Comments on: Big test in front of big crowd

By: Nikita

Nikita — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:29:19 +0000

IMO, the Thrash played well in the first. Osgood simply shut them down. But the 2nd and 3rd were hard watching, unless you’re a Wings fan. IMO, the team needs more conditioning. Detroit isn’t that much more skilled than most of the rest of the league, but the talent is deep and so is the conditioning. Anderson was trying to save the scorers by rotating the lines religiously from the start, and it worked for a while — but ultimately Detroit was better conditioned and more consistently skilled.

By: STENDEC'S MOTHER

STENDEC'S MOTHER — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:59:20 +0000

So glad Kari had a bad game, The beatings I was taking were beginning to leave marks. My son needs help.

By: jason

jason — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:41:21 +0000

Well at least we’re doing a great job at building a fan base….oh wait, we’re in Atlanta and the team 16,000 in the building were cheering for was from Detroit? Never mind.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:40:44 +0000

Stendec is back hissing but most of the posts are more objective. True that the Red Wings have a better and deeper team than we do, but the game was actually closer than the score. A couple of breaks early on kept us off the board. The Wings control the puck and seem to know where the open shooter is. A good learning lesson for the guys. No question that the Wings will have to shed one or two good players next year to stay within the salary cap. Good crowd energy last night.

By: Ray

Ray — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:32:54 +0000

I was at the game and the Thrashers actually played pretty well. Kari did let in a couple softies, but had Kovy’s shot gone in to tie the game at 1, it may have turned out differently. Osgood had a great game and never let Atlanta get into the game. The Red Wings are the best team in hockey for a reason.

By: dwayne

dwayne — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:21:05 +0000

i watched the whole game, i know we can do the what if’s, its 1-0 and Kovy smacks the pipe, Colby’s wide open net back hander that missed, Slava missing a backhander, someone got robbed in tight, don’t remember who. Osgood was good early, and thats why they won. If Osgood plays like that in the playoffs, they will ge out in the 2nd round. New Jersey will win it all anyway. One more thing. I liked the way the Thrashers gave effort all night. Did not quit. Young guys are impressing me. Oh yeah, Salmela was robbed too. I like his game.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:03:02 +0000

Oh yeah, I meant to say … print out the Red Wings roster, then set it down next to a printout of the Thrashers roster. 6-3 suddenly isn’t looking so bad. Can anyone say, with certainty, that the Red Wings won’t win the Cup again this year? I’m not upset with a 6-3 loss to Detroit, even at Philips Arena. I don’t throw the team under the bus after every loss in a ‘build year.’ Or ‘build DECADE.’ But I am, still, hopping mad at this ownership for its many and calculated ‘missteps’ in its handling of an NHL franchise. That won’t change for me, even when they get back to the playoffs. Which they will, almost by definition. There must be accountability for inaction. And if that accountability’s only incarnation comes in the form of “lessened revenue-sharing dollars,” then FUBAS got off LIGHTLY.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:51:42 +0000

Ya know something, R. Stroz, it occurs to me that Steve Belkin didn’t do ANY of the following, but FUBAS did.

FUBAS DID leave Don Waddell in Charge. Despite the results. Despite the biggest exodus of talent since Scripture. (Don’t make me list the names. Your dog knows the names of the Thrasher players who don’t play here anymore.) At no point did FUBAS ever consider that they, THEMSELVES, and/or Don Waddell, might be the source of the problem, regarding the disappearing talent. Or why players and their agents, alike, regard our market as a joke.

FUBAS DID set a pathetic budget. Probably due to the litigation, but what MORON continues to fight a lawsuit once it no longer becomes “cost effective” to do so? And CRIPPLES your ability to sell tickets and be playoff eligible? Nevermind. No thought is required to answer the question.

FUBAS DID leave Dan Marr in charge of scouting. He’s still here. And will DRAFT AGAIN!! It’s just a few months away now. Watch! I can already see his face standing on that stage, handing a Thrashers cap and jersey to the next draftee. And Don Waddell, right at his side.

These 7 idiots are responsibile for everything (except Heatley) that has befallen the Thrashers. I want WHATEVER gets them fired. And if the team leaves the Atlanta market, which is doubtful, then they deserved to be run out of town.

Look how DISRESPECTFULLY the ownership views the hockey fan.

1. They call the STH names during their Town Hall Meeting.
2. They cannot and will not disclose the length or salary of the Head Coach or General Manager, when virtually any other organization does, and will, whether the fans CARE to know about it. Or not.
3. They charge FULL PRICE to returning STH’s. Then offer bluster as to why they’ll do it, AGAIN. (!!)
4. They lie unctuously and remorselessly about the status of the franchise. Stating things like, “We’re real close” to putting together a playoff team. “Why tear it down?,” said Levensen, when the wheels fell off, after the Rangers swept the Thrashers out of the 2007 playoffs. “I think we know how to sign free agents,” said Bruce Levenson, smugly. I’d like ask Levensen what Hossa told him, vis-a-vis why he wouldn’t re-sign in Atlanta. I’d like to ask Levensen how things negotiations went with Brian Campbell, last Summer. (Perhaps a blessing in disguise now, at the price he got paid. But this is the kind of ’silver lining’ we Thrashers fans must attempt to find.) Has Ron Hainsey just been a “steal?” I like Ron Hainsey. I do. But he’s not a Tier I defenseman, which is what FUBAS promised, and tried to obtain in Brian Campbell. Bogosian will be a Tier I defender, but it was clear that FUBAS’ intentions were to sign one, not DRAFT one here, relative to the 2009 season.

Bruce Levensen said the team was “moving in the right direction” after a 28th place finish in 2008. Stop. Digest that one, yet? And let’s face it, the Thrashers can still finish in 29th place this year. I don’t think they will, at this point. But what if they did???

Welll????? What would be the spin?? “Southward” is the INTENDED direction we’re moving? And the consequences for finishing 29th in the league would be what? Is anyone getting fired? Don Waddell stays?? Dan Marr stays?? That’s how you resolve back-to-back lottery draft finishes? This notion that some Assistant GM, from ANYWHERE ELSE in the league, couldn’t pick Zach Bogosian at #3 overall … is insulting to those ‘would be’ GM’s. Don Waddell may be a lovely man. Don Waddell may be improving as a GM. Don Waddell may EVENTUALLY advance the organization back to the playoffs, via lottery draft finishes and waiver claims, but look into your soul and answer this question HONESTLY, “Who COULDN’T do that?” “Who couldn’t achieve ‘incremental progress’?” “Incremental progress” is on an even keel with peeing in the ocean. It’s nothing to trumpet.

By: LAC

LAC — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:28:55 +0000

R.Stroz, You hit the issue headon. It was sick to see those detroit fans there last night. It seems every NHL fan considers us a freak show
or something. We get ZERO respect from anyone in the NHL, fans, esp Canada ones, are ALWAYS saying… Why is a hockey team in Atlanta, when will they move and so on. You never hear them say that about Carolina or Tampa and very little about Florida or Nashville, Always Atlanta.

These clown owners will not listen to THE FANS, the Bill payers,
We want a NEW GM, a REAL one, we need NEW scouts and really a NEW OWNER,
no more owners please, plan B failed before it got started.

But as we ALL know nothing will happen, waddell will continue to ruin the team and the cheap as hell owners will never do one damn thing to put a WINNER on the ice here, A very sad state of affairs indeed !

By: Brendan

Brendan — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:22:26 +0000

You read my mind, R. Stroz. Watching the 7 Dwarves suffer the consequences seems like the ‘mimimum justice’ for what they’ve foisted on the hockey-going public in the 20 county metropolitan area. They have no one to blame but themselves. No hurricane, no flood, no earthquake, no typhoon, no tsunami ever hit Philipa Arena and derailed them. Okay, a tornado came close once. But it didn’t do HALF the damage that this ownership group has. And don’t forget, the 7 Dwarves have owned the team longer than the previous two ownership entities … C-O-M-B-I-N-E-D.