!!!!!
Enough of the Status Quo!!!!!!!!!
going forward, TRASHERS will never make the playoffs with Don Waddell around. NEVER.
By DisgustedFan
December 29, 2008 12:10 PM | Link to this
This team is a joke. When the Falcons turn things around quicker than the Thrashers, you know there is an issue!
By stendec
December 29, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this
To all intelligent folks who see the oxygen waste Toiletlids for what they actually are. Gutless ball-less quitters! Untalented Finnish SOB Kari Letemin does not even have to dream up his own damn excuses anymore. Apologists are doing it for him! This is listed somewhere: (Heartless Finn SOB) seems to always play his best against the better teams in the league (quit drinking that stuff it is dangerous for you). The only reason we lost 2-1 today was Kari (if sentence ended there it would be truthful but it did not) stood on his head (and sat on his backside) a few times to keep it from being worse (someone explain to this person that a 2-1 loss counts the same as 6-2 and 14-3 losses). I know he’d love to have the first one back (he does not give a shet) but it did look like it deflected (not even through LaLa Land lenses) and fluttered in (as opposed to what exactly?). Why should players make an effort when inferior gutless play is condoned and even embraced by those who watch? Guess most Toiletlid fans(?) just do not give a damn that the team has quit, gone bellyup and given fans the finger with a season still in progress. Well, I sure as Hell do! As, I am thankful to relate, a few others, very few, on this site seem to. Happy New Year to those who see through the sham being perpetrated on us all. **Yes, I despise Don Waddell too. He is the Rankin Smith of ice hockey. I believe the bestard is the father of Kari Lehtonen. Would would explain a Hell of a lot! Hate Toiletlids almost as much as I hate Saints. Falcon fans know what I mean!
By stendec
December 29, 2008 1:06 PM | Link to this
Ilya “Bags Are Packs” Kovalchuk has quit. That should be obvious to everyone. The Russian is in full Maryann Hossa mode. However…By Joshgekko Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet. At the end of the game, Kovy hustled back to make sure the puck didn’t go into the empty net . That in itself doesn’t mean much, but the fact that he knew there was no time to get it back into the offensive zone yet still wanted to prevent the extra goal showed his continued trend towards teamwork. He seems to be turning more into a playmaker this year. I’m assuming it has more to do with the lack of topline talent playing on his line that’s keeping him from getting quality chances. Even then I cant help but think that in the past he would have thrown it on net whether or not the chance was there. I made no comments because it is just so heartbreaking how easily some can be fooled and manipulated. Not angry at this delusional one. Just supremely sad. I wish him/her well. God bless all. GO GATORS! Show those Northern bestards what you think of Heisman Trophy choice.
By stendec
December 29, 2008 1:29 PM | Link to this
…maybe (John Petrino) knows these guys now and none of them are “C” worthy. Hmm. Where have I read that before?
By stendec
December 29, 2008 1:36 PM | Link to this
As for the poll question. No one gives a damn flying (X) what Don Waddell thinks or believes! Worthless piece of shet.
By Jim
December 29, 2008 1:45 PM | Link to this
They are stealing from us fans. Claiming to put our an NHL product on to the ice. Donnie has assembled a bunch of gutless clowns who couldn’t compete in the EHL. And, he still continues to masquerade as a GM. This is a cruel joke that the Atlanta Spirit is playing on loyeal fans of Atlanta. We won’t forget it.
By NASCAR Dave
December 29, 2008 1:58 PM | Link to this
Happy Holidays, Thrashers fans!!!
Are you enjoying this “Thrasher Hockey” yet??? LOL
Just remember SHEEP… You get what you pay for… And you have nobody to blame but yourselves…
By T-Bone
December 29, 2008 4:10 PM | Link to this
Not renewing season tix was perhaps my best financial move of the year. Watching the trainwreck from afar is much easier to take emotionally as compared to viewing the carnage nightly from close in.
By Tony C.
December 29, 2008 5:23 PM | Link to this
Bob
I figured that was the plan the whole time, I just wasn’t sold on Tavares.
Consider me sold.
FIRE WADDELL
By Your Mom
December 30, 2008 12:30 AM | Link to this
Did anyone see Toby’s HOT HOT girlfriend in section 117 on Sunday? She was with Toby’s parents. WOW
By PuckedUp
December 30, 2008 3:49 PM | Link to this
stendec, you are going to have an anuerism or something if you don’t calm down.
The team stinks, the GM stinks, the owners stink. And there is not a friggin thing any of us can do about it. No one likes it. But no one here has the $$$ to do anything about it.
Go to your doctor and request a very large vallium. Or go to the Cheata and see if you can get one of the ladies to help release some of that stress.
Do something! Yeesh!