Blueline Is Bigger – But Will It Be Better?
Somewhere over the course of the last year or so, Thrashers general manager Don Waddell seems to have bought into the theory that bigger is better when it comes to an NHL team’s defensive corps. Since opening night last fall, the D-line has indeed seen considerable growth in its physical size and weight. When the Thrashers handed the Capitals a 7-4 defeat to open last year’s campaign, the six defenders wearing blue that night were Nic Havelid, Ron Hainsey, Zach Bogosian, Garnet Exelby, Tobias Enstrom and Mathieu Schneider. Two of those players were under six-feet tall…Enstrom, (5′-10″) and Schneider, (5′-11″)… and that unit averaged 6′-0 1/2″ and 199.17 pounds. The man in the press box that night, Nathan Oystrick, goes at 6′-0″ and 210 pounds.
Even though we celebrated John Anderson’s first ever NHL victory that evening, the defense surrendered 4 goals and 43 shots. That’s right…forty-frickin’-three.
By the time early January rolled around, Atlanta’s defense was allowing teams an average of 32.6 shots on goal and 3.65 goals per game. One of the main problems was that the lack of size on the blueline was allowing opposing team’s players to camp out in front of the net and many close-range shots were being taken.
It also didn’t help matters that the 6′-2″, 200 pound Zach Bogosian was out for most of that time with a leg injury. However, when Zach went down, the 6′-7″, 240 pound Boris Valabik was called upon to fill the void and, depending on whether he or Oystrick was playing, the average size of the blueline grew about an inch…to about six-one.
As the trade deadline came and went, gone where the 5′-11″, 195 pound Schneider and the 6′-0″, 200 Nic Havelid. The defensive corps got younger…and it got bigger as well. When the Thrashers walloped the Lightning 6-2 in the season finale last April, the starting defenders in that game…Hainsey, Bogosian, Exelby, Enstrom, Oystrick and Valabik…averaged 6′-1.83″ and 208.33 pounds.
Those primary players, sprinkled in with nine games by the 6′-1″ Anssi Salmela, helped the Thrashers defense play much more respectably in the closing months of the year. The team that was allowing 3.65 goals per game was now only surrendering about 3.15…and finish the year with an overall total GA/G of 3.40. Also, the team penalty kill went from a putrid 73.9% effective at the mid-point of the season to 76.0%…still not great, but better.
Although the average shots-per-game stat really did not shrink, (32.7 SA/G season overall), to me it appeared that less of the time Kari and Moose were facing shots from point-blank range.
While its true, “team” defense includes the input from the forwards, I have always contended that good defense begins with good defenders. And as the defense got bigger, it seemed to get better.
Now, after the Exelby for Kubina deal this summer, the Thrashers blueline…much like what Johnny said of Leon…. is getting lar-r-r-r-ger!
As such, if you consider an opening day lineup that could include Hainsey, Bogosian, Enstrom, Kubina, Valabik and Salmela, you would see a defensive lineup that had only one player, Enstrom, under 6-feet tall and averages 6′-2 1/2″ and 211.67 pounds.
That’s an overall average gain of two inches and almost twelve pounds since last season’s opener.
Hopefully, the “bigger defenders = better defense” trend will continue.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
231 comments Add your comment
Archie
July 26th, 2009
10:06 pm
Good “hockey” starts with good players, not just defense. IMO, the key to good defense and low shots against is puck possession. The Thrashers have never been a possession style team, we score the majority of our goals on the rush off counter attacks, we’re not much of a possession team that sets up the offense in the zone and cycles the puck around. We never have the puck for more than 10 or 15 seconds at a time while the opponents may hold onto in our defensive zone for 45 seconds at a time. Until we can flip those numbers we’re never going to see our shots against numbers go down.
Getting bigger defenders definitely helps with clearing zone and clearing out rebounds and preventing long range shots from getting to the goalie, but the shots will never be prevented in the first place until our possession game improves, and that falls on the team offense.
Brendan
July 26th, 2009
10:13 pm
Are the NHL referees still enforcing the “new NHL” rules? I saw an Anaheim Duck team rough house its way to a Cup in 2007. And they clutched and grabbed. And got away with it. By the 2009 Cup Finals, it was “what rules?” 82 regular season games and three rounds of playoffs’ worth of officiating went straight out the window. And nobody grumbled about it. It was just … “suddenly okay” to play pre-lockout style.
Now, I’m not suggesting the 1975 Broadstreet Bullies hockey is back, and is now the way to go. But I saw Enstrom as a “new NHL” kind of defensemen.
Bygones???
Red Light
July 26th, 2009
10:43 pm
Hits are rare, nobody is allowed to clear the crease as they used to be able, defending in this day in age is about positioning, getting sticks in the lane, and relying upon forwards to sag whenever, wherever it’s necessary. The traditional means of defense has changed in my opinion, and size isn’t and hasn’t been as important as being strong on your skates, being able to skate, being able to make smart passes out of your zone and being intelligent enough to know when to play the puck or the man. All that being said, I believe you need to have a combination of defenders these days.
You can’t have too many of the same types. I believe you need balance. If you have a guy Exelby who used to run around taking himself out of position to lay hits, then you have to have somebody paired with him that has the ability to cover up those mistakes. Personally, I was past tired of Exelby’s act, because he was a different player before the hit to the noggin. My problem with this rear-guard is: is their an identity that you can actually say what kind of defenders particularly players are. We know Enstrom can skate and is good positionally, but is he strong enough? We know Bogo can skate and we know he’s a strong kid, and he will improve positionally. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what Hainsey is? He can skate but he’s certainly not a top-pair defenseman. Valabik is big, probably strong but I’m not impressed with anything else he has done. Kubina has been a 22-minute man for the Leafs, second up there to Kaberle when he was healthy, so we know he can log minutes, can pass and score, but those numbers were logged for another poor defensive team. Enstrom with Kubina would be an interesting combination, but I’m not sure you can pair those two given the current roster. Look, bigger isn’t necessarily better, but this unit can’t be worse than last year. Bogo and Boris got some experience, and Kubina is better than Ex. So, the key is what Hainsey and Salmela can provide.
World Be Free
July 26th, 2009
10:45 pm
Brendan, do you get tipped off when these posts are going to hit? You are always no. 1 or no. 2.
World Be Free
July 26th, 2009
10:53 pm
In gneral, I believe the D-line will be better than last year. The young guys (Bogo, Toby, Salmonella) be 1 year older. Not sure what Hainsey is either, but I liiked his overall play last season. Valabik has to kick some but to be effective and he has yet to do that.
My concern with the defense is having NHL-quality backups to cover for injuries. Welch is a goods signing, I guess Kiwi was going to be signed for the same purpose. We may want to look for one more piece of depth insurance for the long season. Just like looking for another experienced forward, insurance for the long run.
JAmes_kovyboy from MTL
July 26th, 2009
11:22 pm
WBF, Oystrick is Nhl ready– not nhl great but Nhl ready
so Welch and Oyster
and in case 3 go down, you got some young guys who need to grow, so i dont think we need more D
i loved Archie’s comment, cause logically, if you dont have the puck, you cant shoot
so Thrash must be more puck possessive
i hope we can get someone out of the bruins cause they’re really screwes cap-wise
GO DW
Wayne stuck in AL
July 27th, 2009
12:03 am
If Lehtonen can cut down those big rebounds, maybe we can cut down the shots/game by 3 or 4, and maybe give up 1 goal less per game.
Brendan
July 27th, 2009
12:08 am
World Be Free, I’ve just been “lucky” lately.
Welcome back, Red Light. Don’t be such a stranger. I didn’t get your points prediction for the upcoming season. Then again, the roster isn’t set. There are teams with cap issues … who might be forced to downgrade skill for salary relief in a swap of players. As always, I’m leery of trades. I feel BETTER about them when a player who has a no trade clause says, “Okay, I’ll waive mine to come play in Atlanta.” While the player never SIGNED to play in this market, he was ultimately WELCOME to the idea, by waiving his NTC. That’s a good trade situation. I don’t know that such a situation exists for Atlanta. But if it does, I’d welcome it in the right situation.
LAC
July 27th, 2009
4:13 am
Tough call Mr.Bill… We have to cut down 40-50 GA to even dream of the playoffs… I see Ken Klee is available… I doubt we will seethe big decrease, but a 10-15 GA decrease and that is simply not enough to get in…
five_hole
July 27th, 2009
7:22 am
I like the fact that we’re bigger, but I think our top-4 are more mobile, and if they can keep position on the other teams forwards, that should help cut down on the shots allowed. Mathieu Schneider’s wheels were worn out by the time he got here and Exelby was never known for his skating ability.
World Be Free
July 27th, 2009
7:57 am
James-I hope you are correct. Depth has been a problem here for a long time. It’s when we have had to dip into out depth is when we have been screwed.
The season is very long, especially with the number of games that will be scrunched into a short period of time becuase of the Olympic break.
I totally agree with LAC’s point on goals against, cutting down is the real key to making playoffs. The Thrashers have just allowed too many goals over the past few years. We have to tighten up, on defense and down the middle. Chirping again for Dom Moore, to play “D” from the center position in the 3rd period of close games.
GaVaHokie
July 27th, 2009
8:29 am
Now, after the Exelby for Kubina deal this summer, the Thrashers blueline…much like what Johnny said of Leon…. is getting lar-r-r-r-ger!
Excellent reference, Rawhide!
Bigger is better when you have skating and puck-handling to back it up… check… and check.
I just hope they don’t screw with the Power Play too much… keep Kovy and Toby on the point on PP1.
PP2… I say Bogosian and Kubina on the point.
That being said… I’ll bet Stroz another dollar that the first game, first Power Play… Kubina and Kovy are the point players.
GaVaHokie
July 27th, 2009
8:54 am
Just found this on Youtube… here’s some Antropov and Kubina action on the Power Play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH-A5QojV6Y
kracker
July 27th, 2009
9:16 am
This shots for vs shots against topic came up in the last blog. I made a post similar to Archie’s puck possession observation but there was an internet screw up and the post was lost.
I feel we should be a bit better at getting and hanging on to the puck because the team got a better top 6 and top 4 players, the maturing of the younger guys and the returning players being familiar w/ Anderson’s schemes. Better puck possession = more shots for us and less for them. A big plus should be a less-tired Kari which keeps him fresher and less likely to be injured.
Hopefully this one makes it there.
Tony C.
July 27th, 2009
9:24 am
Hokie- I’d like that play even better if #80 crashed the net instead of floating to the slot… that being said, beauty goal! I’m excited to see Kubina’s shot going for Le Thrash instead of against!
World Be Free
July 27th, 2009
9:44 am
Kracker-the Anderson schemes worked better as the season went on. I don’t know the actual numbers, but the team in general was better defensively in the latter part of the season, part of which was reducing shots. I still think more tweaking of the roster needs to be done, with the emphasis on defense in general.
We are going in the right direction. It would be nice to make playoffs and make some type of impact in the post season.
Glovesave29
July 27th, 2009
9:47 am
With the additions in size, I am hoping that teams will have to pay the price to crash our crease. Too many shots last year were second and third rebounds from inside 10 feet, asking our goalies to do far too much. Hopefully, this should cut down the number of shots Kari and Moose face, but the defense must also be mobile, and able to turn a turnover and/or defensive stop over to a counterattack almost immediately. We have never had such ability, and with the speed game Anderson employs, this ability is critical. I can live with 30+ shots against per game if they are not all coming from the deep slot… shots against will decrese for two reasons – the opponent will get knocked on his @&$%^# for parking in front of Kari / Moose, and that the forward is remembering the Thrash can transition into their offense immediately, and this must remember his defensive responsibilities and get ready to try to stop Kovy & Co.
I don’t want to see a puck possesion game from this team. It is not their strength. This team is built on speed. I want to see the opponents sucking wind on the bench after a shift. As they say, speed doesn’t slump, so we need to keep flying around at all times.
The Earl of Bud
July 27th, 2009
10:15 am
Rawhide, any mention that it’s not just Kubina’s size but also that he had 40 points in each of the last 2 seasons and will play well for Anderson’s style? We are going to be a much better control team, as Glovesave says not by being “puck possession” but by taking the puck and running up and down the ice with it. All of our top 4 guys + Salmella can do that well.
WBF & James, Oystrick was doing much better as the year went on. You would see him jump down in the middle slot much more often as he got used to the plays here. Salmella will also be very good this year as his wheels will be moving. That leaves Valabik in the pressbox for #7 and you can even rotate him in if he decides to use his muscle against some of the bigger teams. Then you have Kulda and Postma waiting in Chicago so I am actually quite pleased with that set up.
WBF, sidenote – I actually got up and saw some Porter Cup action this weekend. Mickelson’s little brother was there and choked liked big bro’.
Pam on Weck
July 27th, 2009
10:43 am
On the subject of defense…
A fond farewell to XLB. I’ll miss the good hits. I won’t miss the bad ones which were just as common.
Enstrom was unique in 07-08, a surprise in an otherwise dismal year. In 08-09, he became Havelid Jr. I like Havelid as a player, and his obvious mentoring of Enstrom was a good thing. Toby learned a lot. But now, Master Yoda would tell him to “unlearn what you have learned”. Those skills are still going to be there, but he needs to access them differently now. Continue to combine the players he’s been in each of the last two seasons and it’s “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner” (yes, I stole that from you, J)! His pairing with Bogo seems to be accomplishing this.
Bogosian is hurtling in the right direction. Don’t change the method, but don’t stop improving.
Hainsey and Kubina are the wily veterans. Or so I hope. I expect control out of them. They oughtta know when to speed things up and when to slow them down.
James…MTL & WBF – I agree on Oystrick and Valabik. They belong in the NHL, but who are they? What are their niches? Much will depend on the work they’ve done in the off-season. Oystrick, Valabik and Salmela are all NHL quality players, but the level of that quality is unknown. They are all competent to sit in the press box, but I want to see more. I haven’t been a Welch-watcher, so I can’t comment there. I’d like to see these guys all get lots of pre-season minutes.
Rawhide
July 27th, 2009
10:57 am
Archie – Nicely stated.
Red Light – I’ll echo Brendan’s comments…don’t be a stranger.
Hokie – Nice link!
LAC – As for reducing the GA/G stat by 40-50, consider this…at the mid-point of the season the Thrashers had a GA/G average of 3.65, which put them on a pace to give up close to 300 goals. In the second half of the season they were allowing about 3.15 per game…which if played out over 82 games amounts to about 258 goals against, (The 2006-07 team that went to the playoffs allowed 245, just 13 fewer). 258 G/A is still too high, but that is a difference of 42 goals per year if the two stats are played out over 82 games.
Speaking of the playoff team of 2007… that squad could only muster 246 goals on the season, which is just at 3 per game. Last season the Thrashers offense generated 257 and had the 9th highest G/G average. However, in the 2nd half of the season, it was scoring at a 3.44 clip.
My point being that if one considers the performance of the last 41 games of last season, the Thrashers played at a pace that would net about 282 goals during a full season and allowed goals at a pace that would amount to about 258.
True, past results is not necessarily a guarantee of future performance…but if the Thrashers simply continued that level of play, I’d bet you dollars-to-donuts they would be in the thick of a playoff push come next spring.
EoB – I agree…I think Kubina is going to fit in nicely with Anderson’s system as well as the fact that we should be a better puck handling team.
ben
July 27th, 2009
11:16 am
I’M LOOKING FOR IMPROVEMENT! I JUST HOPE THEIR NOT PYLONS OUT THERE!
Alan
July 27th, 2009
11:41 am
In 08-09, he became Havelid Jr.
In what way? Havelid was more stay-at-home than someone on house arrest. Enström was working his butt off trying to create chances while being able to get back in time to defend. He did an exceptional job after Havelid left, and it was shown that Havelid was holding Enström back.
Adam
July 27th, 2009
11:52 am
Turn overs in our zone is the biggest problem we face right now. To many times last year our D made all the right moves positionally to gain possession and fail to get the puck out of the zone. They’re always looking to try and pass the puck or flip it out only to have it stolen or trapped against the boards leading to more o/z possession for the opposing team resulting in more shots on goal and odd man rushes that actually start in our zone. Skating the puck out of the zone is the best way to counter the forecheck. When you watch better teams play D they skate the puck up ice then look for the pass not the other way around. How many times over the last several years have you seen our players trap a pass along the boards with no one around and sit still looking for the pass instead of just heading up ice, this was Ex’s mo to a tee and I think it wore off on a lot of the younger guys. For that reason alone I glad he’s gone.
They have got to get better at getting the puck from our D zone to the red line not just over the blue line. When you start skating you force the other team to start backing up, if you sit still you’re giving them to much time to set up their forecheck or look for the steal.
I’m also not a big fan of cycling the puck back into our zone. I know there are times where it’s needed to set up a play, especially on the PP, but I think once they get started doing it repeatedly they eventually get trapped going the wrong way and an odd man rush is the result.
Trixie
July 27th, 2009
11:54 am
Blue and bigger, that’s why I love Thrashers hockey.
Pam on Weck
July 27th, 2009
12:00 pm
Alan – You’re right (and funny comment). I meant to imply that I thought Enstrom had become a more conservative player, not necessarily parked in front of the net. I may not have thought it through enough. At any rate, the change was good for him and I hope he and Bogo continue to be a great duo.
Archie
July 27th, 2009
12:15 pm
A continuation of my post about puck possession, I’d be curious to see how many of our penalties came at the end of a shift when we’d get pinned down on defense, can’t get the puck cleared and end up getting a fatigue penalty like a trip or holding, or get the ticky tack delay of game for flinging the puck over the glass. How many penalties can we avoid by being the team that has the puck instead of the team trying to get it back? How many of those shots against and goals against can we avoid by never going on the PK in the first place? LAC’s comment about cutting the GA down 40 or 50 is right, and Rawhide is right that number still may not be enough, improving the possession game may get that 40 to 50 number up to 70 or so.
Thankfully, I think we’ve made modest steps in that direction. I think we need more size and physicality at forward, Nik Antropov, and Evander Kane plays that physical style too (or so we’re told). We need puck moving defensemen to get the puck up the ice, Kubina and a still developing Enstrom and Bogosian. We’re not there, I think we need anothe center and RW who can park their keyster in front of goal, deflect some long range shots and and knock in some rebounds. I know that’s a discussion about offense, but doing those things takes pressure off the defense.
World Be Free
July 27th, 2009
12:29 pm
Thanks to everybody today for their constructive input on the future of our “D”. Having Good depth not only covers for injuries, but it creates good competition during training camp.
Earl makes the point about Valibik in the press box. He’ll stay there until he can beat somebody out. Whether it’s Boris in the PB someone else, everyone will have to earn playing time this year. Pam-the guys you mentioned are going to have to carve out their own niche or do their best “Andrew Peters” imitation by spending an entire season in the press box!
Rawhide-thanks for the facts concerning the reduction in goals against as the season progressed. Funny how better all around play translates into wins and a reduction in goals against.
Earl-thanks for the Porter Cup update. Guys like the Mickelsons make us Bills’ fans feel like we are not alone!
World Be Free
July 27th, 2009
12:50 pm
Possible deal, Heatley to San Jose?
Just what the Sharks need-another quitter who folds when the heat is on.
Thrasher_Ed
July 27th, 2009
1:13 pm
Wow, how long until the season starts?? I really like the off-season moves guys. I still think we may see a trade or two to improve even more, but you never can tell with Don. With a glut of goaltending who should we trade? I think that it must be Hedberg! The other 2 are still our future and as much as I love the Moose, he feel off last year.
Midfield
July 27th, 2009
1:13 pm
Glovesave, I think you’re saying that big and fast roster is better than small and slow. Hmmm. I guess, I concur.
Trixie
July 27th, 2009
1:21 pm
It isn’t always good to be fast.
The Earl of Bud
July 27th, 2009
1:26 pm
Pam on Weck, I think Enstrom showed a lot of improvement on the defensive game last year, he’s not just a PP specialist like he started out as.
Archie, I’m hoping Antro can get a lot of rebound goals this year. As well, make space for Kovy.
World Be Free, Mickelson won 3 majors and even the Braves one a World Series, I think we need to get at least one before joining them. Although Mickelson’s little brother was at -7 and the lead starting the final day. He finished the day at -3 and tied for 8th. Winner finished at -6. All he had to do was shoot par the final round or +1 for a playoff. Choke job indeed.
I don’t believe the SJ/Heatley deal happens although both teams have players that need to get out of town so it just might work.
The Earl of Bud
July 27th, 2009
1:28 pm
Thrasher_Ed, with Lethonen’s latest surgery/injury I can’t handle him being our future. I hope Pavelec surprises us all and plays lights out to start the year and makes the most of his opportunity.
Rawhide
July 27th, 2009
1:41 pm
Rawhide-thanks for the facts concerning the reduction in goals against as the season progressed. Funny how better all around play translates into wins and a reduction in goals against.
WBF – No problem…all part of the service. When you consider it…given how many people bring such great information, topics and answers around here…it ain’t bad when you consider what ya pay for it, eh?
Michael B. Shapiro
July 27th, 2009
1:49 pm
My top ten wish list for 09-10 season in no particular order except #1:
1. Kovy signed to a 5+ year contract
2. SOGA below 32 per game
3. GAA below 3 per game
4. SOGF above 30 per game
5. Healthy goaltenders
6. Kovy skating in on the PP and not just sniping
7. PP learning to actually cycle the puck, not just dump and shoot
8. PK aggressively holding the blue line, not giving it up plus a stride or three
9. Tobi skating up-ice when he gets the puck, not circling like a bumblebee first (maybe that will improve with Nik’s departure)
10. Oyster showing me he’s our sixth defender
Now to Brendan’s question…last year I predicted 82 (wish it were true) and we didn’t quite make it. This year I’m hopeful for 92 if some of the top 10 above come true.
Go Blue!
GaVaHokie
July 27th, 2009
1:53 pm
This is getting ridiculous… have you seen the latest in the Coyotes fiasco?
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=285900
Pam on Weck
July 27th, 2009
2:00 pm
Thrasher_Ed – While the popular Moose would be the best choice for the Thrash to trade, I don’t think there are any teams clamoring for his services. Also, with Kari’s surgery, he’s not tradeable and Pavs is more important to the club.
Earl of Bud – Yes, surprises from Pavs would be the best option in the net. Even if Kari is ready to play in October, the time off from conditioning invites additional injury. A goalie needs to be flexible like a bendy straw.
World Be Free
July 27th, 2009
2:29 pm
Earl-”Mick” has won three, but he had chances to close the deal several other times and failed to do so. With all that talent, it took him a long time to win number one.
GaVa-Phoenix is a mess for sure. This was a rumor over thwe eekened, not sure if PHX management is trying to appease Canadian hockey fans by playing a game or 2 in grass roots areans-I don’t think it will work.
Tony C.
July 27th, 2009
2:38 pm
Archie- Take a look at this, also do a search for vancouver giants highlights…he’s a gritty scorer from a gritty program…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X6bB2mwq1c
Russian
July 27th, 2009
2:45 pm
to Tony
It is perfect video. I like his move and shots. Only one thing – IT IS JUNIOR Team. I hope he will be productive in Our Roster also.
GaVaHokie
July 27th, 2009
3:14 pm
Tony… I like the move he does at 2:20 of that video… leading the other player into a direct open ice check from the defenseman… that’s pretty smart.
GaVaHokie
July 27th, 2009
3:14 pm
Actually, more like 2:25
GaVaHokie
July 27th, 2009
3:18 pm
WBF… it’s unreal.
PHX doesn’t need to appease anyone in Canada… it’s their franchise. I’d be pissed if Atlanta made the playoffs and had to play 2 of those games in Hamilton… that’s B.S.
Tony C.
July 27th, 2009
3:20 pm
Russian- Great point. I feel that all this talk of him (Kane) making the team out of camp is kind of silly.
Not that I’m not pulling for him, but I just don’t think he’s ready to go into the corners against the likes of Pronger, White, Chara, Ranger etc. and that’s just some of the guys in our conference. Also, do you think NHL-caliber defenders are going to fooled by a 3-move in-out deke? Maybe the other rookies, but ask #17 how inhumanly fast your hands have to be to get away with that move at this level-and I don’t think Kane’s hands are as good as #17s Unless he suddenly grows a LOT (we’re talking definite juice-age here 15lbs. in like 6 weeks), I’m of the opinion he should spend this upcoming season leading his Juniors team to their CF.
Still, Archie was curious as to what his style was, and I think that video shows what we can expect.
Midfield
July 27th, 2009
3:34 pm
GaVaHokie, this particular move looks borderline interference, and, in NHL, more likely than not, will be called as such, especially against the rookie.
Glovesave29
July 27th, 2009
3:55 pm
I still think Valabik would be best served spending a season in Chicago to learn how to play wing instead of D. He’s a liability on the back line.
Smoothie
July 27th, 2009
4:07 pm
Munch on these stats if you will:
First 41 games played:
Shot Differential = -214 (-5.22 / gm; 32.56 SA vs 27.34 SF)
Goal Differential = – 35 (GAA of 3.63 vs GFA of 2.86)
Goal Save Percentage = .888
Second 41 games played:
Shot Differential = -163 (-3.98 / gm; 32.88 SA vs 28.90 SF)
Goal Differential = + 6 (GAA of 3.32 vs GFA of 3.17)
Goal Save Percentage = .904
Guess who was worse than the Thrashers in overall save percentage?
Yep, the Detroit Red Wings with a season save % of only 89.4%. HOWEVER, the Red Wings only allowed 2,274 shots (an avg of 27.73 / gm), which was 409 fewer than the Thrashers. So while the shot differential alone would lead one to think that the Thrashers were not very much improved in the 2nd half (although it did come down almost 1.25 s/gm), the save percentage went up and the net goal differential swung an entire goal / gm!!
So, does that mean the Thrashers simply improved by being more aggressive with the puck and becoming more efficient at getting it up ice on the counter-attack? Or did the quality of shots by the other team decline in addition to the improved offensive play by the Thrashers blueliners as a unit?
LAC
July 27th, 2009
4:27 pm
I am just concerned of this… Our Defense has only changed Exelby
for Kubina. The rest remains the same, that is guys we know will be on the team. The Aussie Selamia (I know that’s spelled wrong) and Noah Welch are the only two other “new” defensemen who could make the team.
Now look at Toronto last season… 293 goals allowed, most in the entire NHL, and Kubina was on that team, which leads on to believe he will not been enough to stem the tide of shots & GA for us, just does
not add up. Then Welch played for two teams last season, was hurt and
just did not play much, could be better pickup than Kubina, after was a NUMBER #1 pick of Pittsburgh…
I just don’t see enough change on the blue line to be enough to cut
40-50 Goals off the total or like Rawhide said,the shots against…
So far what waddell has done is swap out a couple parts and let the new engine get away as usual…. Mark my words, watch our Shots against & GA through about 30 games,and I fear it will show, yet again a telling tale about the worst part of this franchise the defense, has been BAD since the start and maybe the master of all this should answer his critics.
GaVaHokie
July 27th, 2009
4:49 pm
Well, one aspect is that we replaced Exelby’s 45 shots with Kubina’s 184 shots… he could possibly break the 200 mark in our “green light” system.
Couple that with whatever shot total Bogosian will have this season, there should be a ton of “bombs” coming from the backend.
Smoothie
July 27th, 2009
4:56 pm
I understand your concern LAC, but keep in mind that the Thrashers were 21-18-1 over their last 41 games (adj winning % of .524) despite giving up an avg of 32.9 shots per game. They were only 13-23-5 over their first 41 games (winning % of .378) when they were giving 32.6 shots per game). So they managed to play better as a team, and get better goaltending, over the second half despite the shot differential.
Now I too would be more comfortable with a shots against avg closer to 30, but Detroit has demonstrated you can overcome mediocre goaltending with a superior PP and just a fairly avg PK (however, that caught up with them in the playoffs a bit). So if the Thrashers can demonstrate the ability to outscore an opponent despite giving up 32-33 shots per game, then a combination of an improved PK unit along with more consistent goaltending can indeed make them a playoff caliber team without having to get below 30 shots per game on avg.
I would think with the following, they can compete for the playoffs:
1) PK% of at least 80%
2) PP% of at least 21%
3) reduced # of times short-handed by about 40
4) Shots against avg below 31 shots per game
5) Save percentage of at least .906
6) Goals allowed of fewer than 240 (GAA under 2.90)
7) Roughly same offensive output as last year (3.00 GFA)
Perhaps the discussion about the 3rd line LW and how the Thrashers will re-vamp their special teams defense is the most pertinent with respect to how this team performs during the 2009-10 campaign?? Just by killing penalties at an 81% clip the Thrashers could have reduced the goals scored by 18!! Considering all of the one goal losses they had, it makes you wonder if the only real deficiency is the PK unit (and goaltending as they go hand in hand).
World Be Free
July 27th, 2009
5:12 pm
GaVa-totally agree about Phoenix. Bettman is doing the right thing by trying to keep franchises from moving around whenever they want. How much abuse do you think the Yotes are going to take durign their token games in Canada?
Folks in Hamlilton can drink puss for all I care.
thasher fan
July 27th, 2009
5:23 pm
yes size does matter but so does conviction and heart. exelby has it all and he is going to be missed. there are lots of backseat analysts who think they know it all but you can’t put what exelby brings to the table in a neat package. he inspired the team, got the fans going and, oh yeah, knocked a bunch of guys out who would have scored. More of then than not, it’s the intangibles that win the game and exelby was the spice we needed. our loss.
Glovesave29
July 27th, 2009
7:40 pm
Colin Stuart’s stay in Toronto was a short one…he was just shipped off to Calgary for Wayne Primeau
The Earl of Bud
July 27th, 2009
7:49 pm
Wayne Primeau is still in this league? World Be Free, Pam on Weck, insert a Holzinger/Plante joke here.
Was there a draft pick included, I would much rather have Stuart.
Red Light
July 27th, 2009
8:26 pm
Thanks for welcoming me back Rawhide and Brendan. Brendan: Not sure where my prediction is supposed to be predicted, but I can’t see more than one point per game, so I’ll peg the Thrashers at 82 points, good for third in the Southeast behind Carolina and Washington in that order. I think Bouwmeester’s loss will really hurt Florida, and once the Lightning get off to another miserable start, the second most overrated player in the game, (behind Ed Jovanoski) Vinny Lecavalier, will be dealt and Tampa will struggle to break 70 points. Sadly, 82 won’t get it done, and Blueland will once again have no playoffs in sight. They’ll be 12 points short this year.
Carolina, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and the Rangers get in. Surprisingly, New Jersey and Montreal miss this year.
World Be Free
July 27th, 2009
8:33 pm
Earl, don’t forget Michael Grosek, Dave Snuggerud and Darrell Shannon!
Thrasherfan, I think most fans will miss Ex., his hits and his enthusiasm. But I believe he had gone as far as he could and an upgrade was in order. Not sure if Ex will make it to the Maple Loafs’ opening day roster either.
Red Light, tough to predict now, but I can agree with several of your points. We should have this discussion again in a few months. Welcome back too.
Rawhide
July 27th, 2009
8:38 pm
I’m sure that during training camp and preseason…just like we did last season…we’ll enter our predictions here and Brendan will keep them in his ledger.
Hey, Brendan…who won the “contest” last season? Was it Glovesave29?
Glovesave29
July 27th, 2009
8:40 pm
Calgary threw in a second rounder and Toronto parted ways with Anton Stralman.
Rumor has it (in the Canadian media) that the Flames are clearing salary space to deal Pfaneuf to the Senators for Heatley. I sure hope not, I’d hate to see what that does to the Flames. Dion had a bad season, and I expect a great one out of him this upcoming one…Dany’s got issues (like skipping his friend Jason Spezza’s wedding last weekend for one) with leadership. NO WAY that’ll work when the Sutter brothers run that team.
Red Light – no way Buffalo gets in. They are getting depleted further each season. Their saving grace is a great coach. Cannot see the Rangers or Toronto getting in either. NY is a train wreck, and the Leafs are Burkes long term project.
Atlanta will see a 12 point increase to 88 (I did nail last season’s prediction at 76 points). We will come in 2nd behind Washington and just ahead of Carolina. Florida misses Bouwmeester, but will still place ahead of Tampa in the Southeast. We squeeeeeeek into the 8th spot and make it this season to post season play.
LAC
July 27th, 2009
8:52 pm
Smoothie, you are right on the $ with that info, THANKS !!!
Exelby had Zero offense, Kubina had 40 points and did play in ALL 82 Toronto games last season showing he is durable, but how good is his defense ? What was his +/- ? They gave up 293 goals remember.
I just don’t want to get outscored like last year, but remember, Detroit
got bounced 8-0 twice last season by Nashville/Columbus… So even
the better teams have night’s off, We had two, Philadelphia 7-0 and Florida 8-4. But unless we cut off 40-50 GA, we will in no way make the playoffs. Thus I feel waddell has done a few things, BUT not enough…
The Earl of Bud
July 27th, 2009
9:03 pm
Glovesave29, Bouwmeester replaces Phaneuf, so you are actually just adding Dany Heatley to last year’s team that barely lost the division title and that is an upgrade. I don’t think anyone on this blog likes the guy but I don’t think it’s a bad deal on Calgary’s part given they landed Boumeester and still have Regehr. Then you got Kiprusoff behind the defense. A sniper up front can be a great addition and that team can cover his lack of defense.
I too think Buffalo gets in. With a healthy Ryan Miller they were at the 6th seed last season. Who did they lose this offseason? Spacek can be made up for in Sekera and Butler.
World Be Free
July 27th, 2009
9:05 pm
Glovesave-I agree on the Sabres, but I dd not want to rain on my hometown’s parade.
LAC-once again I agree, we still need to do more. We have ground to makeup.
Not sure why anybody would want Heatley right now. The fiasco in Ottawa has to have tainted alotta clubs around the league as to what headaches they may be getting. And these teams will pay dearly in the cform of players for the potential headaches. The only deal for Heatley that makes sense is Heatly for Marleau straight up. I think Patrick needs a change os scenery. I know this will not happen becuase of MArleau’s NTC, but if it could, this would be the best trade with both players and both clubs.
The Earl of Bud
July 27th, 2009
9:39 pm
World Be Free, isn’t Heatley from Calgary? Perhaps there is hope that if he is surrounded by his hometown he will have a change of attitude? Just my guess. Put Heatley opposite Iginla with Jokinen and that can cause some headaches out west. Attitudes or not.
World Be Free
July 27th, 2009
9:52 pm
Earl, yes, he grew up in western Canada. Heatley would replace the goals lost when Cammalleri went to Montreal. Maybe Jerome could wip him into shape mentally.
Brendan
July 27th, 2009
11:35 pm
Glovesave29 did, indeed, nail the exact point total, of 76-points, last year. But a poster named Don also had 76-points, tied to a 4th place finish in the division, and 14th in the Conference. In that tie-breaker category, he just edged out Glovesave29, who had 5th in the division and 14th in the Conference. Posters 12345 and Brickhouse had 75-points, missing by one. And posters Sharon and Smoothie, had 77-points, missing by one. It was a great contest, with a nail-bitter finish. LAC won the “Guess the Opening Night budget” contest, with his guess of $46.8 million last year. We don’t really have one for this year. Last year, we cut off the balloting on July 1. We’re well past that, already. It’s nearly August. Don Waddell went on record saying the budget would be between $45-$46 million, at some point during this offseason. If he’s to be trusted at his word, the guesses would be so close. We’d need tie-breakers down to the penny. My guess was $48.5 million, optimistically, back in April or May or June, or whenever it was that the topic surfaced again. I gambled high, thinking the organization would at least make an “attempt” to appease Kovalchuk. But even $48.5 million is more than $8 million UNDER the $56.8 million cap limit.
LAC
July 28th, 2009
12:36 am
Brenden still owes me a drink, How about TJ’s ?
LAC
July 28th, 2009
4:06 am
Here is the official line on Kubina last season. Was second on Toronto in +/-.
GA G A PT +/- PIM SH
D Pavel Kubina 82 14 26 40 -15 94 184
Not what I would call a top 4 defenseman for sure, looking more like a fill in player, but not much more, remember we need DEFENSE, and this guy does not provide it.
The Welch signing could prove a better one, but we need more D and
another scorer or two to fill out the team.
Lastly why is jim slater still here ?
Sara
July 28th, 2009
7:25 am
Actually Glovesave I think skipping Spezza’s wedding was the right call for Heater. The media was already gearing up to ambush him there and that would have been grossly unfair to Spezza, his bride, and their families.
The Joker
July 28th, 2009
7:54 am
“Lastly why is jim slater still here ?”
Because he’s from Kalamazoo
World Be Free
July 28th, 2009
8:00 am
LAC-I have no idea why Slater is still here, other than the fact that he was a no. 1 pick and the club does not want to admit it made another mistake. All we can hope is that the team signs another center (like Malholtra) so Jimmy can take a seat in the press box next to Boris. Slater supporters can offer whatever statistics they can muster to keep him here, but I say the Slater experiment is over.
Slater is like Ex, a popular player that has reached his limited potential. Time we move on from guys like him to players that will take us to the next level.
It is difficult to judge Kubina on his time in Toronto. Leafs’ fans did not want to sign him to begin with. He really never had a chance there, like most of John Ferguson Jr’s free agent signings. Leaf fans are the biggest whining crybabies on the planet.
Hockey Biltong
July 28th, 2009
8:37 am
Brendan,
Put me in for 87 points, third place in the SE and 9th in the conference. If we sign Malhotra or a reasonable facsimilie, then 90 points, 2nd place in the SE and 7th in the conference!
I predict Slater will double his goals this year.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
8:43 am
Glovesave… typically the top 2 in each division make the playoffs… the cutoff is usually 94 pts for the 8th spot.
I think we’d have to do better than 88 pts to get 2nd in the Southeast.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
8:45 am
Here’s the link to the Toronto and Calgary trade…
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=285925
Brian Burke is not impressing me so far in Toronto.
Glovesave29
July 28th, 2009
8:52 am
Sara – I do understand that point, but he could have snuck in…when it’s your supposed best friend, you make the sacrifice. Even before this situation arose, I am sure the Spezza family had accounted for extra security just for the fact that there were a bunch of pro athletes invited to the shindig.
Earl – why replace Pfaneuf with Bouwmeester? Have them both. I’d rather have a p.o.ed Dion trying to make up for a bad season last year than a prima donna who questions the coaches descisions and is upset he doesn’t have a “c”. Ottawa’s record improved when Clouston was hired, so perhaps fewer minutes for Dany was the right call.
Kubina is a definite upgrade over Ex. I like Garnet, he was a good guy and worked his tail off. Well liked in the community and in the locker room. But he had gone as far as his talent could take im here. He was certainly not the same player he had been before the injury. He may not make their roster…he might find the perfect defensive partner and have a really good year. Who knows? Toronto had way more problems that led to the 293 GA than just Pavel. Having D men that can score forces the opponent to have to spread out in the defensive zone to account for the backline scoring. Wingers cannot sag back inside the circles. This should open up more room along the half boards for the wingers to work and ease up the room in the low slot for the center to knock home some more rebounds.
Glovesave29
July 28th, 2009
8:58 am
GaVa – I feel like there is a huge disparity between the teams in the eastern conference, and that generally the west is much stronger. That being said, I think the 8th spot in the west this year could be the 4 or 5 in the east. That’s true, that the mid 90’s are usually the cut off, but it is not ALWAYS the case, and I think we may squeek in this year with the high 80’s.
If this was the mid 1980’s, when the league’s playoff structure was 1-16 overall and not 1-8 in the conference – we’d see painfully few eastern teams this season. There’s just a lot of uncertainty and mediocrity.
World Be Free
July 28th, 2009
9:00 am
Burke has basically traded garbage for garbage, picking up concrete players (cement heads) from wherever he can. He’s made it public that many of his current players are available at the right price. No wonder guys was to GET OUT of Toronto.
Toronto is no longer a desired destination for tier 1 free agents. I am surprise Komi signed there.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
9:15 am
Calgary got a steal on that deal… I’d much rather have Stralman and Stuart. I don’t care if Toronto saved $1 million on the move. That was stupid.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
9:18 am
Getting back to Malhotra… here’s how I see the situation… it looks like the “team he’s waiting on” is Detroit… fair enough.
Malhotra is on Detroit’s short list. However, Detroit looks to be leaning in the direction of Mike Grier, so we might still see Malhotra swing our direction. But, I believe Edmonton is also a choice for him.
Alan
July 28th, 2009
9:44 am
Brian Burke is not impressing me so far in Toronto.
I’m not impressed, either. As per last year’s discussion, though, I’m willing to give him five years (”Burkie’s Five Year Plan™”) to prove that he’s the best GM in the league, and can turn the Toronto franchise around.
He seems to have got off the wrong side of the bed, and it seems to have started with the draft. You could tell that not being able to draft the younger Schenn hurt, and he doesn’t seem to have recovered since.
Glovesave29
July 28th, 2009
10:02 am
I’m going to reserve comment on Burke until this time next year. With him clearing salary, and so many of his players on the last year of their contracts, Toronto may be in the perfect position come next summers UFA season.
Pam on Weck
July 28th, 2009
10:16 am
I have to disagree with Red Light and EoB that Buffalo can make the playoffs. But it’s ok. We’re used to losing up there. Maybe that’s why so many of us also like the Thrashers. I say the haters will once again call for Lindy’s head and they might get it this time. Sadly, it’s not Lindy, but his Ruff-ians that are lacking.
I like Slater. I called for him to have a breakout year last year and he didn’t. You can only say “this is going to be his year” so many times. He’s still a serviceable player and replacing our fourth line center isn’t priority. He does his job plus he recycles!
Brian Burke
July 28th, 2009
10:17 am
I don’t care what you people think. I’m Brian Burke.
Piss off you worthless plebians, I’ll kick your butts.
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
10:17 am
LAC, +/- is more of a team stat, and as you say he was #2 on the team. So what makes you think he can’t play defense based on those stats? Would you say Lidstrom or Chara can’t play defense, they put up a lot of points.
World Be Free, Slater is still here because he is a great 4th line center. It has nothing to do with the fact he was drafted in the first round, although he has outperformed over 90% of the people drafted after him.
Glovesave29, I actually agree with you. I would have both Phaneuf and Bouwmeester. I was just trying to rationalize why you would give away Phaneuf. And there is that production lost from Cammaleri as WBF points out.
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
10:34 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSQ8ghmx1l8&feature=related
Perhaps this is the reason Kubina hasn’t expressed any excitement in a public forum when it comes to playing in Atlanta??
Alan
July 28th, 2009
10:36 am
With him clearing salary, and so many of his players on the last year of their contracts, Toronto may be in the perfect position come next summers UFA season.
But boy, are they going to suck this year. At least, that’s how it looks.
All I’m saying is I don’t see any evidence of “moving forward” quite yet, but that I am giving him the five years I agreed to give him, as per my conversation with Bob last season. Toronto might be in a good position for acquiring top tier free agents next season, but they might also have trouble drawing them to the organization. Especially if they do poorly this year.
So many other teams (Los Angeles and NYI come immediately to mind) look like they have a bright future ahead of them. Then you have Toronto.
Glovesave29
July 28th, 2009
11:37 am
Alan – agreed, Toronto will be a bottom feeder this season, but I think Beauchemin and Komisarek were excellent additions. I think this seasons struggles will have little effect on their ability in the coming seasons to attract top tier UFA’s. Burkes got a decent resume for collecting talent, plus its Toronto…the center of the hockey universe. If you can take the overbearing media and ridiculous fan expectations, it’s a good place to play.
Smoothie – great link. Bit of a late hit by Kovy and certainly worthy of a 5, but a gamer…c’mon! Today marks 199 days until the Vancouver Olympics – Rawhide, please lets get the gang together at TJ’s to pull for our boys in RW&B.
Rawhide
July 28th, 2009
11:53 am
Glovesave29 – Olympic hockey viewing parties at TJ’s??? I like that idea. I’ll give Tim and Mark a call and see what we can set up.
Now…speaking of TJ’s and viewing parties…what are everyone’s thoughts on when to gather there to watch games. The Fan Club and I have already discussed October 17 and February 13 as dates to do so and I’m thinking of November 7 and December 5. Those are all Saturday night games.
Thoughts?
Brendan
July 28th, 2009
12:12 pm
Hockey Biltong, we’ll be collecting point total picks starting October 1, right up until the puck drop of Opening Night, for the Thrashers Point total contest. By then, the roster will be set. No sense in making picks now, when the roster isn’t set. Even on Opening Night, it’s going to be subjective about what the roster for the season will really be. Some players, like Kane, might only be getting a nine game audition. If there’s a preseason injury, a “pressbox player” may be pressed into service and stay there. That’ll affect the cumulative point totals.
If, for some reason, we do hold a “guess the Opening Night Budget” contest, I’d guess we should set the cut off date on Sept. 1. I don’t know if Rawhide wants to do it or not this year. I think it’s got to be between $45 to $49 million. So, we’re just going to have a logjam of picks inbetween, is my guess. But the point total picks contest won’t start until the rosters are set. These current blogs are for speculation purposes, not setting the actual picks.
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
12:36 pm
Yeah, that hit by Kovy was a bit late and perhaps a bit high, but not worthy of a game misconduct. BTW, where was that kind of swift justice when it came to doling out punishment for Martins Karsums when he boarded Toby Enstrom into next week?? Did he even get a 2 min minor??
Viking, have you read any reports or stories on Tobias Enstrom and how he is coming in his recovery? It would be nice to know how he has progressed to this point and how he feels going into camp in 6 wks.
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
12:43 pm
Vinny Prospal is now a free man and can look for work wherever he chooses. Let’s just hope this Thrasher killer ends up in the Western Conf or the KHL: http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/sports/comments/lightning-intend-to-buyout-vinny-prospals-contract/
Also, the PuckCentral twitter site is saying that 3 sources have confirmed Tanguay has signed with the ‘Yotes…if so, a big PHEW!!
But then again, are the Bolts buying out Vinny because they have actually signed Tanguay??
World Be Free
July 28th, 2009
12:45 pm
GaVa-I am with you on the Toronto-Calgary deal. Primeau is on the down side of so-so career. I believe Stralman will do well with a change of scenery. He’s one of those players who had little hope of succeeding in Toronto being linked to Ferguson Jr. Tlulsky is the next player to go for the same reason.
There is no way Toronto fans will have anything to do with a 5 year plan. They are already on a 42 year plan as it is. I hope they stink for another 42 years.
Pam-agreed, no way Buffalo makes the playoffs. They will wear out Miller by January. The Sabres’ only real hope is that the youngsters step up big time. Other than that, they’re the same group that failed last year with no leadership. Ruff will walk at the end of this season, if he has any sense or hair left.
Earl-to use a Sabre comparison, Slater is Bob Corkum. He has no future or upside and would not make it with any other NHL team.
Malholtra- Assuming we are getting accurate information concerning the Thrashers’ offer, then we are making a serious commitment to this player. If there’s no commitment from the player, then we need to move on. If he wants to wait for other offers, let him do it without one from us. The Thrashers cannot be a 3rd or 4th choice for players like this. He is a supporting player, not a key element to success.
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
12:47 pm
http://twitter.com/NHLSourcesSay
I reckon this is fairly reputable if they are using the NHL shield / crest? Looks like Tanguay only cares about the money. $4.5 M per.
Hockey Biltong
July 28th, 2009
1:04 pm
WBFR- With you on Malhotra. Only peeps who want to be here should be had….looking for a reasonable facsimilie…..
Ta Brendan, I’ll re-input when things do solidify, but I won’t move far off of those figures..
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
1:05 pm
WBF – I agree wholeheartedly with you on Malhotra if there is really an offer on the table STILL especially for the kind of money rumored to have been offered. Screw him if he is taking this long to decide when he is nothing more than a 3rd line player. Detroit is looking for SCORING so I’m not real sure why they are hot to trot for Grier and Manny. I suppose in their system, I could score 10 goals, but come off it Manny, the Columbus Blue Jackets didn’t even think you warranted a big raise, why would Detroit?? I would love to have a player like Malhotra, Pyatt or even Grier, but not at these prices. Not when your soon-to-be assistant (alternate I know) capt took $250-400 K less than what he could’ve mustered from the FA market.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
1:06 pm
Smoothie… seems like a pretty bold move on Tampa’s part at the very second we’re hearing “Tanguay to PHO” rumors.
I would believe it’s a last minute effort to get Tanguay signed in Tampa.
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
1:08 pm
World Be Free, Slater is WAY better then Corkum and his upside is if he improves on the PK which can easily be done. Perfect 4th liner, he’s even shown that he will drop the gloves, he has the energy and can pot the occasional goal.
Malhotra can be a key element if he improves our PK which is our biggest deficiency to be addressed right now. I am not going to be insulted if he wants to hear about the Red Wings as well.
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
1:14 pm
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=1099
OMG!! Corkum played with both the Sabres (which I remember), but also the Thrashers in 2001-02. Can’t believe he scored 23 goals for the expansion Ducks in 93-94!! Let’s hope Jimmy Slater can score 15 goals or so for a few years so he can avoid comparisons to Bob Corkum!
World Be Free
July 28th, 2009
1:19 pm
Thanks folks, I understand Malholtra wanting to hear about other offers, but the wait has been too long. The longer Malholtra waits, the more I doubt his sincerity as to whether he truly wants to be here. If we’re going from 76 pts to 92 points, we need everyone on board showing the same commitment our current player showed the 2nd half of the season.
Slater-maybe I am jaded; maybe I just look at Jimmy, Perrin and Ex as players that I associate with 76 point teams. Perrin and Ex are gone.
This is similar to discussions from 6 weeks ago. I will say what I said then-I think we can do better. Kovy would expect no less.
LAC
July 28th, 2009
1:20 pm
Earl, Bud whatever… I am talking DEFENSE, not offense, we have a good supply of that I believe on defense,we need people who will keep the puck out of OUR net… I fail to see where Kubina fits in that aspect.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
1:35 pm
Anyone interested in this guy as a UFA PK specialist?
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/2020
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
1:37 pm
I agree with EOB on Slater…I still think his upside is greater and he has potential to score 15 goals a year and even play on the 3rd line if his PK skills continue to improve.
In a lot of the games I recorded on my DVR during the end of March, I noticed Slater was much more effective on the PK. Probably because he was playing with Peverley and Stuart most of the time. The key was not pairing him with Perrin who played the bulk of his PK time with Reasoner.
I think Slater and Perrin were both apt to take too many chances at the blueline so they could parlay their speed into a SH bid at the other end. Slater seemed much more disciplined even alongside a more conservative pair-mate like Peverley.
I actually gleaned these stats last week because I was curious to see how well Slater played on the PK after coming back from injury the 2nd time. So far, in the last 5 games of the season, Slater logged a total of 17.67 minutes of SH time. While he was on the ice during that stretch, the PK unit gave up a whopping 0 goals and he even was on the ice for a shorty when Perrin scored against Wash in the 6-4 road loss.
Glovesave29
July 28th, 2009
1:39 pm
PJ Axelsson just signed a 4 year deal with Frolunda of the Swedish Elite League.
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
1:40 pm
LAC, last year the only Thrashers defenseman who had more hits than Kubina was Exelby and obviously Kubina was a better player so I don’t rely on that stat alone. Kubina had 133 blocked shots, more than any other Thrashers defenseman last year. Only Bogosian and Hainsey had more takeaways last year than Kubina. Kubina also led the team in # of shifts per game, so clearly he was the defenseman that Wilson wanted out there the most.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
1:51 pm
WBF… i’m not giving Malhotra too much grief… he’s had to wait all summer for the dust to settle on the Tier 1 guys. This is his time to negotiate what’s best for him as teams fill in the gaps. Can’t fault him for weighing all his options.
Stroz… I’m fine with either Malhotra or Pyatt, sure.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
1:53 pm
Frank Kaberle just got bought out by Carolina…
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=285999
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
1:56 pm
Good stats EOB! I think I recall reading on another blog how Kubina played Top 20 “clutch” minutes in the league last year. It just happened to be for a bad team. I was also curious about his shot-blocking so that’s good to see.
When you are a team that stresses moving the puck out of the D-zone quickly and you are currently a bit undersized, then it makes sense certainly to bring in a bigger guy who can a) block shots b) move the puck c) shoot AND score and d) move guys out of the crease on the PK. But first and foremost, blocked shots can definitely help lead to transition.
If Hainsey can improve his back-checking and play a little more physical on the PK, that pairing could work out quite well.
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
2:07 pm
GVH, first on Tanguay, I will not be surprised if the TBL did in fact cut Prospal thinking they still had an outside shot at AT. But VP was expendable with the glut of “talent” they now have on their roster. He is a very expensive 34 y/o player and a potential ingredient for cap suicide later.
On Malhotra, the fact that he wants to go to DET is very telling as they are at the mercy of the arbitration hearing for Hudler before they can really do anything. Once DET makes a move, we should see Malhotra make a decision I reckon. I’m sure he’s professional enough to do a good job if he came to ATL as let’s say a 3rd choice. But if you’re going to pay a guy a lot more money than an alternate capt who just gave the team a big hometown discount, then that could set a bad tone for the lockeroom later on if Malhotra does his best Jason Williams impression in Oct & Nov.
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
2:39 pm
Smoothie, MM is one of the top 5 FO guys in the league, far better avg than Reasoner. He is also 3-4 years younger. So you can make the argument that he can get a little more $$ than Reasoner. Williams was a bust because he couldn’t be a 1st line winger. That is hard to do in this league. MM is being asked to fill a role of PKer and 3rd line winger, that’s much more common to succeed at for bottom 6 guys. So, the bust potential is nothing compared to Williams.
Given our crappy PK I want to get the best that’s out there. MM seems to be one of the better options.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
2:45 pm
Jason Williams was a bust because he plays like a pansy @$$.
Williams was such a pansy, I stopped calling Todd White Charmin.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
2:49 pm
Here’s the latest from Eklund… Bertuzzi and Satan on the radar for Atlanta.
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Eklund/Rumors-on-the-21-Remaining-UFAs-That-Can-Still-Help-Your-Team/1/22313
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
2:53 pm
GaVaHokie, I actually floated Bertuzzi’s name before if we had to settle for a 30+ year old. I’d take him over Grier. But it is Eklund so it won’t happen.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
2:54 pm
Smoothie… which alternate Captain do you speak of?
Reasoner isn’t an “A” yet… Armstrong just got his pay doubled.
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
3:00 pm
Mark my words, Reasoner, Player’s Player Award winner, will get an ‘A’. I am confident in that assertion. I’ll bet Stroz a whole $1!! And he knows how serious I am!
EOB, you are taking my comments too literally. I’m not comparing JWill’s abilities with Malhotra’s. I’m simply saying that an underperforming Malhotra making more money than market value can impact the lockeroom as negatively as an underperforming Williams who was overpaid by about $500 K to play Beyonce and Coldplay on the clubhouse stero…DJ Wussy Will obviously did not endear himself to teammates.
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
3:05 pm
“Reasoner isn’t an “A” yet”
I don’t know if this falls under the predictions that we aren’t making or the bets that Brendan is doing, but here goes: I say the opening night captains are Kovalchuk (C), Kozlov (A) and Bogosian (A). If not Bogosian then Hainsey. If not Kozlov then Armstrong.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
3:06 pm
Well, yeah, I’d almost say with certainty that Reasoner will get an “A”… that’s not really a stretch of the imagination, but he would have been no more a hot commodity this summer as he was last summer as a UFA. I wouldn’t consider his salary a “Home Town” discount… Malhotra, I’d imagine is more highly regarded league-wise.
… just my opinion.
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
3:07 pm
Smoothie, fair enough, I’ll agree on that. But I don’t see Reasoner getting an “A”. Oddly enough I was typing my post on captains the same time you said that.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
3:08 pm
Kovalchuk (C) Kozlov (A) Reasoner (A)
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
3:08 pm
oh, and Armstrong (A)
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
3:27 pm
GaVaHokie, outside of the goofy “rotating captains” that sprung up, I think teams normally select 2 forwards and 1 defenseman. If a forward is the C, the other forward and defenseman are the alternates. If the defenseman is the C, the two forwards are the alternates. I can’t document that anywhere but I am pretty sure that’s the norm. 4 forwards ain’t gonna happen unless it’s some goofy rotating system which we won’t do now that we finally named Kovalchuk as Captain.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
3:30 pm
Smoothie – I’m reluctant to take that bet as Reasoner has been a leader by his work ethic on the ice.
BTW GaVaHokie, I warmed that dollar up on some Varsity chili dogs Friday night.
Rawhide
July 28th, 2009
3:30 pm
I’ve already weighed in regarding Marty getting an “A”.
He deserves it…he should get it.
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
3:35 pm
Bertuzzi…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Thank goodness it is only Eklund.
GVH, do you honestly think that Reasoner is not worth more than the following players signed during the July FA period?
Donald Brashear
Tomas Kopecky
Ian Laperriere
Vern Fiddler
Kyle Brodziak
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
3:44 pm
We had 4 alternates last year, and then 3 after Kovy was given the C. We had Havelid, Colby, Slava and Kovy to start the year.
I don’t see why they won’t give the other ‘A’ to Reasoner. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave out an additional 2 A’s, one to Marty and one to Hainsey to have one on D.
Glovesave29
July 28th, 2009
3:44 pm
Smoothie – the KHL has already weighed in on Hudler, and they do not consider his current situation as a contactual obligation to the Wings, and thus are expecting him to show up for camp in the coming weeks. The IIHF is too weak in this matter to do anything about it, so I guess he’s off to play in the Motherland. So I guess Malhotra will don the Winged Wheel in the coming days. That should make Alan quite happy.
If Tampa thought that they has to move salary to get Tanguay, why did they not wait until he was signed before jettisoning Prospal? Salary cap means little now, as long as they are where they need to be on opening night. Must have been some other reason to let him go.
Earl – DEAD ON….Eklund is NEVER right. If he says Bertuzzi is coming, I’d put some serious cash on him signing elsewhere. Don’t really know if I want him here anyhow, just an older player whos dominating days are getting smaller in the rear view mirror, and fades as the season plays out.
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
3:45 pm
Smoothie, he was making $950 thousand and he came to Atlanta on a 1 year deal for a $50 thousand raise to $1 mil. Now he just got another raise for $100 thousand this year and another $100 thousand the following year to bring him to $1.2 mil/year. I don’t think it was a big hometown discount given that he continually is getting more money and I don’t know how much of a demand there was for him from other teams.
Rawhide, while I can agree that Marty works hard and brings the effort night in and night out, do you think they would take an “A” away from Armstrong when he is on a 1 year deal (which he may take as an insult) when he is going to be seen as a hard worker? Or do you take it away from Kozlov as he is the senior leader of this team? You can’t have the whole team be full of alternates. You also need a defenseman to get one as well.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
3:52 pm
You never know with Anderson as coach, he likes to hand out A’s like a retiring college professor.
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
3:56 pm
Smoothie, we will not have 5 captains/alternates. I’ll take all bets on that one.
Glovesave29, good tip on the IIHF there. The only way I would take Bertuzzi is if the only other option was some other mid-30’s player like Grier or Satan. I think the next best option would be Dominic Moore.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
4:02 pm
EOB – All bets are limited to ONE DOLLAR, the rules established by the movie Trading Places.
GaVaHokie
July 28th, 2009
4:06 pm
Smoothie… Reasoner was a July signing last year… I’d put him in the same boat as Fiddler and Kopecky… I’d probably take Brodziak over Reasoner.
Stroz… I may have to insist on PayPal.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
4:08 pm
GaVaHokie – I’ll get you a beer at Gorins for the laughs on that one.
World Be Free
July 28th, 2009
4:20 pm
Smoothie-Corkum actually broke in with the Sabres, so he had 2 tours of duty. That was Darcy Regier’s big trade deadline deal a few years back.
GaVa-I understand giving Manny some time, I just don’t like being left on ice while he tries to field a “better offer”. I don’t the Thrashers being the consoliation price for a tier 3 free agent. To let him off the hook would be like letting “Manny be Manny”. We may be missing out on other players that could help us while we wait for this guy to decide.
Eklund has a very low accuracy record. Love the way his posters pick on him for blowing so much smoke.
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
4:22 pm
EOB, you realize that Donald Brashear got $1.4 M this year right? And a career 3rd liner, Chris Neil, just got $2.0 M to come back to the Sens. And Jussi Jokinen, who was given up for dead by both the Stars and the Lightning, was awarded $1.7 M for a couple of good playoff series.
Just goes to show there are suckers galore in the UFA market. I certainly think Marty could have gotten $1.2 – $1.4 M per from at least 1 or 2 teams, but he obviously likes the fit here in ATL.
GVH, Kopecky is given a bit more credit than I think he deserves as a shut-down guy, but $1.2 M is probably fair. I would think Fiddler is worth a little bit more than his $1.1 M price-tag, but he’s coming off a down year.
EOB, if a guy like Jussi Jokinen can parlay a good playoff run into a big raise, I don’t see what’s so shocking about Marty getting a couple hundred grand more after earning it over a full season.
LAC
July 28th, 2009
4:33 pm
I agree 100% with Smoothie on Bertuzzi, not enough left in the tank…
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
4:44 pm
World Be Free, while I give you a nice round of applause for “Manny being Manny”, I don’t think Waddell and Dudley are playing World of Warcraft in their office while they wait to hear back from MM. Or any other Atari 2600 game. Not that I want to use Eklund as a source, but you have to think we are also putting out feelers on the Bertuzzis, Satans, etc. to have a backup plan if Manny is being Manny.
Smoothie, guys like Brashear and Neil are 4th line goons, not on the 3rd line checking line. Chris Neil, while I agree is overpaid, is averaging about 150 – 200 PIM/year. MM gets about 25 – 50 PIM/year. 2 totally different roles so lets compare apples to apples. Keep in mind a good playoff run is worth a whole lot more than a good regular season.
Hockey Biltong
July 28th, 2009
5:02 pm
Kovy??? Where are you???? Kovaaalchukkkkkkk? Come out and play…..
Brendan
July 28th, 2009
5:02 pm
Hokie, interesting item on Frank Kaberle being bought out. I wonder what his next move is? Playing in Europe? Signing with some other SE division team, to make Carolina sorry? Retirement? Kaberle is 35, I believe. In 2006, he scored the Stanley Cup clinching goal, in Game Seven, vs. Edmonton, for the Hurricanes.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
5:19 pm
EOB – Are you sure Waddell and Dudley aren’t playing Pitfall Harry.
BTW, Waddell was 22 in 1980.
Glovesave29
July 28th, 2009
5:37 pm
Congrats to John LeClair, Tom Barasso, Tony Amonte and the 1998 Olympic Womens gold medal winning for their induction into the US Hockey Hall of Fame.
Smoothie
July 28th, 2009
6:18 pm
Just to round out my “analysis” of Slater on the PK after his return from injury in March, Slater was on the ice for only 1 SHG over the final 8 games of the season. He logged a total of 26 M over those 8 games and also scored a SHG (I was incorrect before stating that he helped Perrin score a shorty but it was the other way around) to offset the SHGA.
It’s a small sample, I admit, but his SHGA for those 8 games would have been 2.31, which is way below the league avg of 4 – 5 / game. If Slater can just keep his SHGA down around 5 or 6, that would be a huge improvement over his last couple of seasons.
Of course the PK GA is a team stat and we suffered from not having enough size (Enstrom) and grit (Hainsey) when short-handed.
Hopefully adding some beef (Kubina along with a more matured Bogosian) in front of the net will take some of the pressure off of Slater, Pevs, Marty and _________ to be so much better.
Just in case you were wondering, Enstrom was on ice for 4 of the 9 SHGA during that 9 game stretch, but he was on the ice for two shorties. Hainsey was on for 5 of the 9 GA, 2 with XLB, 2 with Boris and 1 with Enstrom. Bogey was on the ice for 3 of the 9, but scored a shorty, and XLB was on the ice for 3 of the 9. As for the forwards, Marty led the way with 5, Stuart was next with 4 and Pevs & Perrin each with 2.
World Be Free
July 28th, 2009
6:51 pm
EOB-I knew you would like the “M be M” line. I just would like to get this done or move on to someone who can help us.
Frankly, I would like to suit up Duds and send him out to kick some ass. If Rocky Balboa can do it at 60, so can Duds.
World Be Free
July 28th, 2009
7:11 pm
If we sign Bertuzzi, then we can’t sign Dominic Moore. Don’t think Dom’s brother, Steve Moore would appreictae his “bro” playing with the thug that jumped on Steve’s back.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
7:16 pm
Bertuzzi belongs in Toronto with the rest of the goon crew.
World Be Free
July 28th, 2009
7:28 pm
Eklund has the Leafs signing Ogie Oglethorpe
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
7:34 pm
World Be Free – PERFECT
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
7:35 pm
Smoothie, nice stats. I always appreciate those as you can probably tell.
World Be Free, while I liked the “M be M” line, I’m still waiting for that new name
Thanks for the reminder on the Bertuzzi thing, but obviously we are only going to sign 1 new guy, not 2. Either way, if something is going to happen it will happen before training camp. That Eklund list had 21 names on it that were the best of what’s left, so there are still some hands that need to be played out. Let’s see where the dominos fall.
R. Stroz, I actually thought of Pitfall along with some other classics. Although wouldn’t Waddell had to have been 21 to play in those Olympics? I was just throwing out the teenager reference since they obviously weren’t pros back then for our side.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
7:48 pm
EOB – My reference was directed at whether Waddell’s age in 1980 had him growing up playing PONG or some really advanced video game such as Asteroids (please note facetious meter going off).
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
9:01 pm
R. Stroz, yeah, I was saying the same thing. I was referencing the last time we said this and I figured him to be 18-19 years old for the Olympic team. I thought you were just giving me the correct info that he was 22. Although I did think that he could only be 21 because he would already be pro at 22 and back then we only had amateurs. I was just continuing the conversation we had before on this. I think I said it was Pac-man or Combat. Am I just dreaming this up or was that conversation with someone else?
World Be Free
July 28th, 2009
9:06 pm
EOB-funny how Eklund always has a player, or 2 or 3 going to Buffalo, when you and I know it will not happen.
New name-so many choices, trying to find one that will live to the legend of WBF. Don’t know if it should be a player, restraunt or drinking establishment. Thoughts?
World Be Free
July 28th, 2009
9:26 pm
Stroz-would not surprise me, is that why they sign Christian Hanson, son of one of the Hanson brothers? Puttin’ on the foil in the 21st Century?
The Earl of Bud
July 28th, 2009
9:59 pm
World Be Free, player, restaraunt or drinking establishment? I thought you already voted down Anchor Bar? I need to hear the options before I cast a vote obviously.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
10:22 pm
EOB – Same conversation, different Rawhide blog.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
10:24 pm
WBF & Everyone Else:
I wonder if Burke will rename the team the Toronto Maple Chiefs?
World Be Free
July 28th, 2009
10:54 pm
Stroz-Dickie Dunn broke that new name last week. Brian Burke just doesn’t realize that the days of brawling are over. The Leafs are going to resemble some of those teams I saw in the 70’s in the North American Hockey League, which produced the several players for the Charlestown Chiefs (again, back to the Chiefs).
Link on Taylor Pyatt; I was down on this possibility before. So many of you have pushed improving our penalty kill, that Pyatt may now come into play. I still think a guy 6′4″/230# should be banging people around, but he may be an option.
EOB-Mickey Rats made the finals list-spent many a night there and heard “last call, 4AM” many time – “last call, 4AM” is on the list too. This isn’t easy and I am so attached to WBF.
R. Stroz
July 28th, 2009
11:30 pm
WBF – Well crap, I thought I had something entertaining and original with The Toronto Maple Chiefs idea.
How about the Toronto Scraple Chiefs?
stendec
July 29th, 2009
12:04 am
Hi Rawhide. Hope all is well with you and yours my friend. I concede. Saw glorious photo on Thrasher page. Nice shot. Energetic looking player. I am sure he will do well this season. Seems to possess a world of potential. Surgery or no surgery. Voted for Kari Lehtonen (even spelled his name right gol durn it) in poll. Know how much of a fan favorite this netminder is. Potential star if ever I saw one. Fans got what they by God wanted. Hockey intellectuals these fans! Hope these same folks will not be too disappointed when team fails to reach playoffs. Falcons will be there. Some solace. Thrashers will probably average around three goals per game but other teams will score at a 4.5 goals per clip average. Defense does win championships and equates to playoff appearances. Oh well. Sports is not life. I really do not give a LaLa Land petunia. Have officially switched allegiances to Pittsburgh Penguins! Should be another fantastic WINNING season. God bless. Peace. Amen. Good night.
Hockey Biltong
July 29th, 2009
12:29 am
Going to the left,going to the right. Stand up, sit down, fight fight fight. I think I need a moral team compass for I am truly a lost fan….whose band wagon should I jump on now???? Perchance to dream……of a bloody Penguin….you can have those little short defecators….please pass the pipe after I snort some meth….
LAC
July 29th, 2009
4:00 am
I was surprised to see Tampa sign EX-Thrasher Kurtis Foster… Always had a BOOMING shot from the point as I recall.
World Be Free
July 29th, 2009
6:06 am
Foster is another one that should not have gotten away in the first place.
Sara
July 29th, 2009
7:38 am
LAC IIRC they clocked him at 103 mph in a skills competition in either juniors or the AHL or something. It was while he was still one of our prospects.
World Be Free
July 29th, 2009
7:41 am
Sara, with those numbers we still let him get away. He’s not the only one (back to Kunitz again).
Viking
July 29th, 2009
8:25 am
A Swedish newspaper is reporting that Ilja is becoming NHL’s highest paid player. $11.36 million per year!!!!!!!!!!
Viking
July 29th, 2009
8:31 am
Ilja is “close to an agreement” with the Thrashers. The money equals the salary ceiling. No mention for how many years.
They are saying the reports are coming from Russia.
Viking
July 29th, 2009
8:38 am
Another source is calling it a “Ilja Kovalchuk rumor”, so let’s just consider it as such.
Viking
July 29th, 2009
8:46 am
By the way, it will lead to the same pronounciation, why is Kovy’s name spelled “Ilja” over there and “Ilya” here?
R. Stroz
July 29th, 2009
9:31 am
Even though keeping Kovy is priority number one, the question is at what cost? If the Thrashers pay Kovy the cap max, doesn’t that handicap the team in the future, especially with the likelihood that the cap will drop in the 2010-2011 season?
PUTTING ON THE FOIL
July 29th, 2009
9:32 am
Ink Kovy before season + recent additions = 94 point season.
GaVaHokie- Satan might fit nicely in Anderson’s system. 1 year deal of course.
Pam on Weck
July 29th, 2009
9:37 am
WBF – You could always go for “Terrapin Station” or “The Aud”.
Smoothie
July 29th, 2009
9:48 am
Viking, I’m pretty sure that Swedish newspaper is just picking up the false (okay, not so true rumor) premise from the Russian sports news that Ilya is going to get cap max pay. The source for the report was the Jeff Schulz essay in which our esteemed columnist wrote about how Ilja’s salary could not exceed 20% of the cap or $11.36 M. There has been no report or source close to the negotiations asserting that the offer was for max salary.
Anyway, read anything on our beloved Toby Enstrom’s recovery / summer?
Viking
July 29th, 2009
9:50 am
Smoothie, No news on Enström’s recovery that I can find in Sweden. The closest I found was that Karsums (Tampa), that injured him, is rumored to be heading to KHL.
Also, he is mentioned by many as a player for the Olympics.
Smoothie
July 29th, 2009
9:56 am
Stroz, I agree that paying Kovy top dollar for any length of time could hamstring the franchise’s ability to compete for FA should this “youth movement” fail over the next 4-5 years. I wouldn’t mind seeing a front-loaded deal in which the avg salary was $9.5 M or so with a couple of years at the $11.36 M limit as a gesture to Kovy that says “we’re serious about keeping you for the rest of your career and building a champion around one of the best players in the world” kind of thing.
A deal that looks like this over 7 years perhaps ($66.5 M):
1) 11.36 2) 11.36 3) 10.5 4) 10.5 5) 9.5 6) 6.64 7) 6.64
The biggest problem with paying Kovy $3 M more in cap hit will mean that Kozlov could become a casualty unless he is willing to give the ASG a serious “hometown” discount. If Kozzy manages to put up a 60+ point season, he will be worth $3.5-4 M easy on the open market.
Smoothie
July 29th, 2009
9:59 am
Thanks Viking. In the second part re: the Olympics, I’m assuming you mean Enstrom? Of course, Latvia’s depth is such that they might need Karsums sorry butt on their team. Did Latvia even qualify for the Olympics? I’m thinking that they didn’t despite moving up to the “elite” pool of teams in the IIHF’s pecking order.
World Be Free
July 29th, 2009
10:01 am
Pam-very good one!
Viking
July 29th, 2009
10:09 am
Smothie, I noticed my unclarity the moment I hit the submit button.
Commonly Enström is paired with Oduya for the Olympics, who I would have liked to see in a Thrashers sweater this season.
Viking
July 29th, 2009
10:11 am
Enter your comments here
Jerret
July 29th, 2009
10:17 am
Well good article and I believe that the D is getting better. It is nice to see Boris in the line up being he was a first round pick. Now if we can get some puck control we would be great. I think the Thrash displays quality goalies and decent blue liners in the past but puck control is what we need. I dont think you can blame the Blue liners and Goalies on everysingle shot on goal. Forwards have to be part of the 40 shots the goalie sees on a daily basis.
Smoothie
July 29th, 2009
10:28 am
Viking, Enstrom with Oduya…droooooool! Although I’m pretty happy with Bogey and Toby. Having Oduya in Thrasher blue would have been nice, but we’d be smallish again especially if you pair the two Swedes right?
Jerret, good to see someone coming out of the weeds to post! You are right, the defensive improvement will be the result of better team play (thru a better team concept) and a more consistent control of the puck. Puck possession *should* improve with the additions of Antropov and Kubina in theory considering who they are replacing (Perrin & XLB).
Rawhide
July 29th, 2009
10:34 am
Jerret – Welcome…and well said. Chime in more often!
The Earl of Bud
July 29th, 2009
10:52 am
Kurtis Foster? He has 186 NHL games in 8 years. I’ll take Havelid over him anyday.
World Be Free & Pam on Weck, Mickey Rats and Terrapin Station made me chuckle, but the Aud is just too obvious.
“Forwards have to be part of the 40 shots the goalie sees on a daily basis.”
Jerret you are correct. Why shouldn’t we look at the forwards when we are facing 50 shots a night? I mean it can’t be defense alone that allows us to face 60 shots a night. The forwards definitely have something to do with those 75 shots we face every night. If they can backcheck and do something about those 90 shots we face every night, we will be allright. And I don’t want a repeat of last year when we faced over 100 shots every night!
Please folks, Hedberg played 33 games for us last year and only faced 26 shots a night. Of the 44 goalies who played at least 1,500 minutes last season, he was 39 out of 44 for most shots faced per game. Yes Lehtonen was in the top five with 32 shots a game, but that’s because of the rebounds he gives up. Enough of this “40 shots a game our goalie faces every night”.
Smoothie, I am extremely confident that Kovalchuk is signing, but I can’t wait to see the breakdown of the contract. It almost has to be extended to lower the cap hit.
Smoothie
July 29th, 2009
11:00 am
Hey, did the blog get sucked into a black blogospheric hole over the last 45 minutes? Where’s my post addressing Viking and Jerret?
Trixie!
A2B
July 29th, 2009
11:13 am
So San Jose just admitted they are shopping Patrick Marleau and Jonathan Cheechoo. I say forget about all these other names and trade Todd White and a Dman (excluding our top four Bogo, Kubina, Hainsey, Enstrom) so that they get cap space back and we get a number one center. If we could pull this off, we could have some freakishly talented scoring lines.
World Be Free
July 29th, 2009
12:19 pm
EOB + Pam-where are your BUF roots, North-South-E-W? City of suburbs?
The Earl of Bud
July 29th, 2009
12:34 pm
World Be Free, northtowns that a mile up the street from me you can see Toronto across the lake on a sunny day. Remember, I just went out to the Porter Cup.
A2B, it’s always fun to dream, but I wouldn’t want Cheechoo right now. Also, Marleau is an UFA after this year so we could lose him for nothing.
Pam on Weck
July 29th, 2009
1:32 pm
WBF – Would love to compare our Buffalo histories, but I don’t want to beleaguer the blog readers too much. Heh. Email is jajunk017@yahoo.com if you (or anyone) want to say hey. And I’ve been using ‘017′ since before Kovy. Ironically, it was originally in honor of another sports figure.
The Earl of Bud
July 29th, 2009
3:01 pm
We may just get MM instead of Detroit after all. While he is said to be at the top of their list here – http://www.freep.com/article/20090727/SPORTS05/907270360/1053/Former-Red-Wings-might-fill-multiple-vacancies
SN just said that Detroit just made an offer to Williams. But their site keeps timing out on me.
dwayne
July 29th, 2009
3:25 pm
MM ????? Mickey Mouse???
Thrashers Recaps
July 29th, 2009
3:46 pm
Bigger = better?
I’ve been thinking about doing a league-wide analysis on this to see if defender height/weight correlates with shot differential, goal differential, or any meaningful metric other than hits because I’m skeptical. With bigger guys you can end up with slower speed and more penalties…
GaVaHokie
July 29th, 2009
3:53 pm
dwayne… Manny Malhotra
The Earl of Bud
July 29th, 2009
4:01 pm
“With bigger guys you can end up with slower speed and more penalties…”
cough Valabik cough
The SN link is up now and it does say that Williams got a one year offer from Detroit. So we’ll see if that makes them less likely to sign Manny. Also, when I said “he” is at the top of Detroit’s list, I meant Williams, not Malhotra who is 4th or 5th on that list.
Lee
July 29th, 2009
4:35 pm
excellent article!!!!! this is what i have been waiting for and it is also my concern too. i think the same thing. what i think was the worst trade was exelby for kubina. WHO IN THE HECK WOULD TRADE EX FOR KUBINA???? KUBINA SUCKS!!! now, antropov will make a difference, but kubina, uh no. if the thrashers would really want to boost their lineup, they are gonna hav to trade cuz those cheepo owners sure aren’t gonna get an expensive player. I CAN”T STAND THOSE OWNERS!!! we are like 20,000 under our sal cap and we haven’t spent a dang cent on a good player. i mean come on!!! im sick and tired. oh yeah, fire waddy and hire dudley. i have notin ‘gainst waddy, but i think we need a change!
(lehtonen went to my hospital)!!!
Lee
July 29th, 2009
4:38 pm
just cuz kuby is bigger dosen’t mean he’s better, it just mean he commits more penelties.
hey im new into bloggin!!
World Be Free
July 29th, 2009
6:40 pm
Lee, first of all, welcome to the blog, good to have yet another opinion on board.
I think most of us believe we need add another body, probably a 2-way forward to help out on the penalty kill. Maybe add another depth defenseman, 2 way contract possible.
Not sure I agree with you on Kubina. He played well in Tampa, got slammed for being a JFJ guy in Toronto. I think he will do well here, because he will be asked to play his game. He’s not a no. 1 guy here, so let him come and play, see where it goes. I think Duds has alotta input here and that’s a good thing.
Don’t be shy-not that you have shown that so far.
Sam
July 29th, 2009
7:51 pm
thx, and i guess ur right. i guess i really haven’t sat down and just watched kuby. i just looked at his stats from last year and he wasn’t the best player in the world, but im sure hes good if we traded ex
lee
July 29th, 2009
7:53 pm
sry, my name isn’t sam, i accidently typed it in!!
World Be Free
July 29th, 2009
9:34 pm
Lee, remember he played for the Maple Loafs last year. Let’s hope Anderson can utilize his strenghts better than Toronto did last year.
World Be Free
July 30th, 2009
8:22 am
Another day waiting for Malholtra-now Carolina wants him too
GaVaHokie
July 30th, 2009
9:09 am
This will be the 2nd time in two years that Jason Williams has had to replace Marian Hossa on a team.
Pam on Weck
July 30th, 2009
9:21 am
GaVaHokie said: “This will be the 2nd time in two years that Jason Williams has had to replace Marian Hossa on a team.”
And sadly, he’s not even a poor man’s Hossa.
lee
July 30th, 2009
10:08 am
i anderson can do somthin to change kubina. i think anderson has done a fine job coaching.
I am very concerned for malhotra, i want to see what he will do.
im excited for antropov, i think he’ll be great.
The Earl of Bud
July 30th, 2009
10:33 am
Williams isn’t going there to replace Hossa though. Franzen will take Hossa’s top line RW spot with Datsyuk. Cleary will be the 2nd line RW. That leaves Williams going there to replace Samuelsson (free agent to Vancouver).
LAC
July 30th, 2009
11:54 am
They are WHINING now in “canada” over Phoenix not moving to “canada”.
Just WHY do these “canada” fans think they own the game of professional Ice Hockey ? It is an International game played all over the world.
What gives THEM ownership over the NHL ??? They are CRAZY !!!
They blame the commissioner, they blame America, the want Phoenix,Atlanta, Nashville etc… But where did Quebec City Go and Winnipeg ? These “canada” WHINERS need to shut the HELL up. The NHL is not “their” league and how many fans here would want to live in edmonton ???? ZERO !!!!
Let’s face it “canada” fans, GROW UP, stop acting like little babies
every time a team does not move to “canada” I always liked Canada, butafter seeing how these WHINER fans act, the hell with “north of the border” At least they did not start another futile attempt to include Atlanta !
Hockey Biltong
July 30th, 2009
12:39 pm
200th?
World Be Free
July 30th, 2009
1:19 pm
LAC, thanks for reminding me about my favorite subject-
The Canadian media is always whipping it up as an “us against them” thing, not just about hockey but about everything between the U.S. and Canada. So national pride or something like it is injected into the situation.
Bettman has said from the start that he does not want teams moving all over the place, unless the team does not have the ability to survive in the city. Phoenix has issues, but most of the issues are fixable.
In addition, Bettman (and the league) did not want to move a team to Hamilton. Hamilton does not deserve a team; it is not a major league city. In addition, it makes no sense to drop a team in Buffalo and Toronto’s backyards. Both teams were leery of the idea, as they were when this almost happened in the late 80’s.
There’s alotta great people and hockey fans in Canada. There are others that use the national pride and emotion to a level we don’t comprehend because we are not totally hung up on one sport. These are business decisions.
The Earl of Bud
July 30th, 2009
2:01 pm
I actually think J.R. just needs to keep the team in Phoenix long enough to get out of the lease in that arena which is quite fresh. Then he can sell them for quite a profit. Balsillie blew his chance when he didn’t own the Preds yet and was already taking ticket deposits. He has shown that he is not going to play by the rules and so that will keep him out, not the whole “we don’t want a team in Canada” thing. But considering he was the only other bidder, the 3rd one didn’t have the proper backing, it means J.R. gets it and will make quite a profit in 5-10 years.
LAC, I hear what you are saying, but it is not as bad as when the Blue Jays won the World Series and there was all the whining about an American team not winning it. If a Canadian college were to get a BCS bid over an SEC team I imagine the Confederacy would rise again.
World Be Free
July 30th, 2009
3:50 pm
EOB-cannot agree with you on this one.
Getting Phoenix to Hamilton became a national obsession in Canada. Now Jim B. is the victim of the American conspiracy to deprive Canada of a 7th team. Canada and the Canadian market is not the issue here, just not having a team in Hamilton. I’d take Winnipeg in a minute as an NHL market.
Red Light
July 30th, 2009
4:14 pm
Wow, 203 comments to a hockey blog in July in Atlanta! That’s great stuff gentlemen! I’m no great fan of the Sabres, but I do appreciate the style of play that Lindy implements and Darcy Regier for my money is the best GM in the game with very little capital resources to work with during most of his tenure. Buffalo’s AHL team always plugs the holes every time a Sabres regular goes down with an injury. They remain a young squad, play with tons of energy and have several skilled forwards. I’m not overly impressed with their “D”, but considering what they spend on the rear guard, it’s not too surprising. Montador has always been one of my pets after seeing him in the Finals several seasons ago when he was with Calgary.
Six guys on Buffalo’s roster played 79 games or more, and don’t forget that Miller missed 13 games due to the ankle injury and they missed the playoffs by two points last season. They lost nine in OT/SO, and six of those were when they took a lead into the third period, which is rather surprising.
I know many of you dislike their fans when they invade Philips, but on the ice I think they are a team that it’s difficult not to respect or to enjoy watching the way they play.
Slater is like a table you buy at Ikea. No finish! He suffers from Gene Carr Syndrome (GCS); the former Flames, Kings, Rangers and Penguins forward, who also couldn’t hit the ocean from the pier.
The Earl of Bud
July 30th, 2009
4:16 pm
World Be Free, part of what I was explaining was the whole pride thing that does exist here. Now I do agree that Winnipeg is better than Hamilton if for no other reason, you are taking a team from the West and keeping them in the West, whereas now the East is overloaded (Detroit and Columbus should be in the East but there is no room for them). Given that Buffalo has a waiting list for season tickets and Toronto is the center of the hockey universe, I would actually not have a problem with a 2nd team in Toronto. Not Hamilton as that would interfere with Buffalo more but right in Toronto. If Los Angeles can have the Ducks & Kings, why can’t Toronto handle 2 teams?
You know though that Phoenix will NEVER go to Winnipeg because that was where the Coyotes were before and putting them back there would mean someone has to admit they were wrong. But they can support it. Not to support the Canadians too much on this, but Winnipeg lost that team on a lot of hearsay as to the Canadian $ and the KT contract. The QC move was a little different story.
LAC
July 30th, 2009
4:36 pm
Hey Rawhide, what is the summer record for responses ?
We create new topics all the time here, and people say there are NO hockey fans in ATLANTA… BS !!! Great Fans here and on THIS Blog !!!!!
WBF I agree 110%, they will not let it go for some odd reason…
At least it is not about us.
lee
July 30th, 2009
4:40 pm
i agree, i think if canada wanted more teams they should of just kept winnipeg and those other teams in the first place! I agree EOB. even if the coyotes went back to winnipeg, the fans wouldn’t be as loyal.
lee
July 30th, 2009
4:42 pm
yeah, this is incredible! i never see this many comments and almost three pages full of comments! And they say canada has the most loyal and best fans when they are crying their butts off, cuz they don’t hav another team!
lee
July 30th, 2009
4:43 pm
hey rawhide, i don’t know how much bigger and better the thrashers will be, but i sure know the blog will be!
Rawhide
July 30th, 2009
4:47 pm
LAC – There were 506 comments posted in about a 24 hour period back on July 1st…the UFA Pool Party blog.
Yeah…506.
Lee – There are indeed some very smart & bright people that frequent this site, that’s for sure. 200+ comments is very nice to see, indeed.
BTW, here is the most recent blog post that I put up yesterday.
lee
July 30th, 2009
4:55 pm
wow!!! that’s a lot of comments! what was the subject???
World Be Free
July 30th, 2009
9:36 pm
Red Light-like you take on the Sabres and Slater. Sabes fans are just good fans. They are not as low budget as you might think, they just seem to freeze when it comes to paying the right players. They have a few players they have overpaid and are now stuck with.
Bif Lindy fan as a player and coach-he may walk at the end of this coming season. Would you blame him?
World Be Free
July 30th, 2009
9:49 pm
EOB-I think we are on the same page about baseball and hockey pride in each nation. I do not think NFL traditionalist really want the Bills to move to Toronto and play in that stale dome they have in Toronto. I believe Winnipeg would be a better place for an NHL relocation, because they already supported an NHL team. They just could not get the right ownership. They lost the Jets when there was no salary cap; now with the cap, they should be able to find a way to survive. Winnipeg is a great hockey town.
Hamilton is not a great sports town. They have failed to support amateur and professional sports. Supporters of Hamilton state that it is a hockey hotbed that can support another team without hurting the teams already existing in that region. I do not agree, but support your contention that Toronto, or north of Toronto is a better place to put another team. The only reason we are talking about Hamilton is that they build Copps Coliseum 20+ years ago without any commitment to place an NHL team there. NHL franchises are not an entitlement.
Good conversation.
World Be Free
July 30th, 2009
9:56 pm
LAC-you know they will get back to us at some point. By then, hopefully we will have built a winning team and rediscovered our strong fanbase.
Great participation on this blog. My wife sez I drank the hockey blog Kool Aid.
dwayne
July 31st, 2009
6:23 am
Need 4 tickets for the oct. 24th game….free.
lee
July 31st, 2009
8:20 am
WBF-yeah, i think they will. both of our new free agents are prety good!
Smoothie
July 31st, 2009
11:35 am
Oh my gosh, is this thread of conversation still going?? Nice job guys, but do you have something against Zambonis?
The Earl of Bud
July 31st, 2009
1:26 pm
Smoothie, nothing against zambonis, just different conversations on different topics. Besides, I get confused just between what people are talking about on the beat writer’s blog and what they said on the fan blog, I don’t want to jump into another conversation on, well, zambonis.
World Be Free, believe it or not, I actually supported the Bills in Toronto. By making it the Torbufchester Bills, they can compete with most markets. Now there’s talk the Raptors are going to play 1-5 games in HSBC on that same strategy.
As for Hamilton, remember there are also people still upset that Ottawa got the team in the 90’s and not Hamilton. And I heard Copps is only so-so. I tried to plan a trip home when the Wolves were playing the Bulldogs there so I could see some of our guys but the dates didn’t line up. I am still going to try to do that this year and see our boys from Chicago play in Hamilton and Rochester.
lee
July 31st, 2009
2:18 pm
EOB-cool! hav fun! that would be a great matchup.
The Earl of Bud
July 31st, 2009
2:38 pm
lee, it’s tough because since they aren’t in the same division the Wolves play at Rochester and Hamilton only once each during the year. At least they are in the same conference otherwise they probably wouldn’t make a trip there at all. At least with Hamilton they usually play the Marlies the night before or night after so you can see them twice in two nights, then throw in some junior games in Guelph, Mississauga or St. Catharines and you can make quite a trip out of it. Now if only the Thrashers were playing Buffalo the same weekend, now you got a road trip!
Hockey Biltong
July 31st, 2009
4:28 pm
Time for a new thread!!!!!
lee
July 31st, 2009
4:28 pm
yeah, i bet that is hard.
-on yahoo.com, they have the 10 most hated sports players and there was an article about how no one hates hockey player. so here goes the list…..
10. John McEnroe, Tennis player
9. Nick Saban, NCAA football coach
8. Stephan Marbury, NBA player
7. Isiah Thomas, NBA player
6. Allen Iverson, NBA player
5. Kobe Bryant, NBA player
4. T.O, NFL player
3.A-Rod MLB player
2.Manny Ramierez, MLB player
1. Michael Vick, NFL player
I don’t see whats so bad about vick. i know u think im crazy and i know he dogfighted but that doesn’t mean he can change things around and become a better player and person.
Rawhide
July 31st, 2009
5:19 pm
Hockey Biltong – Ummm…er, uh….I’ve had this new blog posted since noon Thursday. Time to catch up, buddy!
World Be Free
July 31st, 2009
9:52 pm
Lee-correct, it’s time to give Vick a break.
Also, why isn’t Donte Stallworth on this list?
Just shows you how screwed up things are.
EOB-sounds like you have a road trip planned for WNY and southern Ontario. I guess I am old school; NFL belongs in U.S., CFL belongs in Canada. Most Bills’ fans in Toronto prefer to come to Buffalo for games because it is alot less expensive and it’s an NHL atmosphere.
The Rochester Americans have gone from one of the best AHL teams to one of the worst. My wife is from ROC, so I have been to quite a few Amerks games over the years. Maybe Teddy Ballgame (hockey style) will bring back pride to Rochester. I miss Teddy with the Sabres.
lee
August 1st, 2009
10:17 am
yeah, i don’t know. he’s should.
lee
August 1st, 2009
11:30 am
guys, how good do u think the thrashers will be? because im kinda worried about them. i dont know if we can be a matchup for the others teams.
World Be Free
August 1st, 2009
12:45 pm
Lee, we are just going to have to see how they play together.
The Earl of Bud
August 1st, 2009
3:49 pm
World Be Free, I am hoping to but together a nice hockey trip to WNY/SO but it is depending on the
1) release of AHL and junior schedules top figure out who is playing who on what dates
2) who will be on the roster for the Wolves
3) if we have any key prospects playing in the juniors this year (sort of like watching Postma or Esposito play in the juniors last year) like when I saw one of our goaltending prospects play and finally
4) who the other key talent is for next year’s draft and if we can see the next Tavares play while up there. Although I didn’t get to see the Wolves last year, I did get to see both Tavares and Duchene, 2 of the 3 players picked ahead of Kane. Then again I don’t plan on being a lottery pick next year but it’s still fun to see the next big thing before they get selected #1 overall. Then there’s the other guys I saw like Ryan Ellis & Calvin De Haan (selected #11 & #12 in the first round).
World Be Free
August 1st, 2009
6:28 pm
Dounds like an incredible trip. I saw Lindros when he as in juniors.
lee
August 1st, 2009
7:01 pm
WBF-really? that must’ve been cool
World Be Free
August 1st, 2009
10:21 pm
Sure wuz