Which Thrasher will be last to join mass exodus from Schnide Island?
Yes kids, it’s that time of the year again. The time when we take our annual trip out to that tiny, remote, isolated, spec of land that is found in the middle of the Ocean of Zilch… Schnide Island. It’s that desolate place where players are stranded until they’re able to cough up payment for a ticket on the only boat off the island.
What’s the price of that ticket? Scoring their first goal of the season is required to get them off “The Schnide”.
Eric Boulton and a host of other Thrashers have recently participated in the mass exodus off of Schnide Island (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
This contest normally begins in late October/early November after the list of players still residing on Isle de Schnide dwindles down to about a half-dozen or so. Those players are then offered up as finalists in the “Who’ll Be the Last Thrasher Off Schnide Island?” contest. You, the readers and contributing commenters of this online forum, then have the opportunity to offer up your best guess as to just who will be the one sole, remaining “survivor” left on the island after watching others score, then depart.
Actually, it’s kind of a reverse Survivor contest in that, unlike that TV show, being the last one on the island is not a good thing.
Just last week I started putting the list of contestants together, but I’ve had to alter it after each of the last three games. Starting last Wednesday night in New York then continuing Friday night against Buffalo and Saturday evening in St. Louis, no less than six of the remaining players began a mass exodus off of Isle de Schnide. The mass migration has seen forwards Bryan Little, Nic Bergfors, Eric Boulton, Nik Antropov, Rich Peverley and Alex Burmistrov each make their way off the island.
I guess word got out to them that the contest was getting ready to get under way again, and they just didn’t want to participate…shrugs
What that leaves us with is five defensemen currently with the team that are still stranded on Schnide Island…Ron Hainsey, Zach Bogosian, Brent Sopel, Freddy Meyer and Johnny Oduya. Of those, only Hainsey Sopel and Oduya have played in all 11 games so far.
Ron Hainsey has seen a number of goal scored on his end of the ice, but he's yet to notch one himself on the other (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
And while these are players whose primary responsibility is to help defense against goals being scored and not necessarily to score them themselves, these are the ones we are left with to select from nonetheless. So, let’s take time to review this falls’ finalist of “Who’ll Be the Last Thrasher Off Schnide Island?”…
Hainsey scored 5 goals last season and made his way off of Schnide Island three games into the schedule. It came during a 4-2 loss in Ottawa. He has 1 assist and is a –3 with 12 shots on goal so far this year.
Bogosian just returned from a shoulder injury suffered out on the west coast and has played in only 5 games so far. He wasn’t a finalist for the Schnide Island contest last year as he netted his first of his 10 goals on opening night. Bogey is yet to register a point thus far and is a –2 with 7 SOG.
Oduya only tickled the twine once in 2009-10, a goal which came during a 2-1 loss to Columbus last March after coming over from the New Jersey Devils. He’s helped out with 4 assists and has gotten 15 shots off on goal, but is a –6.
Sopel also only scored once last year while a member of the Chicago Blackhawks. It came almost a year ago during a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks last November 15. Sopes is a +1, has only gotten off 5 SOG and has netted an assists.
Who will be the last Thrasher off The Schnide?
- Ron Hainsey (8%, 6 Votes)
- Zach Bogosian (5%, 4 Votes)
- Johnny Oduya (8%, 6 Votes)
- Brent Sopel (41%, 30 Votes)
- Freddy Meyer (38%, 27 Votes)
Total Voters: 73
Loading ...Meyer has been out the past few games with a “lower body injury” and has also only played in 5 games. He scored 4 goals while with New York Islanders last year, getting off The Schnide on January 19 during a 6-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s pointless after 5 games played, has one shot to his credit and is a –2.
Now, before we begin the process of sharing our Schnide Island picks with one another, I do think it’s worthy of pointing out that Fredrik Modin has come close to something of a first in regards to this contest. Never before have we seen a player score his way off of Schnide Island, only to find his way right back onto it during the course of the season.
But Modin has come pretty darn close to doing just that.
He got off The Schnide early this fall by scoring on opening night. But it would appear that the boat he departed the island on seems to have struck a reef and is taking on water. It’s currently stranded on a sand bar and, if the next high tide does free it, looks to simply drift right back to shore.
Since opening night, Modin has no points and is a –8.
Some might suggest that the best solution to this dilemma is to toss Freddy a lifejacket, place him in a raft and send him in the direction of Waiver Wire Straights.
Note: Sorry for the delay getting this blog’s Fan Poll up, but the tech guys downtown fixed whatever the bug was in the system and so I’m posting it up now…even though it’s a day after the fact.
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156 comments Add your comment
Alan R.
November 1st, 2010
8:30 am
No doubt in my mind, here — the lawyers are reaping the cash cow. Granted, Kovalchuk isn’t exactly earning his salary, but that’s neither here nor there…
jimbo
November 1st, 2010
9:04 am
What is Little’s status? Modin is definitely headed to X-Isle. Meyer’s got a pretty good shot and may be off Schnide before Sopel who doesn’t seem to want to shoot.
kracker
November 1st, 2010
9:31 am
Well, Thrashers fans…Here we are at Nov. 1st. The month with 10 home games to 4 on the road. This should be a good month, beginning at Panthers on Wednesday. This is a division game and they have 2 games in hand so we are basically tied in points total.
Somebody please remind the players that the puck drops at about 7:38, not 20 or 30 minutes later.
Dwayne
November 1st, 2010
9:42 am
I noticed the leafs have cooled off, kind of like macarther.
Red Light
November 1st, 2010
9:43 am
Joe Friday: Had you not been giggling like a school girl during the process, you would have been just fine. LOL!
World Be Free
November 1st, 2010
9:44 am
Flames blueline – Calgary now has $18 million committed to four defensemen next season. None of their d-men are franchise players.
Nikolai Zherdev has been a bust so far-glad he did not sign here.
Yes, the Leafs have fallen
Alan R.
November 1st, 2010
10:04 am
What is Little’s status?
Facial lacerations and a concussion.
Red Light
November 1st, 2010
10:43 am
Around the NHL…
Worst four in goalie save percentage thus far…
38) Smith .868 4-0-0 3.59 gaa
39) DiPietro .867 2-2-2 3.75 gaa
40) Fleury .863 1-5-0 3.35 gaa
41) Niemi .854 1-3-0 4.49 gaa
Early Vezina leader
Tim Thomas .984 6-0-0 0.50 gaa
Time on Ice Per Game (Forwards)
The Isles’ Blake Comeau is ranked 4th behind Crosby, Ovechkin and Staal with 21:32 per game. Wouldn’t have guessed that!!!
Time on Ice Per Game (D-Men)
Duncan Keith is already averaging more than 29 minutes per game. Atlanta’s Toby Enstrom is 3rd behind Keith and Chara with 26:39 of ice time per game. Seems to me the little soft cherub everyone was bashing during the past few months is doing enough to keep his coach happy. Oh, and he and Byfuglien are tied for second in d-men points with 10 so far this year. Buff leads all NHL defenseman in shots on goal with 38, the same number as forwards Iginla, Stamkos, E. Kane and Selanne.
Plus/Minus
Sopel is the only Thrashers d-man with a plus rating thru 11 games at +1, and he and Hainsey are getting the fewest minutes of all d-men.
Points
Andrew Ladd has 12 points in 11 games, one more than Hossa had in his first 11 for Chicago before getting hurt.
Surprises
Remember Justin Wiilliams who scored 64 goals and added 79 assists in 164 games for the Hurricanes in 2005-06 and 2006-07?
Remember the same Justin Williams who scored just 23 goals and added 50 assists for the Canes and Kings in just 130 games during the past three seasons?
Since Dec. 2007, Williams has missed a ton of games due to a torn ACL, back injury, broken hand, Achilles tendon and a broken right leg. Now just 29 years old, so far this season Williams has been healthy and has five goals and six assists in 11 games for the Kings in 16:32 of ice time per game. Now that’s a nice story of perseverance for the former No. 1 pick for the Flyers in 2000 (28th overall).
Defenseman Willie Mitchell, who missed 34 games and the playoffs with a concussion, and was signed by the Kings on Aug. 25, has a goal and four assists, is +6 and is averaging 23:20 in ice time through 11 games. A great pick-up by the Kings. Can’t believe the Kings are his 5th NHL team. He has had just one minus season in eight full seasons, +88 for his career.
And, everybody’s whipping boy from Colorado last year (largely because of his $4 million plus salary), John-Michael Liles, had 11 assists in his first nine games for the Avs. His nine-game point streak was the longest by an Avalanche player to begin a season and the longest by a Colorado defenseman at any point in any season, and set a new NHL record for the longest assist streak by a defenseman to begin a season.
J-man
November 1st, 2010
11:04 am
Sara – it’s my understanding that you actually have to meet a minimum threshold in attendance to get revenue sharing money rather than having to show an increase every year of a certain amount.
You have no way at all to know that the Atlanta Spirit have or have not “gone broke” as you put it. While it is true that early on the ownership spent big money on salaries here, that money has been declining every year. It cannot all be blamed on Belkin. As a wise person put it, the Atlanta Spirit is a bunch of millionaires playing in a billionaires club.
Red Light
November 1st, 2010
11:36 am
CBA language on revenue sharing!
Revenue sharing will see the top 10 money-making teams contribute to a pool to be distributed among the bottom 15 teams. Teams in markets with more than 2.5 million television households cannot qualify for revenue sharing. That excludes the Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Flyers, Blackhawks, Mighty Ducks and Kings.
Because of the growth of the Atlanta market, I think we are above the 2.5 million TV households as of a few years ago.
In order to be eligible for the NHL’s full revenue-sharing payment, NHL teams ”must average 14,000 fans per game and experience a year-over-year revenue growth equal to or greater than the league average.”
I think we’re out because of that scenario too!
Red Light
November 1st, 2010
11:39 am
13,607 per game last season. 10,931 through four games this season (ahead of only Phoenix so far!).
Smoothie
November 1st, 2010
11:44 am
Uhh, pardon me sir, but there is no way in Hades the Thrashers’ “budget” was $53-54 M last season. Even if you included Kovy for the whole season, you wouldn’t come within $5 M of that figure. I’m pretty sure the final salary cap number for last season was in the $45-46 M range. If certain players make the majority of their bonuses this season, then that number will be realized again. Is it a Cup-winning budget? Probably not, but you can’t spend what you don’t have.
Brendan
November 1st, 2010
11:47 am
Red Light, you are a fountain of information and knowledge, as always. Well done, sir. So, let me ask you, bluntly, “How and why is it, then … that the ownership is so uncaring about this team … so as to miss this ‘golden revenue stream’ by being demonstrably incompetent?”
A reasonable person might come to the conclusion that it is IMPORTANT to be accountable for attendance figures. A reasonable person might conclude that it’s IMPORTANT TO WIN to bolster attendance. And yet … through the years … ummmn, no. I won’t finish this sentence. You’ve seen it. There’s nothing more to add or recap.
Brendan
November 1st, 2010
11:54 am
Smoothie, $51.266, plus “bonus cushion,” per nhlnumbers.com. Here’s the link to LAST YEAR’s Cap hit. http://www.nhlnumbers.com/teams?year=2010. Our budget was gutted.
Zombie Steve
November 1st, 2010
11:58 am
Oh, Do yah?
Hockey Biltong
November 1st, 2010
12:02 pm
Brendan, don’t give those people credit for being savvy…..they have yet to show an iota of that….
World Be Free
November 1st, 2010
12:02 pm
Thanks for the info Red Light-good stuff
Smoothie
November 1st, 2010
12:17 pm
Brendan – thanks, for some reason by spreadsheet ommitted Kubina and I was $5 M shy of the $51.3, but it’s still not $54. Perhaps they would have flirted with $54 had things worked out and Kovy re-upped. But there weren’t enough available UFA’s worthy of even half of what Kovy made last year so I’m not sure what the argument is. We decided to commit to a younger team that is obviously going to cost less. Even if we had added a guy like Ryder for $4 M (simply because we have the cap room), I’m not sure if spending $50 M would be wise. The younger guys have to play and get the games to improve their game. Hopefully they will spend more at the deadline if we are in position to make a run at the playoffs…and by spending more, I don’t mean on players like MacArthur and Artyukhin.
Alan R.
November 1st, 2010
12:22 pm
Speaking of Arty, he failed his physical (heart) on Friday. He was administered another test, and appears to have passed it. Best of luck in SKA, Arty!
Alan R.
November 1st, 2010
12:42 pm
Former Thrasher Jon Sim has been waived by NYI.
Brendan
November 1st, 2010
12:54 pm
Smoothie, I don’t know why … but I have it engrained on my brain that we were at $53M, iffff you included the bonus money for Kane and Bogosian, and the buyout of Zhitnik. Of course, that means the REAL salaried payroll was closer to $48 million, than $53 million. But, I was speaking of the “cap payroll,” which must, technically, count for the bonuses of Kane and Bogosian, and any boughtout players, etc., etc.
But, I still think … that a cap of $42.3 million is a catastrophe of intent. We talked, ALL SUMMER LONNNNG, about players that might be brought in, to bolster our defense, and/or our scoring. You remember that. We talked about Afinogenov possibly coming back, re-upping Kubina, if he were amenable, plus Joe Friday and other talked about the possibility of adding Frolov, and I tossed out Jose Theodore as a potential option in net. (Wound up only costing Minnesota $1.1 million.) While I never like the idea of taking on a bad contract, I did talk about the Bruins having trouble, cap-wise, and wanted to know what bloggers thought about Tim Thomas, since he had 3 years left, on a declining payscale. Everyone clobbered me, saying, “You can’t help out the Bruins like that. Make them suffer for their contractual mistakes.” I think this blog even talked about the possibility of landing Brian Campbell’s monstrosity of a contract, that pays him until he’s 40. That’s a horrible contract, but we HAD THE ROOM, if we truly wanted to take him off Chicago’s hands. Yes or no?, Campbell would improve the Thrashers? He’s got an NTC, making the entire conversation moot, of course. Moving right along. We talked about the possibility of adding Nikki Zherdev, who was a UFA out there. I get it, though. We’re trying a youth movement, on a shoestring budget, with a “TEAM” concept, for the 1st time ever, in franchise history. So, instead, this blog talked about Kulda vs. Welch, from Chicago. Or whomever.
Brendan
November 1st, 2010
12:58 pm
Shoot, I remember when we talked about the possibility of landing Travis Zajac off the Devils, if they actually wound up signing Kovalchuk. Didn’t happen. Of course, lord knows how we might have been fleeced in that one, owing NJ two 1sts and two 2nds, a la Toronto Maple Leafs to the Bruins, in the Phil Kessel trade.
Brendan
November 1st, 2010
12:59 pm
I wonder what will become of Simmer. I always liked Jon Sim, when he was here, Alan R.
FormerIslesFan
November 1st, 2010
1:22 pm
Returning to the original topic for a sec…
My pick is Sopel. As was said above, his job is not to score goals, but to block or otherwise prevent them. Unless I’m wrong, he also doesn’t see time on the PP. BUT, FWIW, this is the first time when I can say that I’m really not concerned about it. The people that have needed to start scoring (Bergfors especially) have started denting the twine. Now, just to keep it up.
Overall, I’m still cautiously optimistic about the season. Sitting where we are at a time when the players are clearly still learning what the coach wants them to do is just enough to make me be edgy, but not panicky. I will admit to being shocked that we’ve scored as many goals as we have, especially based on the pre-season goal output. You guys have heard me scream from the soapbox about the shots against stat in previous years, so I won’t go there now…at least, not yet.
Still a LOT of hockey to play. But, you have to be encouraged (and to some degree scared) about where we are at this point.
kracker
November 1st, 2010
1:27 pm
I don’t know the guy at all but I get the impression that everyone likes Simmer. Maybe that’s the key to being happy at hockey: being a good grinder.
Smoothie
November 1st, 2010
1:29 pm
“We talked about Afinogenov possibly coming back, re-upping Kubina, if he were amenable, plus Joe Friday and other talked about the possibility of adding Frolov, and I tossed out Jose Theodore as a potential option in net”
Indeed we did. And they offered Kuby a fair deal. Wasn’t it well into the upper $3M’s? Tampa, IIRC, offered him the third year he was looking for (the extra stability) and took less money, slightly less, to head “home”. Other than Kuby, I think it would have been nice to add a stay-at-home guy like Morrisonn or even Steve Montador. Of course, had we added the former, Lits wouldn’t be out with a concussion and had we added the latter, then Buff wouldn’t have had so much fun undressing him at the end of the Sabres game. I wonder if we might have a chance at luring away Blake Wheeler of the Bruins as he is off to another disappointing start. They will have some decisions to make when Sturm is ready to come off LTIR not to mention Savard’s issues and the albatross that is Ryder’s contract.
Wheeler’s size and speed fit out system to a “T” and I think having him as a RW as opposed to Anthony Stewart could really bolster our top two lines. Think about that for a minute: Wheeler playing opposite Evander Kane and centered by crafty Rich Peverley. Then you could reunite Bergie and Antro with Bryan Little at C. Of course, Ladd has been mighty productive in our “top 6″ but that’s because he’s getting loads of PP time as well. Hmmm, this could be a winning roster:
Kaner — Pevs — Wheeler
Bergy — Lits — Antro
Ladd — Burmy — Thorbs
Eager\Boults — Slates — Stew\Supa Fly
Sure would be nice if Modin caught fire over the next month and potted 5-7 goals so he’d be much more attractive in a salary swap with Boston to get Wheeler. We’d probably have to give up a good prospect too, but we could probably afford to give up Aliu and/or Klingy since they are each the same type of player.
Oh yeah, it may have been a mistake to let Finny go, but he may not have taken less than a 3-year deal even if we offered two. But I think we offered a 1-year deal so that’s a strike against Dudley, but that strike is somewhat negated by the pick of Burmy at #8 and the acquisition of Big Buff to ostensibly replace Kubina. The key is getting Bogey and Oduya on the same page and tightening things up to where we only allow 28-31 shots per game. Doable? I dunno.
JB
November 1st, 2010
1:29 pm
isnt sopel pretty high on the list right now for block shots across the league?
Russ
November 1st, 2010
1:54 pm
Smoothie – Actually, Kubina only signed for two years in Tampa. I had heard Atlanta offered him more per season and the extra year. That is why I have said it sounded like Kubina just wanted to go back to the Bolts and the Thrashers never really had much of a chance…unfortunately, because our defense is still missing a guy that can play effectively 22-25 minutes a night against other teams’ top lines.
Thrashers27
November 1st, 2010
1:55 pm
Was it Simmer, or Metropolit that picked a fight and got his face caved in a few years back?…I want to say it was with Chris Neil. It was somebody that was way bigger. Sim forced him to drop the gloves and got his ocular bone broken.
Red Light
November 1st, 2010
2:01 pm
Sopel is tied for 5th in blocked shots with 28, but 13 behind the leader Nick Boynton. Enstrom and Hainsey are tied for 14th with 24. Blocked shots, hits, giveaways, takeaways, etc. are available by clicking real-time stats under the Players Stats tab on NHL.com. Buff leads ATL in hits with 23. Dustin Brown leads the NHL with 46 in 11 games. I knew I liked that guy!
Red Light
November 1st, 2010
2:05 pm
Kubina feature!
http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=539843
Red Light
November 1st, 2010
2:06 pm
Back on topic, Meyer is the pick. One shot in five games.
Smoothie
November 1st, 2010
2:12 pm
“Smoothie – Actually, Kubina only signed for two years in Tampa. I had heard Atlanta offered him more per season and the extra year. That is why I have said it sounded like Kubina just wanted to go back to the Bolts and the Thrashers never really had much of a chance”
Russ – thanks, I knew something didn’t seem right in my recollection. That makes even more sense in the sense that we really did want him back, but certainly not for more than $4 M / year. I’m surprised we offered him three years to be honest. A Kubina / Oduya pair would be looking right nice about now. Then Bogey could drop down to the 3rd pairing and work on his positioning and decision-making.
BlueSpark
November 1st, 2010
2:18 pm
@Thrashers27: I believe it was Sim vs. Rupp (then on the Sharks). Broken orbital bone. The Darren Eliot quote from that one: “someone should tell Jon Sim that’s not how you fight.”
Nope, I’m wrong. It was Bell, not Rupp: http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/32601
BlueSpark
November 1st, 2010
2:21 pm
Ah, I blew the quote. Should have watched the video first…
Smoothie
November 1st, 2010
2:30 pm
The busted orbital made it all the better when he came back and scored the SO goal to give the Thrashers the division title over Tampa.
Oh wait, maybe not.
We’ll always love and appreciate the Simmer! Good luck to you Jon!
Red Light
November 1st, 2010
2:56 pm
Nova Scotia down to five players if Sim doesn’t get claimed. The NHL’s loss is a lobster boat’s gain!
He had two seasons in a row where he scored 17 goals.
Brendan
November 1st, 2010
3:00 pm
Red Light, I think it’s just you and me for F. Meyer, as the last off the Island. Might have been one other poster. Truthfully, if guys like Meyer and Sopel don’t score all season, I won’t blow a gasket. That’s not their function. If they’re in the minus double-digits, for the year, I’ll be angry.
Smoothie, I definitely do remember you talking about Wheeler. It is/was intriguing to consider. The Bruins are finding a way to get around the cap, just like Chicago and New Jersey are. I really love Red Light’s idea … which is to just make the player’s salary the same as the cap hit. Prevents all the FRAUD that’s happening around the league. I could actually see the Bruins moving Savard, if they feel the head injury is something they’d rather not deal with. And truthfully, that does make some sense. But I’d bet Savvy has a NTC, which allows him to approve the trading partner.
While I’ve got the Bruins on my mind, the draft the bothers me the most next to 2002 (Kari/Nash/Bouwmeester) is the 2005 draft. What? Not 1999, and Patrik Stefan, and us getting screwed out of one of the Sedin Twins. Look, that’s an honorable mention, but I doubt either Sedin would agree to play here, plus Stefan was something of a consensus pick among Hockey publications, so I totally gave Waddell a pass on that one, no matter how disasterously it turned out, for such a high profile pick. Nope, the 2nd most problematic Thrasher draft, for me, was 2005. Because of “Kari Down,” Waddell wanted to pick up a 2nd rounder to go select a goalie. Waddell/Dan Marr thought, “Hmmn, there’s VERY LITTLE DIFFERENCE between Devin Setoguchi and Alex Bourret, so … let’s load up.” (Anze Kopitar, Marc Staal, among others were bypassed. Bygones.) Okay, back on point, if Waddell wanted a goalie … why the FREAK didn’t he take Tuukka Rask, with pick # 16? Tuukka Rask wasn’t selected until 20th overall. To my knowledge, Alex Bourret has never set foot on NHL ice, during a regular season game. And yet, there’s no accountability in the drafting department.
I want to clear about something else. If I were going to draft a goalie … in the 2nd round .. at pick # 41 or # 49, I very well might go with Ondrej Pavelec. I think that was a good place to find a goalie. But not when better goalies were still on the board with # 16. Now look, those of you who read my posts letigiously know my stated policy on drafting goalies with 1st round picks. If you don’t, here it is: “I don’t like to draft goalies inside of the Top 10 overall picks, unless it’s the CAN’T MISS SECOND COMING of Hasek, Roy, Tretiak, Brodeur, etc.” Then, I’ll make an exception. But if you read my stuff consistently, you also know that I declare the “crapshoot” area of the draft to begin at pick #15. Which means what???
It means … that if you’re already in the “crapshoot” portion of the draft, and see a goalie you really, truly want … then go ahead and get him. As in, “I see London. I see France. I see Rask in Thrasher pants.” But Alex Bourret?? !Ay, ay, ay! !Que no me gusta, eso! !No me digas, eso, por favor! !Te supplico!
Look what came of that 2005 draft? Not only didn’t Bourret get here, neither did Chad Denny, who I also think has never set foot on NHL ice for a regular season game. And he came at the expense of pick # 8 in the draft. Pick #12 got moved to land Opie, in a deal with the NY Rangers. And how funny was it that the Rangers held position # 16 in that 2005 draft, and they STILL wound up landing Alex Bourret via trade with Atlanta, for Pascal Dupuis, plus a 3rd rounder, who became Chris Thorburn, via trade with Pittsburgh. Ahh, the “misty, water-colored memories” of the Atlanta Thrashers on draft day. But the point was … Chad Denny was supposed to fill out the Thrashers blueline by now, so that we didn’t have to reach out into Free Agency to land Ron Hainsey, on a 5-year deal, at $4.5 million-per-annum.
World Be Free
November 1st, 2010
3:06 pm
Miss Arty, he was cool.
Sim is a slug-no way
Delauriers has been waived by Edmonton, not a bad goalie at all.
Brendan-the Professor is back to writing is novels.
Smoothie
November 1st, 2010
3:07 pm
Okay, I’ll play along. I’ll say Noah Welch. j/k
Seriously though, I think Sopel will luck one in off somebody’s butt before Bogosian gets going. Something just seems “off” about Bogey and his release seems a bit slower than last year. Perhaps it is just rust and lack of games, but I just have some misgivings about Bogey’s offensive game and confidence level. Once he does start scoring again, I think he could go on a tear, but for now, I’ll say Bahgozeein.
puckhead
November 1st, 2010
3:19 pm
Article from Atl Business Chronicle on Thrasher Ticket Prices – http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2010/10/29/thrashers-tix-among-cheapest.html?ed=2010-11-01&s=article_du&ana=e_du_pap
BlueSpark
November 1st, 2010
3:25 pm
Forgot about the voting. Sopel for sure; he never even seems to shoot.
As for Sim, don’t worry. The Isles waived him last year, too. He’ll be back.
Brendan: TL;DR
Rawhide
November 1st, 2010
3:28 pm
For what it’s worth…whatever it was that caused the Fan Poll to go down has been fixed. For those who care to, you may register an “official” vote above now.
Brendan
November 1st, 2010
3:38 pm
WBF, Simmer claimed by Buffalo? Didn’t see that one coming.
Hey, just heard that Al Horford’s contract is supposed to be announced. There goes more potential Thrashers money. Grrreat.
Blue Spark: I know it was too long. But it had to be said.
Red Light
November 1st, 2010
3:39 pm
Well, there’s the problem puckhead, Atlanta’s beer prices are tied for second highest in the entire league!
Brendan
November 1st, 2010
3:40 pm
Puckhead, interesting link. Good to know, I suppose.
Smoothie
November 1st, 2010
3:50 pm
Top 3 reasons Atlanta Thrashers have such “low” ticket prices:
1) Joe Johnson’s absurd contract
2) Al Horford’s somewhat absurd contract
3) The need for a tax write-off (Thrashers operating loss) to offset the cost of losing Belkin’s cash call money for 4 straight years.
Seriously, if you’re gonna have the cheapest payroll in the league, ice what some feel is an inferior product, why not sell every seat above the first 3 rows of the upper deck for $5-15 EVERY NIGHT to at least get more bodies in the building to buy your over-priced beer and food. Actually, there are a couple of good deals on food (those big fat burritos come to mind), but don’t they realize they’re losing a lot of concession business to the CNN Center foodcourt??
World Be Free
November 1st, 2010
4:02 pm
Brendan-big surprise but maybe theyu have a deal brewing and they need a body. Sabres need something they were blanked by Dallas Saturday.
alex
November 1st, 2010
4:27 pm
remember ad rolling couple month with bush picture “do you missing me yet” now what about same ad in Atlanta with kovy up front. certainly i am not missing kovy, this team with no prima donna at least at same level or better, but ask asg clowns they missing kovy. check attendance on week days with kovy 11000 plus, now 8000 plus, on weekend with kovy 15000 plus, now 10000 and that is on similar time when football season is on. people wanted to see star even if they controversial, we want koby not odom, krosby not cooke, favre not jakson. asg cheap as hell. i am blame turner who sold this team at discount to group including his relative. they got this like a gift from rich uncle. team shouldn’t be like a gift, turner better get them tons of diamonds if he intended to award relative, because of that we suffer badly.
glovesave29
November 1st, 2010
4:30 pm
Smoothie – to answer your question…no. These are the same folks who spent a pretty good sum of cash to buy a huge curtain to cover the upper deck instead of offering the upper seats at a discount. If the entire upper deck is $5 each, and the place is packed – alive and buzzing – is it not logical to think that perhaps this becomes a more attractive place to play? Get better players, win more games. Need to offer massive amounts of cheaper seats diminishes. Instead of competing with the CNN food court, why not allow season ticket holders – no matter where the seat – to be allowed to go get the good grub on the suite side? Seems a logical (oops sorry) way to thank those who are most loyal. Maybe even have local vendors inside the arena instead of the crap they currently serve.
Key is just to get them into the door. Live hockey sells itself. But a quiet, empty arena works against the product on the ice. Get it full and get it loud by any means necessary.