AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2009 > January > 28
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Money woes, and other woes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Be sure to read Kristi Swartz’s story about the vast sums of money the owners say the Thrashers and Hawks and Philips have lost. One thing to note: Aside from the NHL lockout year, the amount of money the Atlanta Spirit has lost has declined pretty consistently year over year.
Speaking about declines, Thursday’s matchup at Philips between the Thrashers and the Islanders pits the two teams in the lead for the right to draft John Tavares this June. Because of the draft lottery, finishing last gives a team a 48-percent chance of getting Tavares.
The Thrashers have handled the Islanders in the first three games of the four-game series. Unfortunately for Atlanta, this is the last game against the Isles this season. (Or maybe that’s fortunate, if you’re already seeing the standings as a race to try to secure a top draft pick.) Here’s a sobering piece of arithmetic: The Thrashers and Islanders have performed almost exactly the same against the other 28 NHL teams. The Thrashers are 14-27-5 in those games; the Islanders 13-26-5 (with two games in hand).
Meanwhile, if there’s anybody out there who insists on finding the good news in bad situations, consider these two things:
—The Thrashers have killed 10 consecutive penalties, and their once worst-in-the-NHL penalty kill has been a hugely successful 86 percent over the last eight games.
—Kari Lehtonen is playing winning hockey. His save percentage has been 93.9 or better in four of the last five games.
