AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > September > 28
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Preseason Or Not, Familiar Un-Good Trend Emerges
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yes, I know…its just preseason. Yes, I know… a lot of the players are youngsters that will be/have already been sent down to Chicago or elsewhere to develop. Yes, I know… in another week or so none of this really matters.
How-EV-errrrrrrrr….
A very familiar trend has emerged during this preseason that has already reached the halfway point…the massive gap between shot taken by the Thrashers and shots allowed.
Three games into these exhibition matches the Thrashers defense isn’t quite showing the improvement that may of us, myself included, are expecting once regular season play begins. After Sunday’s 4-0 loss in Detroit, the team has a GAA of 5.00, is only 77.27% effective in killing penalties and has been outshot by a total of 113-64, which averages out to 21.3 S/G and 37.6 SA/G. Both of those averages are worse that the league-low totals the Thrashers put up last season.
In the game against the Red Wings alone, the difference in shots was -24…38-14.
Time to panic? Hardly.
Time to be overly concerned? Eh… Again, it’s only preseason.
Regardless of the three games played over the past four nights, when the starting blueliners all take to the ice later this week…or on opening night… and we watch Enstrom, Havelid, Hainsey, Schneider, Exelby and Bogosian begin working as a defensive unit, I fully expect that we will begin to see the much-anticipated improvement.
But if there is one defensive player that just might be worried…its Boris Valabik. He’s played in all three preseason games so far, has 34 PIM and is a -5 with zero points. Not exactly the type of numbers that will nail down a spot on the NHL squad as the seventh man who cycles playing time around with the other third line defenders.
Certainly there is time for Boris to deal with this. But if he’s not able to do so, it may leave an open door for one Arturs Kulda. He played in his first game of the preseason Sunday and finished win no penalty minutes and was a -1. Look for coach Anderson to insert Kulda in the lineup later this week and give him every opportunity to earn his way onto the team.
Silver linings so far on the blueline…Ron Hainsey’s two starts have produced two assists, zero PIM and a +2, including a +1 in the 9-4 loss to St Louis on Friday. His TOI totals, 23:07 and 23:17 respectively. Also, Zach Bogosian started Sunday and played 21:23, finishing even…which is a trick in a 4-0 loss.
Offensively, seeing shot totals go from 29 to 21 to 14 isn’t exactly moving things in the right direction. But, Sunday was the first game in which Ilya Kovalchuk, Eric Perrin and Jason Williams played in. This O-fense is a work-in-progress and may continue to be so even after October 10.
A good stat for the O-fense… The power play did produce 4 goals on 20 attempts, (20%), which was half of the goals scored on the road trip.
I’m not expecting this bunch to throw an average of 30+ shots on goals this season…nor do I expect that number will be anywhere as bad as the 21.3 SOG number so far. Talk to me next week after the last of the preseason games are played to see if I’m overly concerned.
In goal, Kari Lehtonen made his first start of the season in Detroit. He face 37 shots and allowed but three goals, (91.89 SV%). The Wings fourth goal was an empty netter. That’s not a shabby performance especially given the number of shots he faced. As I’ve stated all summer, if this defense can cut down the number of shots Kari faces in a game…even to a merely respectable 29 or 30 on average…he is going to have an outstanding season.
This is in sharp contrast to Friday night’s nine goals on thirty-eight shots performance by Johan Hedberg, (75.67 SV%). Let’s just say it’s good that he got that stinker out of the way when it doesn’t count.
Again, these are all meaningless numbers produced in meaningless games… let’s not lose sight of that. Nonetheless, the high amount of shots allowed coupled with the low amount of shots taken follow an all-to-familiar pattern in an all-to-familiar trend.
Preseason or not.
