How much pressure will new Thrashers coach feel to reach playoffs right away?

Any new coach should be on a two year contract with the team expected to make the playoffs the first year and if no playoffs after year two….see ya later..

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Hokey-I have alotta ice hockey stories, even more street hockey tales! Broke all 3 windows in my parents garage, along with 500 or so dents in the door with street hockey pucks. We made lead pucks in metal shop, because he heard that’s how Yvon Cournyer (spelling) from the Habs developed his wrist shot. Our driveways and tennis courts did not like those lead pucks!

DavidR-folks IN Calgary claim they will never trade Kippy or Jerome, they will both retire Flames. Eastern Canadian media claim both are available at the right price. But the Flames are pretty dysfunctional now, both on and off the ice. They have to make some moves; they have a team that’s up against the cap that did not make the playoffs. They also do not have a #1 or #2 pick this year, so there’s no immediate help on the way.

Iginla in Atlanta would be incredible. Sabres fans will tell you they were close to getting Jerome at the deadline, for Drew Stafford and an unnamed prospect, but your have to think it was Tyler Ennis. I think it will take that kind of talent to land Iginla.

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World be free. Trust me I know they are both available at a price. But the biggest question would be if ownership (king) will trade tickets for trading them and a rebuild process. I’m expecting the flames to trade and deal else where versus using those two unless the return is going to be absolutely incredible.
I will say one thing if we managed to get iggy I would be forced to get a name on the back of a jersey than.

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WBF—Bring Ilya “More Open Net Misses Than God Allows” Kovalchoke back? Have you grown accustomed to mediocrity or do you just miss his damn laziness but impressive figure eights? I would not bring the backstabbing SOB back for $30 per game! Yes, I said $30! Know New Jersey Pitchforks will shell out big bucks to get his unproductive a$$ out of scenic New Jersey. Had respect for your hockey knowledge. Not any more! ++STENDEK++

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My guess on Kovy’s new deal: $60 million over 7 years, for a cap hit of roughly $8.57 million. Worth it? Well, beeeing honest, if the guy does put up 40 goals-a-year for all of those seven years, I’d say that’s money well spent, offensively. If he is a -88 during those seven years, not so much. My guesses for his next team are (1) Los Angeles, (2) NY Rangers, and (3) Toronto Maple Leafs. Don’t talk to me about cap situations. Teams that want Kovy will make room for him. He’s a pure sniper whose PRIME years are still ahead of him. And can we ease up a bit on Glovesave29 for committing the “heinous crime” of offering a discussion topic on a blog? I don’t think it’s inappropriate to discuss Atlanta’s options of landing Kovalchuk in free agency. I’d say it’s a longshot, but I’ve learned to never say never, when stranger things have happened. I think Kovy’s looking for a more stable situation than Atlanta, and truthfully, Atlanta must embark on a new “concept” for its team design. I have advocated, “depth strategy,” especially for a market like Atlanta. That’s where your 12 forwards each make between $2.0 and $3.3 million, each scoring somewhere between 16 and 23 goals a season. You roll four lines, something close to equal time, and force the other coach to devise a strategy for his checking line. It gets complicated when a team’s 4th line is just as apt to score as its top line. And above all, special teams are at the forefront. With the depth strategy, the highest paid player would be the goaltender. And remember something, part of the reason you’re paying him SOOO MUCH is due to his “ready made” status. Unlike Kari Lehtonen and Ondrej Pavelec, you don’t have to invest “years and years and years” of development time. You’re bypassing that with a proven commodity in net.

On the NHL Network, they are debating whether Halak should start Game Four vs. young Carey Price. I still think Halak is the guy, in Montreal. Both are RFA’s, I believe, at season’s end. Would Montreal be willing to trade one? Well, if Gretzky can be traded, anyone can be traded. But I don’t rightly know what the Habs will do with their goaltending situation in the future. Ex-GM Bob Gainey was going with Price all the way. But, he’s out. So, maybe the new Administration is willing to move him. But is Carey Price “established enough” for Atlanta? I don’t know. I do think Carey Price would benefit from a change of scenery from the Montreal Hockey Media. I love Moose Hedberg, but I cannot see bringing him back, at his age. He’s not a #1 goalie. And I don’t know that Pavelec is ready yet to be a real #1.

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Simply put, bringing back Kovalchuk is like dating a girl a second time. You know that it could work, but you also recognize it could flame out spectacularly.

We are not a good enough organization to take a risk like that. We need to recognize that we are an average at best club and not a destination for a superstar, yet. Brandon’s advice is solid. Get a strong group of solid B players, build a culture, and then cherry pick a star when we are strong enough to support one.

Financially, if we tread water at 50 million until that time we will have the cap space to invest in the star to put us over the top. Until then, a solid focus on the core is the smartest thing Dudley could do.

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Brendan, Montreal will trade Halak or Price at the end of this season. They cannot afford both. Habs fans will expect improvements and the best way to improve is getting rid of one of the 2. The question is, which goalie will go? I like Halak better, but Price is a Canadian boy. Montreal will loathe to trade a Canadian boy for a foreigner.

I like your thoughts on NOT moving on Kovy and building a new culture here. I have to admit I did not consider the culture when I suggested resigning him. Tom (T) talked about dating a girl twice; I did that when I was young, very strange and never the same the 2nd time.

Not sure Kovy would be in favor of coming back, especially after hearing all the stuff said to him at the Devils’ game. the locals were not very nice to the Golden Boy. Safe to say he was not welcome on his return.

I guess the Kovy/Thrasher divorce is final.

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Sherry Taylor – I think Slava’s comment was meant to refer to the team at the start of the season, but it’s a good question to ask. Nobody’s ever asked him for a clarification on it.

I’m sure the new coach will feel pressure to win. The dwindling local fan base can only be asked to be patient so much longer. Dudley will get maybe 1 year at best of good will from the fans before calls come for him to go if they continue to miss the playoffs.

Kovy is not coming back. This is not difficult to understand. Everyone has moved on with their lives and his time here is in the past. I still think he’s going to shock a lot of local fans and go to the KHL.

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All those reminiscing about Kovy, watch this video and remember why we don’t need Mr. Spectacular / Dr. NoShow. Amazing to see Chico Resch pondering why Kovy has only shown up for one of three games, and making excuses for him. Chico knows better, but he’s got his Kovy-colored glasses on:

http://videos.nj.com/star-ledger/2010/04/what_the_devils_need_now_is_fo.html

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JB, every coach that’s ever taken a job in a Canadian city fits that description.

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There will be some pressure for the new coach to win immediately, but, as someone else has pointed out not like a Canadian market. Think as long as we see a team competing and hustling every night with incremental progress next year we’ll be OK. That was the most frustrating aspect of the team this year. One night they’d great and the next night look like a Lower A team. And if they were shut down the coaches could never change their plan.

As for Kovalchuk – we’ll probably trade for him when he’s 36 and over the hill. Doubt that we’ll see him soon. But that’s what blogs are for- fun to speculate. If he wanted to play here next year for the right price – why not?

As for the goalie situation I’d like to see a rotation of Pavs and Price/Halack. Either would be fine with me. And make Hedberg a coach/player. Does the NHL have those short term 10 day contracts the NBA has?

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I have been waiting for the shoes to fall in Calgary and it has not happened yet. Edmonton and Toronto will go into next season with the same coaches and GMs, having finished 30th and 29th this past season.

Coaches should expect to be fired if they do not make the playoffs, especially in hockey, where more teams qualify for the post season than those who do not.

I think Kovy’s wife will decide where he goes; stay in the NHL, take less money but live in NJ or LA, or go to the KHL, move back to Russia for unlimited bucks. Where would you like to love honey?

Stroz-I think your 50/50 guess on Kovy is about right!

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Glad I don’t have money on my playoff series predictions. Already, after just 3 games, three of my eight predictions are impossible, and the other teams I picked need to go a combined 14-3.

Nikita, I agree with you on all counts. Avoid Mr. First Class like the plague. The Thrashers and Kovy will look ridiculously desperate if he’s re-signed.

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As for the second half of Rawhide’s post, if the first round ends as it stands now, no Canadian team is still playing for the Cup (stop trying to take my team), and Heatley and Kovalchuk aren’t either. If the Preds step it up, Hossa is gone too.

I could live with that.

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calm down stendek, kovy not coming back, on my resources he said that he rather going to play for free, but thrashers. on the other hand something happened after 2008 – his game deteriorated. but everyone who got memory unlike stendek remember he single carried this franchize almost to playoff in the season after snyder tragick with horrible team around, also back to back xet trick avay games in ottava and tampa. (not to many in hockey history). what about four goals with tampa in philips when we had 6 minor goalee. who scored around 350 goals in season here. i don’t believe stendek did, but russian bestard. however agree time to move in new direction, again need to be carefull by past mistakes not to move in new location.

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Zubrus, Elias and Kovy have 17 shots combined in three games. Don’t think the series will continue if that trio can’t get pucks on net.

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red Light-my rookie of the year predition is Tyler Myers. Why? becuase the Sabres were a non-playoff team the last 2 seasons. They won their division this year, by taking the same team and adding Montador (6th defenseman), Mike Greier (4th line winger) and Myers. I have always been a Greier fan, so I am not surprised he has risen in this series while the other Sabres have wilted.

Stafford’s trade value is sinking fast and he will be gone at the end of this season. He should take Pominville with him.

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Earlier this morning, in a fit of boredom, I decided to do some research on the Tampa Bay Lightning and the construction of the team that hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2004. Obviously, Dudley left his mark while he was GM (’99 – 2000) and Senior VP (’01 – 2002), but the impression wasn’t as deep as I had thought.

While Duds can be credited with the sage decisions to bring in diminutive forward of Univ of Vermont fame, Marty St. Louis in 2000, the venerable Dave Andreychuk in 2001 as well as sign FA journeyman goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin out of the soon to be defunct IHL in 2000, there isn’t really anything else worthy of mention as it pertains to Rick Dudley’s tenure in TB. His drafting in 1999 and 2000 left a lot to be desired as he was obsessed with drafting Russian “talent”; 7 of his Top 10 picks in 3 years were Russian born and only Evgeny Artyukhin is still playing in the NHL. Obviously, he learned a harsh lesson with respect to drafting players from Russia, but perhaps a lot of us are getting just a bit too fired up about Rick Dudley’s credentials…myself included.

Anyway, my research led me to this. If you think our ownership troubles are deep and far-reaching, you’ll be astounded when you read this snippet of history from wikipedia regarding the Lightning’s first decade of existence…talk about a nightmare of mismanagement!

“In the late 1980s, the NHL announced that it would expand. Two rival groups from the Tampa/St. Petersburg area decided to bid for a franchise: a St. Petersburg-based group fronted by future Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes owners Peter Karmanos and Jim Rutherford, and a Tampa-based group led by two Hall of Famers – Phil Esposito and his brother Tony.”

“On paper, it looked like the Karmanos/Rutherford group was the frontrunner. Not only was the Karmanos/Rutherford group better financed, but one of Esposito’s key backers, the Pritzker family, had backed out a few months before the bid. Esposito eventually recruited a consortium of Japanese businesses headed by Kokusai Green, a Japanese golf course and resort operator. The prospect of Japanese backing tipped the scales in the Esposito group’s favor, and they were awarded an expansion franchise for the 1992–93 season, as was a group in Ottawa (which became the Ottawa Senators). One of the limited partners in the new Tampa Bay team was New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner (who lives in Tampa during the year).[2]”

“According to former NHL president Gil Stein, another factor was that the Karmanos/Rutherford group wanted to pay only $29 million before starting play, while the Esposito group was one of the few willing to pay the $50 million expansion fee without reservations.[3]”

“After being awarded the franchise, the team’s management brought in star power before they had any players. Phil Esposito installed himself as president and general manager, while Tony became chief scout. Terry Crisp, who played for the Philadelphia Flyers when they won two Stanley Cups in the mid-1970s, and coached the Calgary Flames to a Cup in 1989, was tapped as the first head coach. The team was named the Lightning, after Tampa’s status as the “Lightning Capital of North America.”[citation needed]”

“Phil Esposito initially attempted to recreate the mystique from the powerhouse Bruins of the 70s; he hired former linemate Wayne Cashman as an assistant coach, former Bruin trainer John “Frosty” Forristal as the team’s trainer, and the inaugural team photo has him flanked by Cashman and player Ken Hodge, Jr., son of his other Bruins’ linemate. The team turned heads in the preseason when Manon Rhéaume became the first woman to play in an NHL game, making her first of two NHL appearances in an exhibition game against the St. Louis Blues.”

“The Lightning first took the ice on October 7, 1992, playing in Tampa’s tiny 11,000-seat Expo Hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds. They shocked the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 7-3 with four goals by little-known Chris Kontos, a scoring mark unmatched by any Lightning player. The Bolts shot to the top of the Campbell Conference’s Norris Division within a month, behind Kontos’ initial torrid scoring pace and a breakout season by forward Brian Bradley. However, they buckled under the strain of some of the longest road trips in the league — their nearest division rival was St. Louis, over 1,000 miles from Tampa — and finished in last place. Their 53 points in 1992-93, however, was one of the best showings ever by an NHL expansion team. Bradley’s 42 goals gave Tampa Bay fans optimism for the next season; it would be a team record until the 2006–07 season when Vincent Lecavalier passed it with a career high 52 goals.

The following season saw the Lightning shift to the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division, as well as move into the Florida Suncoast Dome (a building originally designed for baseball) in St. Petersburg, which was reconfigured for hockey and renamed “the Thunderdome.” The team picked up goaltender Daren Puppa, left-wing goal scorer Petr Klima and aging sniper Denis Savard. While Puppa’s play resulted in a significant improvement in goals allowed (from 332 to 251), Savard was long past his prime and Klima’s scoring was offset by his defensive lapses. The Lightning finished last in the Atlantic Division. Another disappointing season followed in the lockout-shortened 1995 season. Still, the Lightning appeared to be far ahead of their expansion brethren, the Ottawa Senators. In marked contrast to the Lightning, the Senators showed almost no sign of respectability in their first four seasons.

[edit] From great success to utter failure
In their fourth season, 1995–96, with Bradley still leading the team in scoring, second-year forward Alexander Selivanov scoring 31 goals, and Roman Hamrlik (the team’s first-ever draft choice in 1992) having an All-Star year on defense, the Bolts finally qualified for the playoffs, nosing out the defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference by a single game. Although they lost their first-round series in six games to the Philadelphia Flyers, it still remains a magical season for Lightning fans. The Thunderdome crowd of 28,183 for the April 23 playoff game against the Flyers was the largest crowd for any NHL game, a record that stood until the 2003 Heritage Classic in Edmonton.

The Lightning picked up sniper Dino Ciccarelli from the Detroit Red Wings during the 1996 off-season, and he did not disappoint, scoring 35 goals in the 1996–97 season, with Chris Gratton notching another 30. The team unveiled a glittering new arena, the Ice Palace (now the St. Pete Times Forum) and appeared destined for another playoff spot. However, the Lightning suffered a devastating rash of injuries early in the season. Puppa developed back trouble that would limit him to a total of 50 games from 1996 until his retirement in 2000. Bradley also lost time to a series of injuries that would limit him to a total of 49 games from 1996 until his retirement in December 1999. Center John Cullen developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and missed the last 12 games of the 1996–97 season; he would eventually be forced to retire in 1999. Decimated by these ailments, the Lightning narrowly missed the playoffs. It would be seven years before the Lightning would even come close to the playoffs again.

Most of the Lightning’s early stars were gone by 1998 due to free agency and trades by Phil Esposito which backfired. Crisp was fired eleven games into the 1997–98 season and replaced by Jacques Demers. Though Demers had presided over the resurgence of the Detroit Red Wings in the 1980s and helmed a Stanley Cup run in Montreal in 1993, he was unable to change the team’s fortunes, and the Lightning ended up losing 55 games.

By all accounts, the Lightning’s plunge to the bottom of the NHL was due to the way Kokusai Green ran the team. Rumors abounded as early as the team’s second season that the Lightning were on the brink of bankruptcy and that the team was part of a money laundering scheme for the yakuza (Japanese crime families).[4] Its scouting operation consisted of Tony Esposito and several satellite dishes. The Internal Revenue Service investigated the team in 1994 and 1995, and nearly slapped a lien on the team for $750,000 in back taxes. The situation led longtime NHL broadcaster and writer Stan Fischler to call the Lightning a “skating vaudeville show.”[5]

Even in their first playoff season, the team was awash in red ink and Kokusai Green wanted to sell it; however, the sale was hampered by the team’s murky ownership structure. Even some team officials (including Crisp) did not know who owned the team, and one person listed as a major shareholder reportedly did not even exist.[4] Another problem was that Kokusai Green initially demanded $230 million for the team, including the lease with the Ice Palace.[5]

It later emerged that Kokusai Green’s owner, Takashi Okubo, had never met with Esposito or with NHL officials in person prior to being awarded the Lightning. During his seven years as owner, Okubo never watched his team play, and never even visited Tampa. Esposito never met him personally in his hunt for investors, for instance. Nearly all of Kokusai Green’s investment in the team and the Ice Palace came in the form of loans, leaving the team constantly short of cash.[2] In fact, the first time anyone connected with the Lightning or the NHL even saw him was in the spring of 1998. Many of Esposito’s trades came simply to keep the team above water. The team’s financial situation was a considerable concern to NHL officials; rumors surfaced that the league was seriously considering taking control of the team if Okubo failed to find a buyer by the summer of 1998.[5]

Forbes wrote an article in late 1997 calling the Lightning a financial nightmare, with a debt equal to a staggering 236% of its value — the highest of any major North American sports franchise. Even though the Ice Palace was built for hockey and the Lightning were the only major tenant, Forbes called the team’s deal with the arena a lemon since it would not result in much revenue for 30 years. It was also behind on paying state sales taxes and federal payroll taxes.[1]

Finally, in 1998, Kokusai Green found a buyer. Although Detroit Pistons owner William Davidson was thought to be the frontrunner, the buyer turned out to be insurance tycoon and motivational speaker Art Williams. Williams walked into a difficult financial situation; the team was $102 million in debt at the time the sale closed.[5] Like the Japanese, Williams knew very little about hockey. However, he was very visible and outspoken, and immediately pumped an additional $6 million into the team’s payroll to turn it around. He also cleared most of the massive debt left over from the Kokusai Green era. After taking control, Williams publicly assured the Espositos that their jobs were safe, only to fire them two games into the 1998–99 season; Demers became general manager as well as coach. Despite the clouds still hovering over the franchise, 1998 saw the Bolts draft Vincent Lecavalier, a player who would be a cornerstone of the team for years to come.

Williams was widely seen as being in over his head and was an easy target for his NHL colleagues, who called him “Jed Clampett” behind his back because of his thick Southern accent and fundamentalist Christian views. Early in the 1998–99 season, the Lightning lost 10 games in a row, all but ending any chance of making the playoffs. They ended up losing 54 games that year — more than the expansion Nashville Predators. Although some blame Williams for the slide, it can be argued that the damage from the Kokusai Green era was too much for Williams to overcome.

[edit] Return to respectability
By the spring of 1999, Williams had seen enough. He had not attended a game in some time because “this team broke my heart.” He lost $20 million in the 1998–99 season alone — as much money in one year as he’d estimated he could have reasonably lost in five years. [2]

Tampa Bay’s previous alternate logo (1992–2007)Former Arm Patch Logo.Williams sold the team for $115 million — $2 million less than he had paid for the team a year earlier — to Davidson, who had almost bought the team a year earlier. Along with the sale, the Lightning picked up a new top minor league affiliate; Davidson also owned the Detroit Vipers of the now-defunct International Hockey League.

Davidson remained in Detroit, but appointed Tom Wilson as team president to handle day-to-day management of the team. Wilson immediately fired Demers, who despite his best efforts (and fatherly attitude toward Lecavalier) was unable to overcome the damage from the Kokusai Green ownership. Wilson persuaded Ottawa Senators general manager Rick Dudley to take over as the Bolts’ new general manager; Dudley in turn brought Vipers coach Steve Ludzik in as the team’s new head coach. Wilson, Dudley, and Ludzik had helped make the Vipers one of the premier minor league hockey franchises, having won a Turner Cup in only their third season in Detroit (the team had originally been based in Salt Lake City).

However, as had been the case with Demers, the damage from the last few seasons under Kokusai Green was too much for Ludzik to overcome. Even with a wholesale transfer of talent from Detroit to Tampa (a move that eventually doomed the Vipers, which folded along with the IHL in 2001), the Lightning lost 54 games in 1999–2000 and 52 in 2000–01, becoming the first team in NHL history to post four straight 50-loss seasons. The lone bright spots in those years were the blossoming of Lecavalier and Brad Richards into NHL stars. Ludzik was replaced in early 2001 by career NHL assistant John Tortorella.”

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WBF – Kovalchuckle, Kovalchuckle

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World – indeed! Scary how effed up that franchise was during the dark days of the late 90’s. Even though I followed the Sabres casually back in the late 90’s, I did not follow hockey closely enough to know how bad off the TBL organization really was. If they can survive, then the Atlanta Thrashers will be just fine. At least ASG isn’t saddled with tons of heavy debt…I believe they have very little to none.

DWTOO – Word to your mom! As the kids used to say back in the late 90’s

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Id Dudley related to Kevin Bacon?

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Since Rick Dudley made the infamous trade to draft J-Bo with the 3rd pick instead of the 1st pick in 2002, thus ensuring that we would get screwed out of Rick Nash, will we see Duds pull off the blockbuster of the new decade by trading Bryan Little, Boris Valabik, our high 1st rounder and Johnny Oduya to Calgary for Jerome Iginla and Bouwmeester?

Not that it would ever happen, but I think a Top 4 of Kubina / Tobes and Bogo / J-Bo would be pretty darn formidable. Ron Hainsey playing 3rd line minutes with Arturs Kulda!? LOL Can you tell I’m bored?

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First and foremost…please dear god do not bring Kovalchuk back to Atlanta and turn our Thrashers back into a one-trick-pony.

Second and more on-point to Rawhide’s actual topic…I absolutely believe that the pressure on our new coaching staff is going to be sky-high next year. It absolutely should be sky-high too. As badly as I want to see our boys takeover a viable playoff berth next year, I do not believe the pressure should be do-or-die high though. I believe the judgment should be a little less black and white than “did we make the playoffs” – I would prefer a more objective judgment that places value on tangible achievements. Much like Badger Bob said, our new coaches will need to prove themselves in areas such as young player development, adaptable defense, and improved Power Play. I would add to that areas such as generating a lower GAA, controlling penalty minutes, defending the blue line, screening the opponent’s goalie on offense, getting sticks in passing lanes, and increasing second-chance goals (or third or fourth-chance).

That being said, I am on-board with Biscuit’s concept of hiring the coaching staff to a one-year contract thus freeing us up to cut bait at a moment’s notice if necessary if any piece of the new coaching staff is not showing marked improvement in the areas for which they are responsible. Perhaps other organizations can afford giving a new coaching staff a two-year contract, but our organization’s need is more imperative because hockey is largely viewed as being on life-support here in Atlanta and we do NOT want to lose our sport. As far as which coach would come here under such circumstances, I don’t know the answer to that on a first-name basis. But I do believe that there has got to be a hungry, hard-a__ coach out there with a burning desire to make his own legend by coming to what the rest of the league considers to be a mess of a team and taking us from life-support to perennial Cup contenders in one fell swoop.

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Just to feed the rumor mill or get talk stirring, I saw where Custance was tweeted at regarding our next coach and he said “I think Feaster is on the right track when he says Torchetti and Ramsay. I’ve also heard Lever, but haven’t been chasing.” So take that for what it is.

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I like Ramsay’s hairdo, truly low maintenance.

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