Ron Hainsey part of Thrashers defensive makeover

He’s not the 18-year-old youngster. And he’s not the 19-year veteran. But Ron Hainsey is part of the defensive evolution going on in Blueland that Thrashers fans should get to know too.

The 27-year-old defenseman, and native of Connecticut, was the first piece secured in what the Thrashers believe can be a key transformation.

Hainsey signed a five-year, $22.5 million contract in early July. Coming from Columbus doesn’t make somebody a household name, or even all that familiar to the Thrashers, but his teammates are taking notice.

“He’s a good all-around defenseman,” said Garnet Exelby, one of the few holdovers on defense from last season, along with pairing Tobi Enstrom and Niclas Havelid. “He likes to jump up because he’s a big guy. He does everything well. It’s great to have a guy like that on your team, even to look up to in a way, to see how he plays. …

“He’s very smart in where he needs to be on the ice. He moves the puck well. And he’s not afraid to make the long stretch pass to catch guys on the other team sleeping.”

Hainsey led all Blue Jacket defensemen in scoring the past two seasons with 32 points last year and 34 in 2006-07. Thrashers coach John Anderson is starting to see why.

“One thing I didn’t realize was how hard he shot,” Anderson said. “He can fire it. You can tell when it comes off his stick. It’s exploding, like (Ilya) Kovalchuk when he shoots. We want to try to set him up for more shots.”

For starters they’ll get him time at the point on the power play. All eight of Hainsey’s goals last season came on the power play.

The Thrashers are also hoping to increase his five-on-five opportunities too, which is something Hainsey is excited about.

“The way we play promotes us going to the net with the puck and having the forward cover for us,” Hainsey said. “It’s up to us defenseman that are looked to for offense to get up there and create it.”

Both he and Mathieu Schneider, who was acquired in a trade from Anaheim last week, are known to be offensive-minded defensemen. Coaches might normally hesitate to pair those styles together, preferring instead to put them with a stay-at-home defender.

But Anderson, who likes to have offense come from his defense, isn’t about to rule it out.

“Why not?” Anderson said. “That doesn’t concern me. The beauty of having lines and defense pairings and who you have playing in goal is it’s not set in stone. You can always change it around. It’s fun to experiment sometimes.”

If Anderson chooses to keep Enstrom and Havelid together and wants Schneider or Hainsey paired with 18-year-old Zach Bogosian, the Thrashers might wind up with a top four defenseman on the third line. They could have a third pairing that rivals the first.

“What a country,” Anderson said. “I would love that.”

This newfound depth will also help make the other defenders better. Enstrom played 24:28 per game last season, which lead the Thrashers, and Havelid was third at 20:30.

“With a Schneider and a Hainsey and a Bogosian, it’ll allow those guys to play less minutes,” Anderson said. “But more effective minutes.”

Notes: Fans are invited to attend an open house Saturday morning at Philips Arena, where they can watch the Thrashers’ and St. Louis Blues’ morning skate from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The first 50 fans will receive a free ticket to Saturday night’s game between the Thrashers and Blues.

SportSouth released its schedule of 15 Thrashers games in high definition, including the season-opener on Oct. 10 vs. Washington.