Thrashers' Peverley making most of opportunity

By Chris Vivlamore

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Rich Peverley says he doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder. What he does have is motivation.

The Thrashers forward went undrafted out of St. Lawrence University in 2004 and after several years in hockey’s minor leagues, Peverley in 2007 finally made it to the NHL with a couple of brief stints with Nashville over two seasons.

And that, it seems, was that. After opening last season on the Predators’ opening roster, he was waived after 27 games and that might have been the end of the story.

The Predators’ loss turned out to be the Thrashers’ gain.

“Nashville gave me a great opportunity to be in this league but I think maybe it was a blessing in disguise,” Peverley said of his release. “[Thrashers coach] John Anderson gave me a great opportunity at the time and I’m not sure I would have gotten that opportunity elsewhere.”

After the Thrashers claimed him on Jan. 10, he soon found himself skating with the likes of Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov. He finished the season with 33 points (13 goals, 20 assists) in 38 games with Atlanta. Add that to his stats with Nashville and Peverley had career-highs in points (42), goals (15) and assists (27).

“I have motivation for this year because there are some people that maybe thought I wouldn’t do as well as I did,” Peverley, 27, said this week. “I just want to prove more people wrong. ... I wasn’t drafted, so there were always younger guys coming up. And there were people who thought I maybe had a better year than I should have, that I overachieved. I want to build on my year.”

Peverley was able to find success in the Anderson’s system, even as the Thrashers were struggling to learn it. It wasn’t because he played in it before but because he played against it.

Peverley played four seasons in the AHL with Milwaukee, going up Anderson’s teams in Chicago. The coach noticed.

“He’s a dynamic player,” Anderson said. “I don’t think he had the chance to do that in Nashville. We needed a guy with dynamic potential. It’s a matter of us being able to facilitate his opportunity. He took it and went from there. If he’s our second-line guy, holy smokes.”

For the first time in his career, Peverley is in a NHL training camp not fighting just to make the roster. As the team begins the exhibition season, he is skating as the right wing on a line with Todd White and Kozlov.

“Be it Nashville or here, I think I’ve proven I can be a top-6 guy on this team and in this league,” Peverley said. “Maybe I did surprise myself [last year]. But once a player gets confidence in himself in this league, that they have the ability, they can achieve things.”