Updated: Hainsey leaves team as wife goes into labor
Thrashers defenseman Ron Hainsey left the team Thursday morning after his wife went into labor. Hainsey did not travel with the team to Anaheim for Friday’s game against the Ducks. He returned to Atlanta as the couple is expecting their first child.
With Hainsey unavailable, the Thrashers will not have to make a roster move to accommodate the return of Jim Slater. There is a roster exemption for a player that leaves a team for the birth of a child, according to GM Rick Dudley. Coach Craig Ramsay verified that Slater would indeed play Friday.
The Thrashers could be without two defensemen. Zach Bogosian practiced on a limited basis Thursday with a shoulder injury. He skated but did not take part in drills with defensive pairings. Ramsay said Bogosian is still day-to-day and would not speculate if would play Friday. He would also not say which defenseman – Freddy Meyer or Boris Valabik – would take Hainsey’s place in the lineup should Bogosian be able to play. Both have been healthy scratches all three games this season and candidates to be sent down to get to the 23-player maximum once Hainsey, Slater and Ondrej Pavelec all return.
Here were the defensive pairings used in practice Thursday:
Enstrom-Byfuglien
Oduya-Sopel
Meyer-Valabik
The forward line combinations remained the same.
Chris Mason will start in goal Friday against the Ducks and Ramsay seemed to be leaning toward him also making Saturday’s start in San Jose. However he said he wanted to until Saturday to make the final decision.
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23 comments Add your comment
J.B.
October 14th, 2010
2:57 pm
congrats to hainsey & family!
Flames
October 14th, 2010
2:58 pm
Congratulation Ron…Chris who is replacing Hainsey in the line up now.
Chris Vivlamore
October 14th, 2010
2:59 pm
Flames: Won’t know until I get to practice, 1:30 pm PT.
J.B.
October 14th, 2010
3:01 pm
if its valabik, im gonna cry
English Teacher
October 14th, 2010
3:02 pm
Wow! That’s exciting! Congrats to the Hainseys! I hope their first child will be a masculine child.
Smoothie
October 14th, 2010
3:03 pm
Flames, my hunch is that Bogey is okay and we’ll see Meyer replace Ronsey for now. But we could see a re-shuffling of the pairings. I’m thinking Buff could get demoted for the time being so he’s more “fresh” for PP duty. How about?
Tobes-Bogey
Johnny-Sopes
Meyer-Buff
Derrick
October 14th, 2010
3:07 pm
Your pairings look good to me, Smoothie!
Derrick
October 14th, 2010
3:08 pm
Hainsey’s been pretty invisible so far this year except for the second goal that deflected off his stick against the Kings.
Mike
October 14th, 2010
3:11 pm
Omfg please not Valabik
Smoothie
October 14th, 2010
3:18 pm
Derrick – I’m fine with the Buff on D experiment continuing a little while longer, but I would prefer he play against weaker lines to build his confidence and help him re-familiarize himself with playing the toughest position outside of goalie. Sopes is a very under-rated D-man and Johnny’s speed helps make up for his lack of wheels. But man can Sopesy pass the puck out of trouble…most of the time. And I think Tobes and Bogey working together as a pairing will help their timing and cohesion for the PP, which obvs needs a lot of help!
Daculafan
October 14th, 2010
3:29 pm
Grats Hainsey and great Godfather reference there English
GaVaHokie
October 14th, 2010
3:37 pm
If Bogosian isn’t healthy enough to play it’ll be BOTH Meyer and Valabik. Which makes the Jim Slater status even more interesting.
Slater may have to wait it out, because the only option right now is to put Stewart on Waivers (in my opinion). Valabik and Meyer are both needed right now, and Burmistrov is not going back to Juniors.
GaVaHokie
October 14th, 2010
3:38 pm
Oh… and congrats to Hainsey!
liquid fart
October 14th, 2010
3:46 pm
hopefully Hainsey can have a kid every night.
kent
October 14th, 2010
3:48 pm
this is really big news to report. Thank goodness for this blog.
FormerIslesFan
October 14th, 2010
4:10 pm
Congrats to Ron and his wife! There is nothing in the world like the birth of your first child.
Lee
October 14th, 2010
4:13 pm
Congrats Ron!
Toby
October 14th, 2010
4:19 pm
LOL at fart!!
Zombie Steve
October 14th, 2010
4:42 pm
Call up Chellios!!!
Thrashpuppy
October 14th, 2010
4:44 pm
Congrats to the Hainsey’s on the imminent new arrival! Ts & Ps that all will go well.
I will be interested to hear how the players switches play out for this weekend. Hope they don’t rush Bogo if he needs time to heal. We’ll continue to need him on into the season. But I hope if Valavik comes in, that he is in shape to play and plays as well as he can.
kracker
October 14th, 2010
7:54 pm
Bogosian should have learned his lesson last season. Playing as an injured player yields a mostly useless player.
Congrats to Ron and Hayley. And Ron come back soon, which should be for the Buffalo game next week.
Cornbread
October 15th, 2010
12:34 am
Congrats to Mr. Hainsey and family. Perhaps those who have been hard on him and his play over the past couple of weeks can now forgive him for having more important things on his mind.
Rhythmpenguin
October 15th, 2010
5:53 am
I second that Cordbread. Congratulations Ron!!!