Thrashers: Iceman

During his intermission interview during last Friday’s game in Washington, newly acquired forward Niclas Bergfors was asked his thoughts about being traded the day before from the New Jersey Devils to the Thrashers.

Bergfors, celebrating his first goal for Atlanta, has 8 SOG and is a +1 in his two games since the trade (AP Photo/John Amis)

Incorporated in his response was the phrase, “It is what it is”.

To be honest… Johnny Oduya, who also came to the Thrashers in the deal that sent Ilya Kovalchuk to New Jersey, as well appeared less-than-thrilled with the transaction. Oduya and Bergfors both looked like soldiers who had just been re-assigned from a base in Key West, Florida to somewhere in Siberia. Oh, they were polite and all…gave the customary “Want to help my new team succeed” kinda responses…but there wasn’t a whole heckuva lot of joy plastered across their faces in doing so.

Yesterday during a brief interview on NHL Live, heard on XM’s Home Ice …

Continue reading Bergfors and Oduya coping with ‘it is what it is’ situation »

For those of you who have been regulars around here since I’ve been hosting this little online forum for the past three seasons, you know I’ve not been shy about dipping the pen in poison ink before opining about the Thrashers general manager on occasions. But tonight, I happily write about something I totally and completely agree with Don Waddell about…and that is his statement recently about how this team needs a new identity. As he said, the roster for the longest time had been constructed around him.

But with Kovy’s departure, the organization is in a bit of an identity crisis…and I think Don was correct in pointing it out.

For too long, whatever identity the Thrashers might have had was based on icing a team that formed from the idea of winning 4-3 and 5-4 games almost every night. As we have seen over the past several seasons…that simply does not work. If you have to rely on 4 or 5 goals every night, you aren’t going to win more games than you lose.

Given …

Continue reading Don Waddell is right about the Thrashers needing new identity »

Thrashers fans have had a rough week, (duh1).

It started with the 4-3 loss in Nashville last Saturday night…continued with a lack-luster performance Tuesday during a 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay…then came the news that general manager Don Waddell had informed Ilya Kovalchuk he’s going to be traded…the promised trade Thursday and we saw yet another star player depart Thrasherville…all of that was then followed by Friday’s 5-2 loss in Washington to the Capitals, the Thrashers third straight defeat and fifth in the last seven.

So it’s understandable that Thrashers fans might just be in a cranky mood as they enter into Philips Arena for the first home game post-Kovalchuk.

Thrashervillians will gather for a town hall meeting Saturday evening. Things should be civil. Unless, that is, it's announced there will be Hors'Dourves…then I'm not making any promises.

And Waddell won’t have to wait for Saturday night’s  game to begin gauging the mood of his paying customers. …

Continue reading Waddell could face a cranky crowd Saturday night »

So, the Kovalchuk era in Thrasherville officially ended last night. However, the sun still came up this morning. Well, at least I’m assuming so…it’s so rainy and cloudy out there today I can’t say that I’ve actually been able to eye-ball confirm that rumor.

Anyway…as widely speculated, Don Waddell and the Atlanta Thrashers dealt away Ilya Kovalchuk… their team captain, leading scorer, centerpiece and face of the franchise. Heading to New Jersey with him is young defenseman Anssi Salmela, who is actually returning to the Devils after coming here in the Nic Havelid trade a year ago.

Say good-bye to Kovalchuk and his potential 90-100 points per season (AP photo)

In return for the pair, the Thrashers gain defenseman Johnny Oduya, forward Nicklas Bergfors, prospect center Patrice Cormier and the Devils first round draft pick this summer.

Let me start off with the two things I actually like about the transaction…first, there is the Oduya part of the transaction. If …

Continue reading The morning after in Thrasherville »

OK kids…while we sit around waiting for the news to break about who Ilya Kovalchuk will be traded to and which player(s) may be heading our way, here is a couple of question to ponder. First, given the news yesterday that Don Waddell informed Kovalchuk that he’d be working out a trade in the coming days, what happens if such a deal is not finalized by Friday night when the Thrashers play in D.C.? Certainly you can’t suit him up to play knowing his future is not with this team…right? Does John Anderson sits him and dresses Kozlov?

I’ll be curious to see if he’s at practice Thursday morning…or even make the flight to Washington.

If so…awkard!

I think there can be a logical argument made to sit him now that he’s been informed of the pending trade.

And next…and this is really the main topic of the day…once Ilya Kovalchuk departs and and Thrasherville enters into the A.K. era, (After Kovalchuk), who do you think should don the ‘C’ in Thrasherville?

Continue reading Who should wear the ‘C’ in Thrasherville A.K.? »

By now I’m sure all of you have heard or read what 680 The Fan’s John Kincade had to say regarding Ilya Kovalchuk and his eminent departure of Thrasherville. He’s as good as gone, says the co-host of the Buck and KincadeShowwhich is heard on the team’s flagship station during the drive home.

Yesterday I discussed this with John and he told me, “I can’t reveal the sources, but have confirmed it from both sides of the story”. Continuing he said, “I am 100% certain Ilya Kovalchuk will be leaving the Thrashers…I think he will be moved before the Olympic break with almost the same certainty”.

In a nutshell, Kincade is stating that Don Waddell and the Thrashers have offered the pending free agent, “The largest contract ever to an unrestricted free agent and that he turned it down”.

The number I’ve heard kicked around is a long-term deal that would pay him about $10 million per season.

Ilya Kovalchuk may soon be shaking hands good-bye with his Thrashers …

Continue reading Ilya has left the building »

Greeting from snowy, icy, cold Nashville, Tennessee…a place that looked more like the state capital of Montana this weekend than that of one in the south.

As I’m sure you know, hundreds of Thrashers fans braved the elements to make their way up here to participate in Music City Snow Jam 2010…most traversing the frozen tundra in buses with the Atlanta Thrashers Fan Club.

But many made their own way…climbing through the slippery slopes of I-24…or even up I-65 by way of Birmingham…to take in the festivities and root for our hometown Thrashers. Such was the case with the Rawhide-Blueland Chronicle Consortium. Razor Catch Prey and I traveled together and met Big Shooter, Mortimer Peacock and French Catalogues who arrived an hour before us, just about lunch time.

It only took about 3-1/2 hours to get to the outskirts of Nashville…the roads were cleared off nicely and we traveled speed limit most of the way. The Tennessee DOT deserves much credit there. But once we got …

Continue reading Thrashers drop tough one during Music City Snow Jam 2010 »

I take you back to Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 pm. In that post, your humble blog host opined that there was a mathematical formula in which the Atlanta Thrashers could take over sixth place in the Eastern Conference. All that needed to happen was for Tampa Bay to beat Montreal and the Hurricanes defeat the Rangers that evening. Then, on Thursday night, Carolina needed to return home to take care of the Islanders and…most importantly…the Thrashers would then need to take care of there end of the deal by beating the Flyers in Philadelphia.

And with that…Operation “Take Sixth Place” was a go!

First, the Canes smacked New York 5-1 while the Bolts were shutting out the Habs….and we’re halfway home. Then tonight, Carolina continued to hold up their end of the deal by thumping the Islanders 4-1. Three down…one to go. All that was left was for the Thrashers to do their part in Philly.

Mission accomplished!

Well…I mean, at least we are in 6th place for now.

Behind a pair …

Continue reading Operation ‘Take Sixth Place’ – Mission Accomplished! (well, at least for now) »

Johan Hedberg may be just less than four months shy of his 37th birthday, but one thing is for sure…he’s not showing any signs of slowing down due to his escalation in years. In fact, he’s playing with the enthusiasm and agility of a goalie 10-12 years his junior.

After Tuesday night’s 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks, Hedberg has now gone three straight starts in which he has allowed the opposition but one single goal. Combined with last weekend’s game in Tampa Bay and last weeks start in south Florida, he’s stopped 82 of 85 shots faced in those trio of games…which calculates to a .967 SV% and 0.98 GAA in 183 minutes of play.

Going back over his previous five starts, he has four games in which he’s only allowed one goal per as on January 7 he turned aside 29 of 30 New York Rangers shots on the way to a 2-1 shootout victory. As you’ll recall, that win snapped the nine-game holiday losing skid the Thrasher were on.

Johan Hedberg makes one of his 34 save against …

Continue reading Moose dropping piles of saves all over Thrasherville »

The Atlanta Thrashers have now failed fifteen times to procure two points in the standings when going up against Finnish goaltender Antero Niittymaki. It doesn’t matter if he’s wearing a big Flying P on his jersey or a lightning bolt…when he’s between the pipes it spells Loss with a capital L for Thrasherville. This was again the case Saturday night when the Thrashers fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in a shootout.

Niittymaki’s take on this phenomenon…”I can’t explain it”.

Yeah well…I have a theory.

Somewhere in the icy, frozen outskirts of northern Canada, in a sealed vault deep in the basement hockey god’s ice rink…I’m sure there is a contract that was inked several years ago between the gods and Niittymaki. That pact, no doubt, assures the 29-year old Finn that, no matter what the circumstances, he will never, ever, never…ever… never….everrrrrrrrrr be beaten by the Atlanta Thrashers.

The only thing I haven’t quite figured out is… what is …

Continue reading Thrashers still cannot get Niitty-Monkey off their back »