The Hockey Gods Did Not Smile On Atlanta Tonight
It didn’t work…nothing we did to try and convince the hockey gods to show favor upon Thrasherville seems to have been enough.
The Nasty Nesters toasted a Christmas tree in The Gulch after Saturday’s 6-2 win against the Bolts that ended the season as a burned offering unto them…I even heard that the couch was thrown on later in the evening. I’m sure that smelled worse than the smoke from the tree.
I shipped via UPS several cases of Labatt, Molson and even a few of Moosehead for good measure. Probably got swiped by those dammed customs agents on the border. I told them to enter via Niagara Falls…not Windsor out of Detroit! Those friggin’ Red Wing fans that work the gates won’t let anything through that might help another team get the attention of the hockey gods.
Regardless, none of it worked… the hockey gods did not smile upon on this night as the NHL entry draft lottery ping-pong balls fell in order of the standings. The New York Islanders will pick first, then Tampa Bay followed by Colorado. Atlanta will pick fourth and L.A. fifth…then so on and so on.
Now, I’m gonna go way out on a limb and venture a guess that John Tavares, (C- Canada), and Victor Hedman, (D-Sweden), are going to be unavailable by the time the Avalanche make their selection prior to the Thrashers. So, let’s review a handful of the remaining prospects that Don Waddell might choose to hand a Thrashers jersey to.
Matt Duchene: 5′-11″, 198 lb center who plays for the Brampton Battalion of the OHL. In 57 regular season games this year he accounted for 31 goals and 48 assists as well as 42 PIM. In 10 playoff games he has 7 goals, 7 assists and 10 PIM .
Evander Kane: 5′-11″, 160 lb center who plays for the Vancouver Giants of the WHL. In 61 regular season games this year he scored 48 goals and 48 assists to go with 89 PIM. In 10 playoff games he has 4 goals and 7 assists to go with 33 PIM.
Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson: 6′-1″, 200 lb left wing who plays for Timra of Sweden. In 50 games played he scored 7 goals with 10 assists and only 4 PIM.
Brayden Schenn: 6′-0″, 196 lb center who plays for the Brandon Wheat Kings. In 70 regular season games this past year he’s amassed 32 goals, 56 points and 82 PIM. In 8 playoff games he has 6 goals, 9 assists and 10 PIM.
Jared Cowen: 6′-5″, 218 lb defenseman who plays for the Spokane Chiefs. This past season he accounted for 7 goals, 14 assist and 45 PIM.
On down the line there is defensman Oliver Ekman-Larrson of Sweden, defensemanDmitri Kulikov of Russia and center Nazem Kadri of Ontario, Canada.
OK, honorary general manager’s…if either of these are left when the Thrashers pick fourth…who do you go with.
Me? I probably go with Duchene if he’s available…but if it’s Kane, so be it. But I do want to point out the size frames that come with Cowen and Svensson. Those could go a way to address some of what team captain Ilya Kovalchuk was saying Atlanta needed to acquire.
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59 comments Add your comment
Smitty
April 15th, 2009
10:12 pm
I like to think we are headed in the right direction. It would be one thing if we played well over the last 10 games but the record over the last half of the season overshadows the thought that we were loose and teams underestimated us. Is DW due credit for this or is JA and his staff more deserving of credit for turning things around. Same thing for the acquisition of Peverly. Who deserves credit for that?
As I mentioned earlier, I think we are in a good position to move up. We have a high pick this year and if we have to give up our #1 pick next year in addition to this years so be it. If we improve and make the playoffs next year we will be picking somewheres about 18-20. In addition we have a couple of other players we could throw in to sweeten the pot for that 1st or 2nd pick. Is that too big a sacrifice to make to get #1 or #2 this year. We still need a #1 center. Peverly was a great addition but I believe he would be better suited as a #2 center.
I do not think trading one of the goalis is the answer at least not at this time. Pavelec still needs some seasoning. Kari with a little more work and dedication can be a solid #1. Remember he is still young. Moose is a decent #2. Maybe at the trade deadline next year trading one of the goalies could bring someone who could help propel us further into playoffs.
I think this off season will be the most critical in Thrasher history. Improvement has to be made or Kovy is going to seriously think about pulling a Hossa. We have the makings of a good team. We are young and have some decent prospects in Esposito, Kulda and others. The defense showed improvement. We finally got rid of the veterans that slowed us down.
Can DW take us this next step. The concensus on this blog is no. I agree. Kovy will understand if a new GM is hired. He is a team guy and he showed great leadership this year. My only concern with a new GM at this time is what will happen to JA and his staff.
Brendan
April 15th, 2009
10:20 pm
A tip of my hat to you, Glovesave29. After watching the Rangers-Caps highlights, it has gone down, so far, precisely as you predicted: Trouble in the Capitals net. Jose Theodore was at fault for three, if not all four Ranger goals. Luckily, it’s a seven game series and there’s plenty of time left for him to improve his game. But he can’t wait too long. Down 2-0 in the series, it’s a long way back.
Scott Gomez with a goal and two assists? I must be hallucinating. He’s starting to actually earn that big contract. But will he fizzle?, and get a point the rest of the way in this series. Time will tell. No Drury tonight at the Verizon Center.
Penguins won big over Philly, as did New Jersey over Carolina. This is my favorite time of the year. Eight playoff series. I love it! The only thing that could make it better … is if Atlanta were playing.
Brendan
April 15th, 2009
10:45 pm
Over at nhlnumbers.com, it says Crabb, Oysterick, and Clay Wilson have now become Category VI unrestricted free agents. I really hope Oysterick and Crabb are re-signed. Oysterick has those Western Michigan roots that might sway Waddell. This year, Darren Eliot called Nathan Oysterick, “A revelation.” To which Don Waddell replied, “I wasn’t surprised by Nathan Oysterick. I know Nathan real, real well. I knew that he’d play well for us, if given a chance.”
Well, time to put his contracts where his mouth is. It won’t cost much to keep Oysterick. But who really knows what the organization’s offseason plans really are.
Tony C.
April 16th, 2009
1:34 am
Smitty: nice piece!
Glovesave: I have begun to wonder if Johnny Anderson isn’t that guy?
I still think that the Caps win (provided they win #2), Bruins, Devils, and Lord help me, Flyers.
West= Columbus, SJ,Flames & Vancouver (will hate to see it, but I think the kids[blues] hit the wall in game 5, go out magnificiently in 7).
ranallo10 (in AT)
April 16th, 2009
5:59 am
“Start worrying more about getting a good product on the ice and butts in the seats as opposed to getting your arena green certified.”
Like any business, you have more than just one thing in your focus at all times. Right now there are the Hawks, the Thrashers, and the Arena, and the lawsuit. Don’t kid yourself that the Arena (the number one revenue producing item this group owns) takes a back seat to improving the on-ice product of their number three revenue producer. As a hockey fan I would rather the Thrashers are number one on their list of priorities…but unfortunately that’s not even close to true. LEED Certification is just another thing for people to get upset about, when in reality it’s that you hate the owners because they don’t cherish the Thrashers as much as you feel you do.
Re: Waddell firing = Kovalchuk not resigning — I definitely cannot agree with that, but it must be stated that this is merely our opinions. Nobody on these blogs KNOWS what Kovalchuk thinks of Waddell, or the management of this team in general. We can all assume, but we have no idea how smitten he is with Waddell, or if he even thinks Waddell is a failure as a GM. Kovalchuk could absolutely despise Waddell, or he could absolutely adore Waddell for drafting him originally. All talk about his actions if Waddell were/were not fired are merely conjecture.
I can see that it’s going to be a long offseason on these boards. Maybe we should have a game about how many times we discuss firing the GM, resigning Kovalchuk, or perhaps the purpose of yelling “Knights!” during the anthem.
JoeHockey Fan
April 16th, 2009
9:22 am
Heatly-gone, Hossa-gone, Savard-gone, Coburn-gone.
Given the history of this franchise, does it really matter?
Oh, and Kovalchuck soon to be added to that list.
R. Stroz
April 16th, 2009
10:07 am
Since most of the fans are going to continue to yell “Knights”, I’ve started to yell “Flames” instead.
Brendan
April 16th, 2009
8:27 pm
I swore off yelling during the anthem. But I really think R.Stroz has a great idea here. If more people yelled Flames! than Knights!, it’d be mass chaos. Nobody would really know what’s going on. And then, eventually, maybe people would stop yelling alltogether. In Calgary, I think they yell, “red glare” during the U.S. anthem. I might be wrong. It might be a different team than Calgary. But some other city does it.
A guy sitting in my section said people should yell “Suck!” right after fans yell “Knights!” I thought that was crass, and instead suggested, “moved” in its place. It produced a few chuckles. I wouldn’t try to tour the comedy circuit with that one.
Brendan
April 16th, 2009
8:42 pm
Ranallo, you obviously know the results of the Waddell Administration. Is there ANY chance, at all, that talk of switching GM’s would go away? Yeah, yeah. I get it. “But we all know he’s not leaving, so it’s moot.” Well, I believe that Waddell is staying, too. But, as you are fond of saying, that’s merely conjecture on my part.
I don’t know Bruce Levenson, or ANY of the “7 Dwarves.” If they are planning on firing Waddell, that’s what they’ll do. If they have no such plans, they won’t. But I wouldn’t want to suppress anyone’s opinions, or conjecture, or speculation, or even hearsay. So, if the bloggers want to talk about how GREAT or TERRIBLE Waddell is, every blessed day of the offseason, that’s what they should do. The day fans in ANY city in North America stop talking about firing a GM or Coach or owner/ownership group with a track record of no playoff wins over 9 seasons … will be a sad, sad day for that franchise. For there is no accountability for results. And I don’t blame fans for shunning an organization that isn’t trying. Or isn’t trying hard enough. Or it tries A LOT, but is utterly inept. At times like that, I think of the L.A. Clippers and Texas Rangers.
David McDavid once said, in 2003, “Those teams in Atlanta just need some love.” Well, that’s a fairly broad statement, but I think what he meant by it was that the Hawks and Thrashers needed ownership to cultivate them into winners. We now know McDavid didn’t have the financing to complete the deal. And well, based on that, I wouldn’t feel confident that he was about to spend to cap limits, they way that Kovalchuk and Joe Johnson probably want their teams to do.