Updated: Season over for Antropov, Kubina, White
Back from the last Thrashers practice of the season. There is plenty of news to report.
Officially add Nik Antropov to the list of injured players. In fact, he won’t play the final two games of the season.
“He’s played through an injury all year. He’s going to be looked at by our doctors and see what his prognosis is for the summer,” Coach John Anderson said Wednesday. “We’ll find out more next week.”
He did have a hip injury. He would take a practice off each week.
The upper-body injuries to Pavel Kubina and Todd White also turned out to be season-ending. They will not play Friday against Capitals or Saturday against Penguins.
Christoph Schubert is also out.
In the 99th update to this story: The Thrashers will re-call Arturs Kulda, not Ivan Vishnevskiy, from AHL Chicago. Sorry for the several versions of this report. The Thrashers have only five healthy defensemen since Chris Chelios was sent back to Chicago for the Calder Cup playoffs. Kulda appeared in two games for the Thrashers earlier this season and had one assist.
Ondrej Pavelec will get the start in goal against the Capitals and Johan Hedberg will start the season-finale against the Penguins.
Anderson said Slava Kozlov might play against the Capitals, but would definitely play against the Penguins, his last game as a Thrasher.
Here were the line combinations used in practice Thursday. There will be something to them with Antropov and White out.
Gray: Bergfors-Peverley-Afinogenov
Blue: Kane-Armstrong-Little
Red: Artyukhin-Slater-Kozlov
Orange: Boulton-Reasoner-Thorburn-MacArthur
Remember on Tuesday (April 13) is the NHL draft lottery. It will air on Versus at 8 p.m.
No new blog Friday since I will be off. We’ll try to report any news early from Saturday’s game.
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59 comments Add your comment
Brendan
April 11th, 2010
10:50 am
Kaat, I want to second your post on Chris Vivlamore giving us a nice blog all year. Good job, Chris. Hopefully, there’ll be a press conference between April 12-16 to announce that the team will have a new GM next season. Probably, that’s Dudley. But who knows? I, personally, don’t think anything will change until Waddell cleans out his desk. If an organization really wants to put the past behind them, to MOVE FORWARD, they don’t RETAIN the former GM … in ANY capacity. If that’s what passes for “making changes,” then Denial’s not just a river in Egypt.
Eugene
April 11th, 2010
10:31 pm
Brendan,
in the NHL, when it comes to General Managers there’s an old boys’ network. Rookie GMs rarely are able to make big splashy trades unless they were Assistant GM’s for several years and worked under a respected GM, or they were former Player Agents with an elite clientele (Mike Barnett, Mike Gillis, Peter Chiarelli), or they were former NHL players who were popular with their teammates (Garth Snow, Brett Hull, Joe Nieuwendyk) Don Waddell was none of these. He worked for the Detroit Red Wings but was known more for evaluating young talent than making trades. The last thing an established GM wants is to get burned by a rookie GM so they’ll try to do what they can to get the better end of the deal.
Eugene
April 11th, 2010
10:37 pm
If Atlanta really wants to think outside the box, they should hire Craig MacTavish as their GM. You get a guy like him, he’ll make sure those players will play with heart and come to play every game. Plus, the fact that he coached a small market team like the Oilers, he’ll be able to do more with less.
Eugene
April 11th, 2010
10:41 pm
Brendan, I forgot to mention. In the Sedins case, Mike Barnett was their agent at the time. At that time, Barnett was the most powerful agent in Hockey and he made it quietly known that if both Sedins were not drafted by the same team, they would not report to the team and they’d probably would sit out for two seasons in order to become unrestricted free agents. The Sedins also publicly made comments that they thought they’d have to play in Europe for at least 2 more years before they were ready to come to the NHL. Almost every scout had said Stefan was the most NHL ready player in the draft. He’d help a team out immediately. Waddell thought he was a sure thing, and so did a lot of other teams.
Brendan
April 11th, 2010
10:51 pm
Eugene, that’s a good post. Even with Waddell’s inexperience, he has the right to say, “no” to any deal. Just because Brian Burke wants the Sedins, doesn’t mean he gets them. He wanted Brayden Schenn in last year’s draft, but he didn’t get him, because the Los Angeles said, “No, Brian. No.”
All Waddell really had to do was say, “Sorry Brian, I’m taking Henrik or Daniel, as it my right, with pick # 2 overall in this draft.” What’s Burke gonna do, invoke some bylaw that says “rookie” GM’s can’t tell him, “no?” Now, Burke very well may not have caved to some “future” 1st or 2nd pick demand, but he’d at least have to offer some form of “inducement” back to Waddell, to pass on Henrik or Daniel. I’m sure Burke could find some ‘throw away’ 5th rounders in 1999 and 2000, just to be sure he landed both Sedins. I’d bet Waddell would have taken it. Fifth rounders really are nothing, especially when we’re talking about the getting the player you want inside the lottery draft.
In Waddell’s shoes, I tell Burke, “I don’t care how badly you want him, he’s ours at # 2. We have the right to make this pick. And even if you tell me, “Don, he’ll never sign with your club, without his brother,” I still say, “That’s my problem to have … down the road. I want to OWN his rights. I can TRADE those rights, later on, if need be. But I’m not passing on him now. Lest you make me an offer that convinces me to pass on him.” Burke would have been hot under the collar, but hey … we don’t all get what we want, when we want it.
Eugene
April 11th, 2010
11:22 pm
Brendan, yeah but in LA’s case it was Dean Lombardi who was a longtime GM of the San Jose Sharks. If a rookie GM is seen as being difficult in making deals and trades, then the other GM’s effectively do a freeze out like what they did to John Ferguson and the Toronto Maple Leafs. There’s a reason why the Leafs went ahead and got Cliff Fletcher back. They knew that Fletcher would be able to get deals done through the old boys’ network.
Eugene
April 11th, 2010
11:29 pm
Also, forgot to mention, The Sedins were almost run out of Vancouver. It took them almost 6 years to develop into first line players. That’s a pretty steep learning curve for 2 top 3 draft picks. But Vancouver’s management have always been haunted by the ghost of Cam Neely. They didn’t want to make a trade and then have the players turn into superstars as soon as they left.
Brendan
April 12th, 2010
1:22 pm
True that, Eugene. It was a long learning curve for Henrik and Daniel. And did have some injuries to temper the situation. The “GM fraternity” does have an interesting set of informal rules about it. But I really don’t think someone would fault a rookie GM for insisting on taking the player he wanted. They could “freeze” him out, but in the case of Atlanta, a perennial bottom-feeder club, they’d just live off of waiver claims and lottery draft picks anyways. Now, I hear ya. If some “experienced” GM has a quality player, but who has fallen out of favor in his camp, Waddell doesn’t get the call to know that player is available, due to the “freeze out.” But, in the end … I would think that the waiver claims and lottery picks are enough to overcome the “freeze out.” And … as time goes by … Waddell does get the opportunity to “make nice” with the GM Fraternity, tossing them a bone here or there, with a player who might be retiring soon at the deadline. Like a Ray Ferraro, or a Mellanby, or a Kozlov or a Hrkac, or a Havelid, etc. Waddell can “make up” for his hardline stance inside the LOTTERY DRAFT. No GM can afford to let the other GM’s intimidate him … into taking inferior players. No one survives like that, except for Don Waddell. And that’s only due to zero accountability on the part of his ownership.
Eugene
April 12th, 2010
9:16 pm
Brendan you’re right about the owners. They need to sell the team. It’s pretty pathetic that the Atlanta Hawks are the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference yet they average nearly at the bottom for attendance. If a top 3 team in basketball can’t even sell out in a market that’s more basketball friendly than hockey what hope is there for the Thrashers? We need an owner that’s passionate about the game. Loves the game.