The New Schedule’s Here! The New Schedule’s Here!
The new schedule’s here! The new schedule’s here! This is exactly what we needed…the schedule in print! That really makes things for the team! Things are going to start happening for us now!
That’s right folks…the 2009-10 Thrashers regular season schedule will finally be out this afternoon finally and we can start planning our activities between October and April…who knows, maybe even beyond that.
However…I already have a few highlights to share with you…
Saturday October 3: Opening night for the season will be at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Saturday October 24: The San Jose Sharks, my adopted west coast team, will be in town.
Sunday November 8: At 5:00 afternoon start when the St. Louis Blues come to town.
Sunday November 15:Another afternoon game for the Edmonton Oilers.
Saturday Novemeber 21: The Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins bring their act to Thrasherville…we also close the season at home against the Penguins on April 10.
Wednesday Novemeber 25: The night before Thanksgiving will see the Thrashers in Detroit to play the Red Wings.
Thursday December 3:We get our first look at top overall draft selection John Tavares as he and the New York Islanders play in Atlanta.
Thursday December 17: the Dallas Stars pay Thrasherville a visit.
Update 7/6 3:10 pm: The entire schedule has now been released. Here is the linky-linkage.
And here is the schedule…
Sat. Oct. 3 TAMPA BAY 7 p.m.
Thurs. Oct. 8 @ St. Louis 8 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 10 @ Ottawa 7 p.m.
Fri. Oct. 16 @ New Jersey 7 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 17 @ Buffalo 7 p.m.
Tues. Oct. 20 @ Montreal 7:30 p.m.
Thurs. Oct. 22 WASHINGTON 7 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 24 SAN JOSE 7 p.m.
Thurs. Oct. 29 WASHINGTON 7 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 31 @ Ottawa 2 p.m.
Tues. Nov. 3 @ Montreal 7:30 p.m.
Thurs. Nov. 5 COLUMBUS 7 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 7 @ NY Islanders 7 p.m.
Sun. Nov. 8 ST. LOUIS 5 p.m.
Thurs. Nov. 12 @ NY Rangers 7 p.m.
Fri. Nov. 13 LOS ANGELES 7:30 p.m.
Sun. Nov. 15 EDMONTON 2 p.m.
Thurs. Nov. 19 BOSTON 7 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 21 PITTSBURGH 7 p.m.
Sun. Nov. 22 TAMPA BAY 5 p.m.
Wed. Nov. 25 @ Detroit 7:30 p.m.
Fri. Nov. 27 @ Carolina 7 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 28 PHILADELPHIA 7 p.m.
Mon. Nov. 30 FLORIDA 7 p.m.
Thurs. Dec. 3 NY ISLANDERS 7 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 5 @ Florida 7 p.m.
Mon. Dec. 7 @ Toronto 7 p.m.
Wed. Dec. 9 @ Calgary 9:30 p.m.
Thurs. Dec. 10 @ Vancouver 10 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 12 MONTREAL 7 p.m.
Mon. Dec. 14 @ NY Rangers 7 p.m.
Wed. Dec. 16 @ Florida 7:30 p.m.
Thurs. Dec. 17 DALLAS 7 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 19 NEW JERSEY 7 p.m.
Mon. Dec. 21 MONTREAL 7 p.m.
Wed. Dec. 23 @ Boston 7 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 26 @ Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m.
Mon. Dec. 28 @ New Jersey 7 p.m.
Wed. Dec. 30 @ Boston 7 p.m.
Fri. Jan. 1 @ Buffalo 7 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 2 @ NY Islanders 7 p.m.
Tues. Jan. 5 @ Pittsburgh 7:30 p.m.
Thurs. Jan. 7 NY RANGERS 7 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 9 WASHINGTON 7 p.m.
Tues. Jan. 12 OTTAWA 7 p.m.
Thurs. Jan. 14 BUFFALO 7 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 16 @ Carolina 8 p.m.
Mon. Jan. 18 @ Florida 7:30 p.m.
Tues. Jan. 19 TORONTO 7 p.m.
Thurs. Jan. 21 CAROLINA 7 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 23 @ Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m.
Tues. Jan. 26 ANAHEIM 7 p.m.
Thurs. Jan. 28 @ Philadelphia 7 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 30 @ Nashville 8 p.m.
Tues. Feb. 2 TAMPA BAY 7 p.m.
Fri. Feb. 5 @ Washington 7 p.m.
Sat. Feb. 6 FLORIDA 7 p.m.
Wed. Feb. 10 @ Colorado 9 p.m.
Fri. Feb. 12 @ Minnesota 8 p.m.
Sat. Feb. 13 @ Chicago 8:30 p.m.
Tues. Mar. 2 FLORIDA 7 p.m.
Thurs. Mar. 4 NY ISLANDERS 7 p.m.
Sat. Mar. 6 @ Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m.
Sun. Mar. 7 CAROLINA 5 p.m.
Tues. Mar. 9 NASHVILLE 7 p.m.
Thurs. Mar. 11 @ Columbus 7 p.m.
Fri. Mar. 12 NY RANGERS 7:30 p.m.
Sun. Mar. 14 PHOENIX 5 p.m.
Tues. Mar. 16 BUFFALO 7 p.m.
Thurs. Mar. 18 OTTAWA 7 p.m.
Sat. Mar. 20 PHILADELPHIA 7 p.m.
Sun. Mar. 21 @ Philadelphia 7 p.m.
Tues. Mar. 23 BOSTON 7 p.m.
Thurs. Mar. 25 TORONTO 7 p.m.
Sat. Mar. 27 @ Carolina 7 p.m.
Mon. Mar. 29 CAROLINA 7 p.m.
Tues. Mar. 30 @ Toronto 7 p.m.
Thurs. Apr. 1 @ Washington 7 p.m.
Sat. Apr. 3 @ Pittsburgh 1 p.m.
Tues. Apr. 6 NEW JERSEY 7 p.m.
Fri. Apr. 9 @ Washington 7 p.m.
Sat. Apr. 10 PITTSBURGH 7 p.m.
Wow…start the season at home then go on the road for 5 games. Plus…a 7 game road trip over Christmas and New years!
After playing in Chicago on February 13 the Thrashers will be off until March 2 due to the Olympic break.
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132 comments Add your comment
Navin Johnson
July 16th, 2009
11:38 am
“Pick the Thrashers payroll next season and win some CRAP.”
Smoothie
July 16th, 2009
11:48 am
Good point Billsen about Tanguay. Too bad the budget doesn’t allow for such contingency insurance! Just think of the flexibility especially if Slava retires or agrees to a diminished role:
2009 – 2010:
Kovy – Tanguay / Pevs – Antro / Pevs
Kozzy / Tang – Pevs / White – Little / Antro / Army
White / Kozzy – Marty – Armstrong / Litts
2010 – 2011:
Kovy / Tang – Tang / Pevs / White – Antro
Tang / Kane / Kozzy – Pevs / White – Little / Army
Kane / Kozzy – Marty – Army / Machacek
Wow, this is a lot to digest and now I’m hungry…time for a burger!
Tony C.
July 16th, 2009
12:13 pm
Yeah I was thinking of lines like so:
#17/Antro/Tanguay
Slava/White/Pevs/Little
World Be Free
July 16th, 2009
12:28 pm
Tanguay’s shoulder seems to be a concern for most GMs.
Brendan
July 16th, 2009
12:56 pm
Tony C., I’d want to know more before I agreed to 4 years with Tanguay. Even three years. Salary-wise, I’m not too worried by your numbers. Those are fair numbers. I’d be thrilled that Tanguay had interest in Atlanta, as his PERSONAL CHOICE of playing destination. I’d want to ask him, in a round-about way, “What drew you to Atlanta? Why are you wanting to make a 3-4 year commitment to playing in the Atlanta market?” If his answer is, “To play top line minutes with Kovalchuk,” I’d want to know that. What happens if Kovy’s gone? Is he going to pull a Heatley on me and say, “Well the reason I came here is gone, trade me.” And that’s cleaning things up a bit, if ya feel what I’m sayin’. But overall, I think Tanguay would improve our club. But, he’d have to be bumped back as some of the prospects come up or other FA’s are acquired. And he’d have to be fine with that plan.
Alan
July 16th, 2009
1:01 pm
The KHL president, Alexander Medvedev, has come out and said he will wait for the NHL arbitrator’s ruling before registering the contract Hudler has signed to play in Moscow.
ranallo10 (in AT)
July 16th, 2009
1:10 pm
“Medvedev, citing the good will generated by the Atlanta Thrashers’ decision to withdraw an offer from Joel Kwiatkowski because the defenseman already had signed with SKA St. Petersburg, vowed Thursday to work with the I.I.H.F. to uphold the “gentlemen’s agreement” between the two leagues not to poach players.”
Wow…Don Waddell is the harbinger of peace between the KHL and NHL?? Holy balls, he’s got a job for life.
Alan
July 16th, 2009
1:27 pm
I did a double take when I read that too, ranallo. Any attempts to wrap my head around that might cause my head to explode.
Smoothie
July 16th, 2009
1:33 pm
Wow, we got a “holy balls” from ranallo! I love it.
Did y’all enjoy the Joel Kiwi clip that accompanied the NY Times article? Ha, too funny. If his depth perception isn’t any better than that, it’s probably a good thing he isn’t coming back! LOL
Jason
July 16th, 2009
1:48 pm
Hey Rawhide, are they trying to make your blog harder to find. Not that I hate coming to the Thrashers page, but the link on the front page was…you know…convenient. It’s not like you’re the Ice Princess or Chop Chick!
Alan
July 16th, 2009
2:08 pm
Jason, I see it on the Thrashers page. It under “Ice Man blog.”
Alan
July 16th, 2009
2:10 pm
Oh, and I guess I was wrr… WRRR… uh, er, “less correct” regarding Armstrong’s contract:
“The Thrashers agreed to a new contract with restricted free agent Colby Armstrong on Thursday. The one-year deal is a new contract and not the qualifying offered the team made to the forward earlier this month.”
Tony C.
July 16th, 2009
2:13 pm
Great so now everybody’s on some wait-and-see tihs.
In other good-ish news, we’ll have mad space next summer.
Smoothie
July 16th, 2009
2:16 pm
What about Big Bo? You would think his situation is a little more straight-forward since he’s so young. He doesn’t have much choice other than to take the 1 year deal worth $972 K or so (5 % raise per CBA). Then again, perhaps both sides are more amenable to working out a 2 or 3 year deal that makes sense. Or perhaps Boris is loathe to sign because the Thrashers want to make his deal a 2-way one??
Thrashers27
July 16th, 2009
2:22 pm
What’s up with the funky new structure for the Thrashers page on AJC.com?
Glad to see that Army is on board. Would have liked to see a longer term deal, but it’ll come.
Glovesave29
July 16th, 2009
3:04 pm
Great, Waddell fosters good will between the KHL and NHL, and the Red Wings look to reap the rewards. How about sending over Nikulin instead and enjoy Hudler over there for a few seasons? Y’know – balance the powers a bit over here for us…OK Alex?
I’d take Tanguay in a minute, but only with an incentive laden offer. His shoulder scares me a bit, but more so his unwillingness to get into the rough areas. He seems to shy away from contact, and not willing to go into the corner to dig out a loose puck.
Alan
July 16th, 2009
3:29 pm
and the Red Wings look to reap the rewards.
Not without trading somebody/somebodies.
Smoothie
July 16th, 2009
3:34 pm
Glovesave, Tony & Brendan,
What do you think about signing Tanguay (to play 2nd line between Kozzy & Little) and then turning around and trading Todd White to BOS for Marc Savard?
Kovy — Savard — Antropov
Tanguay — Reasoner — Little
Kozzy — Peverley — Armstrong
Boults — Slater — Crabb / Thor / Stewart
Of course, the first line would not be nearly as defensively responsible as the other two, but you could easily shift Little to the top line and slide Antro down with Marty and Tanguay. Hmmm…I like!
Glovesave29
July 16th, 2009
4:12 pm
Smoothis – let’s see, Boston is at $54,012,500 ($1,212,500 over). Your trade gets them under the cap as Whites $2.375M is $2.625M lower than Savvy’s $5M…but then again Whites production of 154 points in the last 3 seasons is far short of Marc’s 262. I doubt they’d go for it, unless they are absolutely sure he will not re-sign there next season and we sweeten the offer somehow. It would likely allow the B’s to keep Kessel.
Thrashers27
July 16th, 2009
4:16 pm
Looks like Florida got Tanguay.
Glovesave29
July 16th, 2009
4:24 pm
Ugh – that’s a bummer.
Equally disturbing is this from the Hockey News about goalie Pasquale. This is the last thing we need…
As far as why the 6-foot-2, 218-pound Pasquale dropped so far down, the executive did not believe his on-ice technique or off-ice work ethic would translate to the NHL and that he didn’t assert himself when he had the chance in June.
“I was the biggest booster of (Pasquale), but he came to the combine…not in great shape,” he said. “He’s 50 pounds heavier than Matt Hackett, same height.”
Our scouting department doesn’t (!) have the greatest track record, let’s hope this anonymous exec is wrong.
Smoothie
July 16th, 2009
4:41 pm
Wait a minute, not so fast Thrashers 27!!
via Steve Gorten of the Florida Panthers Blog at the Sun Sentinel,
Reports by RDS.ca and Hockeybuzz.com that free agent winger Alex Tanguay has signed with the Panthers apparently are not true.
Panthers’ assistant general manager Randy Sexton just said through a team spokesman (4:20 p.m.) that reports the Panthers have signed Tanguay are ‘false.’ I’ve left a message for Tanguay’s agent. Waiting to hear back.
Sara
July 16th, 2009
6:14 pm
Glovesave29 – those are certainly some serious concerns but you never know what can motivate a player either. Dropping that far down in the draft may give him a nudge. The pressure to make the line-up could as well. It’s not like he’s guaranteed a shot with two talented and young goaltenders ahead of him on the depth chart (for now anyway). Getting older, pressure put on by the organization…who knows.
Did you make it out to prospect camp this year? If yes, what did you think of him? From what I saw of him, he looked like he had the goods, just needed to be more consistent with the effort (seems to support what the anon exec said). He’s young enough that I wouldn’t fret overly much – though it would help if we had a better goaltending development staff (or even a staff period). Hopefully we can secure Moose as a goalie coach after this season, which should continue to help Kari, as well as Pavs and Pasquale in the future. Particularly in Pasquale’s case if work ethic is the question mark.
Sara
July 16th, 2009
6:48 pm
Hey Alan speaking of back to back games…lookie what I found.
http://www.ontheforecheck.com/2009/7/16/950950/how-much-does-your-favorite-team
Crazy Ivan
July 16th, 2009
7:08 pm
For those of you with ticket packages, I strongly urge you to read the back page of the recent invoice from the Atlanta Spirit. After reading the legalese on the back and finding out that the ASG is providing you the privilege to purchase tickets, you should take notice that you are forfeiting any and every form of public speech at the team’s discretion.
If that wasn’t enough, the front page of the invoice requests that you pay the remaining balance on your account despite the prearranged payment plan.
Once again, the ASG redefines customer service.
DowntownATL
July 16th, 2009
9:50 pm
Crazy Ivan
Are they talking about speech at the arena or any public speach?
kracker
July 16th, 2009
10:51 pm
Hey! That’s a great link, Sara. Bookmarked it.
Brendan
July 16th, 2009
11:05 pm
Smoothie, I don’t think Boston would go for it. For one, they probably don’t want to lose Savard. I suspect, without proof, they want to re-sign him. Second, what can we offer Tanguay … beyong this season? I bet Tanguay wants to know if Kovalchuk is staying, too. I’d, personally, like to have Tanguay on a 1-year deal. Provided the price tag is reasonable. And with a one-year deal, we certainly don’t have to worry about clearing his salary off next year’s books.
Another thought occurs to me. Gulp. Nobody ever put a gun to Todd White’s head when he agreed to a 4-year deal, in 2007. And that was AFTER the playoff debacle. So? Heavy sigh. So, Todd White was willing to commit to us when the wheels had fallen off. There’s something to be said for that. And has Todd White FAILED us? He put up career-best numbers last year. He seems to be a decent “team player.” I hear no stories about Todd White being a cancer in the lockeroom. Segue to Savard, does Savvy really want to come back here?? (Do the players want him back here?) If he doesn’t, I defer to the STANDARD RULE: “Don’t trade for players who don’t want to be here.” If there’s a “twist” of sorts, it’s that Kovalchuk gets his Tier I center back, and neither player has committed anything beyond this season.
Ifffff it’s true that the salary cap will shrink next year, Todd White’s contract will be a welcome one. Pause. (You can giggle.) Knowing NHL accounting principles, the cap will DECREASE to $55 million. (That’s $1.8 million less than it is now.) Woooooooh. That RADICALLY alters things, huh? If the cap is to decrease, I’d like it to shrink to a number at which the Atlanta Spirit, LLC, can actually compete. I doubt we’ll ever see $39 million again. (Laugh out loud, it helps to burn calories.) But we KNOW the Spirit, LLC can reach the cap limit on that one. I think they could spend all the way to a $48 million cap limit. That’d be a sizeable DECREASE for the NHL Cap. All the big markets would cry a river of tears, while the smaller ones would likely rejoice, and prosper. And finally, Atlanta would have a fighting chance.
Darkhorse
July 16th, 2009
11:28 pm
Very interesting link Sara! Nice find.
On the Armstrong deal-I’m really disappointed in the term of 1 year. It was obviously negotiated that way, and probably spured on by him. If so, I don’t blame him for wanting to become a FA sooner than later, but as a Thrasher fan, I see him walking next year and that sux donkey balls. Here’s to hoping some of the prospects really shine in camp this fall, and are able to fill some holes this season and next.
So far, DW’s offseason moves have peaked my interest and made my stomach growl, but they have not quinched my thirst or caused me to consider purchasing season tix again. And all the stomach growling may just be indigestion from hearing DW and the ASG boys in the news.
I think he really needs to make one positive big splash(outside of Kovy resigning) before the season starts to actually attract some interest locally and elsewhere. A legit move like Sharp, Savard, Thorton, or someone else in the same category.
DowntownATL
July 16th, 2009
11:52 pm
I have done my annual duty and converted the schedule to Excel 2003 format ready for import to outlook. For your copy send your address to…
pkwaldrop at hotmail dot com
You can visit Maali for Outlook import instructions.
http://firewagonhockey.blogspot.com/search/label/downloads
ranallo10 (in AT)
July 17th, 2009
7:25 am
Glovesave — One thing many people here should realize is that several of the goaltenders within the Atlanta organization have some disturbing label surrounding them. The current (Lehtonen) has the offseason dedication, physical durability, and unstable mental focus labels attached to him. The near future (Pavelec) has the same mental focus label, along with the question marks around his ability to improve the technical aspect of his game. Now the distant future (Pasqualle) has the label of work ethic and offseason dedication.
Maybe it’s just me, but don’t all goalies have some negative aspect about them that makes them worse in many people’s eyes? People still hound Brodeur for losing focus. Fans have knocked Tim Thomas for his technical ability, and continue to do so despite him winning a Vezina Trophy this past season. People on these boards consider Luongo overrated.
While it’s disturbing to see he’s gained X amount of pounds, do we know if that was on advice from a trainer/nutritionist, or if it was due to him growing into his body, or if he simply was lazy and gained weight? Because of this one statement I assure you he will be hounded with the label “out of shape” for the a large part of his career, as people have continued to do with Bourret, Lehtonen, Wellwood, etc despite the reports of any of those players working out very hard during the offseason with various physical trainers.
World Be Free
July 18th, 2009
9:46 am
Ranallo, kinda makes you wonder what makes these guys tick? All the money though could be making if these dedicated themselves to staying in shape year round. It’s amazing they don’t get it.
One of the problems soe of these guys have is that they have been told all their lives how good they are. The heads get too big.