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Thursday, January 1, 2009
2009 Predictions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta wound up CY2008 with a record of 27-41-12…a points winning percentage of .412. I can’t predict an exact record for CY2009 since I do not know next season’s schedule yet…but I will predict the Thrashers will win a total of 30 games this year. 15 the rest of this season, 15 next fall.
At some point in calendar year 2009 the Thrashers will name a team captain. Seriously, they will.
When asked about the Thrashers going from 43 wins and 97 points two years ago…to 34 wins and 76 points last year…to about 27 wins and 63 points this season, Bruce Levenson will indeed once again use the phrase “I believe we are moving in the right direction”.
Blueland will come closer to “becoming one” than “becoming 18,545”.
The Boston Bruins will win the Stanley Cup Finals. Since Detroit will not win it back-to-back, this will spare Sara’s yard from being TP-ed by RStroz, Brendan and myself.
Atlanta’s Kari Lehtonen experiment will come to an end sometime this year. The #2 overall draft pick in 2002 now has a career record of 78-69-16 with a 2.86 GAA and .912 SV%. So far this season, Kari is 3-8-0 with a 3.30 GAA and .902 SV%. He’s missed almost twice as many games due to a back injury than he’s started so far this year. If he was to use this season to prove that he’s still worthy of the “goalie of the future” tag for the Thrashers…he now has only half a season to prove it.
We will indeed witness Nikita sporting a toga at Blueland. Maybe about the time the Thrashers win game number XX…sometime in mid-February.
The Chicago Wolves will once again win the AHL championship this spring. New head coach, same GM…just like the Thrashers. Go figure…
The Thrashers will finish low enough in the standings to own a lottery pick, (DUH5), and they will actually win the lottery to pick first in the draft. However, Don Waddell will pass up the opportunity to draft John Tavares, instead opting for Sven Sfadittlehoffen…the little-known 18-year old Swedish goalkeeper who has a 17-39-14 record with a 4.56 GAA and .841 SV% in Sweden’s Semi-Juniors. He’ll be eligible to play in the NHL after his 4-year stint in the Swedish Military. Waddell will refer to Sven as…the diamond in the rough that has gone under the conventional radar.
Bryan Little will end the season with more points than Ilya Kovalchuk. Ron Hainsey will end the year with more points than Jason Williams. Nathan Oystrick will end the season with more points than Erik Christensen.
We will enjoy watching all of these former Thrashers in the playoffs this spring… Marian Hossa, Pascal Dupuis, Braydon Coburn, Glen Metropolit, Marc Savard, Shane Hnidy, Eric Belanger, Andrew Brunette, Frantisek Kaberle and Bobby Holik. But not Dany Heatley. Ken Klee’s Coyotes will just miss out on the fun.
Despite seven losing seasons in nine years, not making the playoffs for the eighth season out of nine, icing a team that finished worse than the season prior for the second straight year, and tying the franchise record for playoff victories after a season… ZERO…Don Waddell will not be relieved of his general manager duties at the end of the season. Why? Well, see the Bruce Levenson prediction made earlier and you’ll get a glimpse of the type of mentality we are dealing with here.
The Blue Crew uniforms will become even skimpier. Five_Hole and Alan will attend more games. How the two are related…shrugs…I dunno.
Ilya Kovalchuk will be an Atlanta Thrasher on Dec. 31, 2009. After that…well, you’ll have to check in a year from now for that prediction.
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