Thrashers

By Buzilla in CT

January 27, 2009 3:31 PM | Link to this

First?

By Buzilla in CT

January 27, 2009 3:38 PM | Link to this

Let the new winning streak commence

By Standac

January 27, 2009 3:41 PM | Link to this

The “Bryan Little just disrespected the Atlanta fans” blathering will commence in 10, 9, 8, 7…

By Jarndyce

January 27, 2009 3:43 PM | Link to this

Ilya goes to the All-Star game and still can’t get a Center to distribute pucks for him.

By Tony C.

January 27, 2009 4:44 PM | Link to this

Jarndyce-OUCH. Truth hurts.

By Spud Webb

January 27, 2009 5:11 PM | Link to this

I keep waiting each day to read the Headline “Waddell FINALLY fired”. I don’t think that day is ever coming.

By Brendan

January 27, 2009 5:29 PM | Link to this

Check back in 2011, Spud Webb. You’ll read it, then. Unless, by some miracle, this February brings a final resolution to “Joe Johnson-gate.”

By Mike

January 27, 2009 6:31 PM | Link to this

Thrashers, Waddell, and Joe-Johnson-gate, what a mess…

By stendec

January 27, 2009 9:58 PM | Link to this

Two more marshmallow goals by that son of a betch Finn Kari Letemin! How many more will surely follow? LaLa Land bestard could not stop a mother (X) watermelon! I joked that John Petrino should play a game without anyone in net (has that now). At least the uncaring untalented ball-less quitters would have to damn concentrate every second or get massacred 100-0! Nice sentiment. Ilya “I’m No Captain” Kovalchuk continues his uninspired playing out the string in finest of Maryann Hossa fashion. **For someone so highly regarded this Russiian cannot shoot the puck on net worth a damn! Misses more open shots than anyone I have ever seen! Terribly overrated. Anyone that denies that is a damn liar! Still a big fat zero on scoreboard for Toiletlids. Unlikely to change! Team has given up. Tanked. Gone into the crapper not to return! Oh, sorry, they did that a damn long time ago. Bring up the Wolves. PLEASE! Fire Don Waddell. Exile Kari Letemin. Deep fry the Toiletlids. How long will this losing streak last?

By stendec

January 27, 2009 10:14 PM | Link to this

After this complete debacle of absurdity I will pop in my tape of the Flames clinching the Stanley Cup. Now that was a team! That was what hockey is all about. I do not exactly know what is being palmed off in Atlanta presently but it is damn sure not hockey! Enjoy another losing streak start apologists. Should be a lengthy one with wonder puke between the pipes. Thanks John Petrino, you mother (X)! Glad your blue-haired monkey puck looking goaltender with issues did not let you down. Damn good save percentage. Too bad it does not mean a mother (X) thing! Still another in the L column. Cheerio. Oh yeah, still 2-0 with nary a heartbeat in any body wearing a bird emblem.

By Jared

January 27, 2009 10:40 PM | Link to this

Actually Stendec, Kari is seemingly the only player tonight that actually showed up to play :-P By the way, you’re a complete an utter nimrod.

By stendec

January 27, 2009 10:43 PM | Link to this

Come on Turco! Less than four minutes to go. Shut out these impotent bestards! It is no less than they deserve. Just another damn heartless mail-in job. Guess they were exhausted! All-Star break boozing apparently took too much of a toll on them. Especially mother (X) goalie Kari “Hiccup” Letemin! May the hangover agonies be fatal boys. Oxygen waste quitters!

By stendec

January 27, 2009 10:55 PM | Link to this

Thank you Mr Marty Turco. Congratulations on recording a shutout. You are truly a National Hockey League goaltender! Wish there was one in Atlanta. Thanks again.

By Jared

January 27, 2009 10:59 PM | Link to this

Now having said that, that performance by Atlanta is essentially a giant middle finger to us fans. Well screw you too! Kari stands on his head and no one gives a damn apparantly. Absolutely pitiful.

By R. Stroz

January 27, 2009 11:09 PM | Link to this

The Buzilla first post jinx has returned.

By stendec

January 27, 2009 11:12 PM | Link to this

True superstars convert gimmees 90 percent of the time. Stars convert 70 percent. Even average blue collar grinder players convert 30 percent. Captain Ilya “Bags Are Packed” Kovalchuk never damn converts! What does that say about him? Set him up. Set him up! Hell, he will just shoot the puck wide or straight into the goaltender! Anyone else as tired of that shet as I am? Just wondering.

By Mike Knobler

January 28, 2009 12:00 AM | Link to this

Jared You pegged it. In fact, you could have been looking over my shoulder as I typed my story. What a waste of a great effort by Kari Lehtonen.

stendec As for Kovalchuk not converting, he had nine goals in his previous 11 games. Your lack of credibility about goaltending is now matched by your lack of credibility about scoring.

By Denny

January 28, 2009 1:17 AM | Link to this

I read this blog regularly and don’t write often - but CONGRADS TO Mike Knobler for “calling out” stendec. It’s pathetic that while we enjoy this blog for information and insightful comments by many contributors we have to endure the vitriol of stendec as spews his venom with the intellegence of a viber.

And my only comment to stendec is “GET A LIFE”, its only a game AND one you apparantly know very little about!

By Kaat

January 28, 2009 5:05 AM | Link to this

I was in Dallas for the game. Kari was truly outstanding. He made some spectacular saves and wowed the Dallas crowd. The rest of the team? As far as I could see, they hadn’t returned from the All Star break. Sloppy and half hearted (again, except for Kari). Even Kozlov — whom I rarely fault — was off. Kovalchuk seemed alternately bored and frustrated. Oh, wait, that was me.

Turco had one eye-popping save on Ilya. Other than that, he mostly got to stand around and stretch and sip from his water bottle. He got very little business at his end all night.

Really disappointing.

By ranallo10 (in AT)

January 28, 2009 5:42 AM | Link to this

Kaat — How did Turco’s cartwheel glove save and subsequent sprawl look in real time? It looked pretty darn funny to me, but I was curious if the people live thought he was injured, making an acrobatic save attempt, or just playing dead (much like the Thrashers seemed to do at certain points in the game).

Knobler — It’s about time man. I think you’ve lasted longer than most everyone else around here, myself included.

Have you by any chance heard anything about why Hoffman never got that call to return to the NHL? After healing from the hand injury, it must’ve been hard for him to realize his chance at being a Thrasher had been eliminated due to his doing what got him on the roster in the first place.

By ea

January 28, 2009 6:32 AM | Link to this

Thanks Mike for calling out an obviously crazy Stendac. I am really sick of his blathering. I have only two long over due words for him, SHUT UP!.

By raindawg722

January 28, 2009 8:19 AM | Link to this

The saving grace about Stendec is that his posts are usually liberally sprinkled with bold text so they can be easily spotted and ignored.

By Russ

January 28, 2009 8:43 AM | Link to this

To stendec: a curse to you and your family.

By stendec

January 28, 2009 8:50 AM | Link to this

I apologize for hating finns so much, you see, I was molested by 5 finnish goaltenders when I was a child. I am not married, nor do I have any children. I can not perform in the bedroom either. Please forgive me. If you nice people would just allow me to vent every now and then, I will not keep this anger inside and end up like my pal Jeffery Dahmer.

By stendec

January 28, 2009 9:04 AM | Link to this

Kari Lehtonen 8-14-2 .905 3.14

NHL AVERAGES:

Wins: 9. (Below) Goals Against: 2.73. (Way below) Save Percentage: .908. (Only near average)

TO ALL ON THIS SITE I HAVE NEVER PERSONALLY ATTACKED BUT WHO RELISH IN DEMEANING ME: God bless you. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Wallow in the ineptitude and apathy your willing compliance has spawned. Savor close losses. Praise losing efforts. Demand no accountability. The end result will be the Thrashers taking their uncaring act to another location. Do the players care? No. Do the fans care? Who really knows. I will always remember the Flames and Knights fondly. Not so with this uncaring bunch. Sorry for length of post. Hope no one was offended. I am just a football guy who is a novice hockey watcher of 40 plus years. What do I know?

By dhj_1962

January 28, 2009 9:13 AM | Link to this

stendec, You cuss about KL, you cuss at other bloggers about everything, then say “God Bless You”.

By Russ

January 28, 2009 9:33 AM | Link to this

stendec asks “What do I know?” - Well, you know the Thrashers suck (Duh? 5). You say Kovalchuk can’t hit the net, yet he has been among the NHL goals scored leaders ever since being in the league. If you want to find fault with Kovy I would look at the other end of the ice. You seem to blame 99.9% of the teams problems on Lehtonen. He has not proven to be a #1 goalie yet, and may never, but he has also never been given a chance to show what he can do with an NHL caliber defense in front of him. So, in conclusion, I would say you know that the Thrashers suck, but nothing else.

By Russian

January 28, 2009 9:41 AM | Link to this

Problem was not Kari. He was playing very good. Anderson was right when he said that we are not talanted team. If 5-6 guys were sleeping we could not win a game. I am agree with Coach 100%. 5 days rest was too much for Thrashers. They could not move their feet and made mistake by mistake. Well game is over we have to move to another game and another. But someone FIRE WADDELL before deadline. He will make more mistake and will not get good players.

By Kevin

January 28, 2009 9:43 AM | Link to this

To Stendec,…..what do you know?,…nothing. Idiot, I mean you, this was not going to be a playoff team this year. So trying to compare this team to a playoff team or one of the elite teams in the NHL just shows how crazy you are. Goaltenders in the NHL dont routinely face 35+ shots a night. Guess what Stendec, the guys shooting the puck are pretty good. Give them enough chances and even Brodeur gets beat for 5 a night and I bet you would call 2 of them soft. Kari was the Thrasher player of the game last night. (Maybe shared with Bogo). Did the team stink? Yes, well for the first 10 minutes they did anyway. After that a pretty good effort against a team that has played pretty well in the last 10 games. Turco stood on his head, and our kids could not figure out how to keep the puck away from him. Yes, in my opionion, the key to the game was Turco handling the puck and disrupting the attack. Was it a game that they could have won? Yes. Does your stupid and continual personal attacks against the team change that. No. Maybe you should not watch hockey, at least Thrasher hockey anymore. There are enough negative people in the world. Good days will come, but for now enjoy the fact that you are one of the few cities in the country that gets to watch the best live sport in the world, even if we dont play it that well.

By Who cares?

January 28, 2009 10:05 AM | Link to this

Are you kidding? I’ve said for years NHL is dead and still is. Hockey works in Canada- that’s it. You have a niche sport that has been mismanaged by player strikes and stupid decisions by Betteman. Only thing that can save the sport is a government bailout and Obama doesn’t care for the sport.

By Alan

January 28, 2009 11:40 AM | Link to this

“I’ve said for years NHL is dead and still is.”

Wow, you’re an idiot. Congratulations for not being a fan of the sport. Here’s your prize.

By GaVaHokie

January 28, 2009 12:13 PM | Link to this

This article cracks me up!

Is Kristie Schwartz an intern or something… what bush-league manipulation… notice in the first paragraph how she has to lump the last two years together to make the loss seem bigger?

If you look at the actual numbers, the Thrashers have cut their losses in half since the 2002 season.

Of course, if you look at the last TWO seasons combined. They lost $50 MILLION. :)

By R. Stroz

January 28, 2009 12:24 PM | Link to this

I’d like to know how much of the losses are non-cash items such as depreciation and amortization.

In other words, I want to see a cash flow statement which includes the Hawks, Thrashers, and the arena operations.

By Sara

January 28, 2009 12:47 PM | Link to this

Stroz yeah it wasn’t hard to catch that whole “Hawks and Thrashers” thing - with complete omission of the arena. So do these numbers include the arena or don’t they? The depreciation would primarily fall only under the arena operations - strictly speaking I would think the arena would own the zambonis and other such equipment, as opposed to the team itself owning it. I’ve also always wondered if there aren’t separate underlying companies for each of the three entities (I suspect there are). If the Thrashers and Hawks have to make “lease payments” to the arena, all that is is shifting money from one entity to the other - it will show as an expense to each team, but technically doesn’t cost the ownership a dime. More losses that aren’t really losses.

I’d give anything to get my hands on those books.

By dhj_1962

January 28, 2009 9:21 PM | Link to this

Alan…greatest link ever!!!! give ma a few dollars in my pocket, a cold beer, the warmth and love of my wife….and a picture like that, and I am one happy man.