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.

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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.