DEL.ICIO.USThrashers open preseason camp
Veteran Slava Kozlov, rookie Zach Bogosian focus of first day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Slava Kozlov was back on the ice. Zach Bogosian wasn’t.
Those were the two main stories Saturday on the first day of the Thrashers’ preseason camp, as new coach John Anderson began the process of preparing his team for the Oct. 10 season opener and the 81 games that will follow.
Jason Getz / jgetz@ajc.com
Thrashers players skate around one of two rinks that’s filled with players during the first day of training camp at the team’s practice facility, the Duluth IceForum.
Kozlov, the veteran winger, is coming off knee and shoulder surgeries. Bogosian, the rookie defenseman, is coping with a hip flexor strained Wednesday night in the championship game of the Traverse City Prospect Evaluation Tournament.
Bogosian could be practicing as early as Monday, Bogosian and Anderson said. Kozlov will sit out the first couple of exhibition games, Anderson said.
The Thrashers hope a healthy Kozlov can bounce back from arguably the worst season of his career. He had 17 goals and 24 assists, half a point per game, his lowest scoring rate since he became a full-time NHL player in 1993.
“My knee is fully recovered, and my shoulder feels every day better and better,” Kozlov said. “I’m going to play a few exhibition games and be ready for the opener.
“My mind is clear right now. I’m healthy, I’m fresh and I just want to play.”
Kozlov’s knee didn’t feel right in the summer of 2007, but an MRI revealed no damage. He played all 82 games last season despite on and off knee pain. The MRI results were the same this offseason, but Kozlov persuaded the doctor to perform arthroscopic surgery, anyway.
“They found something,” Kozlov said, adding that it was “not very serious.” He provided no further details.
Kozlov hurt his shoulder during a home game against Florida, when he got crosschecked and hit the ice and the boards simultaneously. From then on, the shoulder was more of a problem than the knee. But Kozlov, eager to avoid minimizing the abuse he’ll get from opposing players, wouldn’t say much about that injury.
“I don’t remember which shoulder, left or right,” he said with a laugh.
Bogosian, the third overall pick in this year’s draft, hopes to make the Thrashers’ 23-man regular-season roster, and Anderson said the hip injury shouldn’t be much of an obstacle. Bogosian didn’t feel anything wrong until the morning after the game and doesn’t know exactly when he got hurt.
“It’s one of those freak things. It was just random,” he said. “It’s nothing too serious. I just want to make sure they take care of it right away.”
“It’s precautionary,” Anderson said. “He’s available to skate if we really wanted to push him, but there’s no point in it.
“Have you seen the condition this guy’s in? We were doing these running drills over the summer, and he was just running by everybody like a gazelle.”
Williams to get look at center
Jason Williams, acquired as a free agent, practiced at right wing on Saturday, but he could begin his Thrashers career elsewhere.
“He’ll play some games at center in the preseason just to see how it goes,” Anderson said. A scout Anderson respects from another franchise recommended Anderson take a look at playing Williams as the center on Ilya Kovalchuk’s line.
“Wherever the coach wants me to play I’ll do my best,” said Williams, who had 37 assists for the Detroit Red Wings in 2005-06.
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