Which Thrasher will be last to join mass exodus from Schnide Island?

I do not think Modin in long for this team. Hopefully management will recognize the mistake and bring up a young gun to take his place.

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Hate to say it, but Modin was a given for Schnide Island upon signing due to age and injuries. He was a gamble I wouldn’t take, I just can’t see him ever returning to form.

The only other person you’ve listed that really disappoints me for obvious reasons is Hainsey. His expected contributions aren’t anywhere near being met and we probably pay way too much for him. Time to say “later Gator”.

Again, no offense to guys like Meyer and Sopel, but what do we expect from them? My bars not high at all for those guys so I don’t feel let down, basically whatever. Most rosters have guys of that caliber, that’s par for the course. Learn not to rely on them and give them less ice time. Yes, I know that’s the antithesis of Ramsey’s tactics, but again nearly all teams have these types.

I really think Bogosian and Oduya are worth keeping, I’ll remain hopeful for those two. I’d hate to see them go out of a lack of patience on the organisations part and watch them snap out of their ruts elsewhere. Very realistic.

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How pitiful is it that we can’t bring up a player because it will put us UNDER the cap? Ridiculous.

Have to say, I am really enjoying watching the Devils meltdown and Kovy’s lack of production this season. He was roundly booed in LA last night and may be even more despised by Kings fans than Thrasher fans.

As for last nights game, great first two periods but the “hold a lead in the third” bugaboo has got to be dealt with by Ramsey.

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Gotta say Ronny. I know he’s a defenseman and he’s not supposed to get a 30 goal year but he hasn’t looked all that good the past 11 games. That said, there’s a long season ahead and still some players out there still stranded on the island….

Go Thrashers

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I say it’ll be Meyer last off the island. He’s the 7th D-man and will get less time on the ice to get his ticket punched off of The Schnide.

But I think the real question to answer is this: What will hapen first, all five of the players left on Schnide Island score their first goal this season, or Modin scores his next?

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For me, it’s between Sopel and Freddy Meyer, waiving “bye-bye” to the dearly departed. Flipping a coin, with heads being Sopel and tails being Meyer, looks like Freddy Meyer will be alone on the island, drinking coconut juice. A natural laxative, by the way. When you’re on Schneid Island, I guess you just hope for mermaids and friendly dolphins. Or washed up jettisoned bales of ganga, that traffickers ditched before being chased off by the Coast Guard.

Re: Modin, I’ll have you know that these were the results of the “Modin Watch ‘10-11″ contest. Eighteen (18) votes for “over,” and ten (10) for under. These voted for “over” –Derrick, Diego from Lilburn, Flames, five_hole, Simon, Tony C., Tom Lysiak, Kracker, ThrashyThrashy, Rob, FIF, Darkhorse, Rawhide, Jen, Sisu, dwayne, Smoothie, and GaVaHokie. These voted for “under” — Jeff97, Spud Webb, Hockey Biltong, Larry, Adam, R.Stroz, Red Light, Curly, Badger Bob, and Brendan.

Hey, don’t look at me like that. There’s still plenty of time for either side to win that contest. When the going gets tough, Modin’s supposed to get going. A song by, Billy Ocean? Ocean … Island? Correlation?? I don’t know. But I do know this … the Center Ice “replay” of last night’s game starts at Noon, on Comcast Channel # 778. Lots of shutout games last night. I think there were five of them.

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Tough loss last night, too bad they could not get it to a 3 goal lead. Scoring on the 5 on 3 would helped. Anyone have the historical % of scores from 5 on 3 advantages? The Thrash ran out of gas, clearly, in the 3rd. I also wonder if and seriously doubt that any other NHL team has played Friday-Saturday games for 5 weeks in a row.

Those were some tough goals against on the first and second Blues goals. No way did Sopel “knock McClement off his feet” as it was ruled and reported. It was difficult to see exactly why he did go down but he certainly was not x-checked or shoved down on the replays that I saw. So the game has regressed from the [non-]call on Hull’s skate in the crease to last night’s non-call of McClement’s entire body in the crease, crowding and blocking Pavs movement for an easy stop. In fact the puck bounces off of McClement and over Pavs glove. I definitely call BS on that “goal.”

The second goal was a normal but a bit flukey goal, fluttering straight up off Pavs glove and the one place not to go – straight back down and stopping dead in the paint a few inches from the goal line for an easy McClement rake in. I would have felt better if the puck had of just bounced in instead of dying there like a dead fish. But this is hockey and crazy **it happens.

Regardless, Pavs player well in his first game. I am heartened that we have two capable goalies. I see a lot of home games in November but I also see a lot of quality teams on the Nov. schedule, both home and away, with only perhaps FLA and CBJ at home as games that one could say the Thrashers “should” win. None will be easy. If we can finish November plus .500, the team will be somewhere in the thick of the playoff hunt.

Anyway, I am proud to be in the fan group that counts the point last night as a big point, I will take as many of them as the team can get. We should have had the win but the Blues, a good team at home, had other ideas. Any of us, back at camp, would have looked at being a game over .500 with 12 points as a worthy goal for the October campaign. On to November!

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WBF, there must something the Flames see to his game that we don’t. Or they want continuity. Or whatever. I wouldn’t think the Calgary market “fears losing players,” but I don’t really know. It doesn’t strike me that Calgary is like Edmonton, where it’s truly difficult to attract players to the market.

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Thought Hainsey had his best game of the year last night. The Blues announcers were amazed at the skills of Burmy. They could not get over his back checking skills and his great hockey IQ. If he stays healthy looks like we got us a great player for long time.

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I predict Mason and Pavelec will stay on the island for the entire season.

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Modin’s gonna go on an unholy tear. I can feel it.

My pride’s on the line, Freddy. Put up the numbers and then get released.

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I can’t in good conscience count defensive d-men as Islanders…oouh, that sounds bad!

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Speaking of the Blues announcers, they also referred to us as the Atlanta Predators, and the goalie as Ilya Pavelec. Sounds like someone had a few too many 8balls.

Stroz, you might be thinking of Hainsey.

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If we are stuck due to being so close to the bottom of the salary range,can’t call it a cap can we, how about we find a team that has an over priced player they need to get rid of. Maybe not a complete Sheldon Souray but a 3 million dollar a year player. We can keep him as our 23rd player and just leave him there. That would give us the flexibility to field the team we want to.

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Y’all want the owners to spend more?? Then buy full-season tix. Waiting to get seats for 20-30% of full price, or not going at all, rather disqualifies you from beeotching about the owners group.

baaaaa baaaaaa

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Thrashers will miss playoffs yet again. Wait. Still better team without Makeuillya Kovalchoke (hee hee how do ya like him now New Jersey?) and Sori Letemin. Craig Petrino has assembly molded into a team. Not one selfish feed me superstar plus a supporting cast but a TEAM. Talent marginal. Goaltending does not exist. Offense acceptable. However. A professional team which fails to score consistently with a two man edge is going nowhere. Fast! Exhibits total lack of heart. These Thrashers have no heart. Sad to say. But true. Great teams have great leaders. No Thrasher has stepped forward to fill that role nor is likely to. So instead of wrapping up an early playoff berth the Thrashers will be scoreboard watching late. Thrashers will be on outside looking in because of meltdowns like the one against Saint Louis. Losses are okay fans will continue to praise moral defeats which shows players that mediocrity is not only accepted but embraced. Bad precedent for fans to set! So enjoy the season. Few thrills ahead. Plenty of heartaches. No playoffs. So it goes. STENDEK

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Sopel. And I don’t care if he ever scores one. He’s out there to block shots and get the puck out of the zone.

Last night’s first goal by the Blues was a joke. McClement flopped to the ice like a dead fish and should have been called for diving and goaltender interference. He should not have gotten the hat trick or the win. His other two were nice goals. Hard to blame anyone on any of the Blues goals last night. There a good team and battled back against another good but tired team on the road.

12 points in October. I’ll take it and who wouldn’t? Especially after playing 7 on the road and going 3-2-2 against some very good teams. 7th in the East and a bit more favorable schedule in November. Time to start building on a good October and putting some distance on those below in the standings.

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Brendan – eventually Bettman is going to step in and force an ownership change. He’s not going to take the continual pock-shots for putting a team here and ignoring Winnipeg / Quebec. He knows this is a huge market where a winning team can fill the building. There were problems in Pittsburgh, Tampa and Phoenix. Now there are two new owners and soon to be a third.

Nice comment from EJ Hradek – “1 note on Thrash/Blues game : I’m so impressed w/ATL culture change. They r tough. Love Burmistov in all zones. Awesome kid” Gotta agree with him on Burmy…offense is a talent…defense is just hard work and dedication. 8 is going to be good at both.

Thrashers prospect / DU center Jesse Martin had emergency surgery last night after breaking three vertibrae caused by a massive hit 2 feet from the boards. UND forward Brad Malone came in with his hands and stick to Martins face and sent him flying back into the boards head first. Malone had a huge head of steam. I have no problem with hard hits. It’s part of the game. Every time you lace them up, you know something terrible can happen. This was going too far. When you check you lead with your shoulder and keep your arm down at your side – and either against the boards or in open ice. This hit was similar to that against Panther forward David Booth last season (its headhunting) – and they need to stop. Here’s wishing Martin a full and speedy recovery.

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Here, here, to the speedy recovery for Jesse Martin.

Glovesave29, I can only hope Bettman is successful in making that ownership change in Atlanta, while keeping the team here, past 2019, when the lease is up at Philips Arena.

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I simply see it differently. This owners group has spent above the floor in the past. Fill the arena more nights than not and some of that revenue will make it’s way into improving the roster. Unfortunately, we are in, and will continue to be in, times of economic recession… for, hopefully, not too much longer. So simply treading water and hoping our thin roster “gets coached up” as the kids continue to mature is about the best we can expect.

But like Costner and his cornfield, win and they will come.

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I’m just glad that Hainsey is not free skating out there on the PP anymore – replaced by Enstrom to carry the puck up the ice. I’m surprised that Ramsey could not figure this one out before the regular games would be played.

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Great to meet you (finally), Brendan, as well as Spud Webb and WBF. and always nice to see Mr. and Mrs. Stroz and Rawhide!

So, who’s that 5′2″ midget on Buffalo? I thought it was some kid trick or treating early and got lost out on the ice . . .

So Red Light, I think I better keep my day job, the roving reporter gig may not be my strong point . . .

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Joe Friday, likewise, a pleasure. I believe the midget in question is N. Gerbe, if you’re referring to the Sabres player. He’s actually not a bad player, he’s just undersized. People said the same thing about Bryan Little, too. Time will tell if Little is really going to have a 10-year NHL career. Like Fox Mulder on the “X-files,” I WANT TO BELIEVE.

Kracker, I feel what you’re saying. But consider this … the Thrashers ACTUALLY MADE PROGRESS, however ‘incremental’ it may be, from 76-points to 83-points last season. The reward? (Wait for it) Their budget got HACKED! Last year’s budget was $53-54 million, cap-wise. This year’s budget? $42.3 million, BELOW the FLOOR!! How does one properly EXPLAIN that?

“Great job, guys! We’ve decided to cut your budget by $12 million next year. Best of luck to you, boys. And by the way, Bergfors, you’ll get your ‘qualifying offer’ and LIKE IT!!!” – Ted Knight, Caddyshack. (Okay, he actually said, “You’ll get NOTHING and like it,” to his nephew, Spalding.

Now, as best I can tell, per Waddell as the source, via public comments made in the newspaper, on TV, and otherwise in print, the budget gets set during the Summer (end of June). Before a single game EVER gets played, to even possibly be swayed by attendance figures. The failure to re-sign Kovalchuk affected season ticket sales, no matter what anyone says. I can respect an argument that says, “Well, without the renewals, the budget has to be lowered somewhat.” That only gets you to about 1st base. What about the whole, “How ’bout we TRY TO WIN” angle? What does a budget BELOW THE FLOOR of the cap say … about INTENT??

This team gets between $14 million to $17 million dollars (Dr. Evil laugh) from the NHL to prop up this market. Does the Octocluster take that money, and spend it all, to max out the cap, at $59.4 million? Sorry, you should read that first, thennnn sip your coffee. I don’t accept dry-cleaning bills for my posts. Nor will I replace your coffee-soaked monitor. No, they take that money … (paying pay close attention) and slide … it into … their pockets. They took that money … and didn’t even use it … to get ABOVE the league-mandated FLOOR.

How … much … more … evidence … would a ‘reasonable’ person need???????? They … don’t … care about the Thrashers. They let Waddell name his own successor, (where does that happen, but here?, and Bizzaro World, where hamburges eat people) while giving Waddell “oversight authority.” Boy, that’s sweeping reforms, right there. It’s NEW day. There sure is a new Sheriff in town. And he’s been ‘greenlighted’ to … LESS than the floor of the cap. There is, simply put, a right way and a wrong way to do business. Which way do you think it was … that caused Kovalchuk to turn up his nose at $101 million, guaranteed? Yeah, it’s the ownership. And in THEIR view, I’m sure they think the hockey fans in Atlanta SUCK, because they don’t simply BLINDLY FORK OVER their money. (Heaven forfend, that hockey fans in Atlanta ask for some ‘accountability.’) That, and perhaps, they blame corporate sponsorship for not buying out all their luxury suites, where the team actually can make the money amount of money. If the Octocluster could ditch this team, they’d have done it, already. But nobody will buy the Thrashers … without operating revenues from Philips Arena as part of the sale. Hockey teams, generally, lose too much money. There’s no big TV contract to bail them out. So, basically, it’s all on the shoulders of the ownership … to build a winner and cultivate a winning atmosphere, that would cause players to stay beyond the years of their contractual and CBA obligations. You’ve seen the results, Kracker. And I can hardly blame Season Ticket Holders for refusing to grit their teeth, grabbing their ankles, while saying, “Thank you, sir. May I have another?” They can sit in that VERY SAME SEAT … by waiting until November, to buy it at 50-percent off. R.Stroz calls that, “learned behavior.” If Pavlov could train a dog to salivate by playing music, then feeding it, … then surely … the Atlanta Spirit, LLC, can train their STH’s to get in the building for a fraction of the cost. And they have.

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Brendan – I don’t have the source link at the moment, bit pressed for time to look, but the Thrashers have not received the full revenue share lately because of the poor attendance. There’s some percentage increase over the prior year you have to have in order to receive full credit as it were and given attendance growth has been negative …

I agree with Kracker in that if the attendance were to significantly increase regularly, and not just at total rockbottom prices, we would see more money being invested into the roster. I do not believe Atlanta Spirit is being neglectful solely out of choice but out of necessity. They’ve gone broke trying to prop up a franchise that is nowhere near self-sustaining, primarily due to losing Belkin’s $$ for so long. When 30% walks away, it’s gonna hurt. That said, it’s hard to blame people for not showing up either when the team underperforms routinely. Toronto and Montreal are about the only two markets immune to that problem.

The biggest problem is, until the lawsuit settles itself there is nothing that can be done to rectify the situation other than having ticket revenues/etc increase. They can’t bring in other investors, they can’t sell, and Bettman can’t force anything either – other than perhaps put on more pressure for them to conclude the litigation/mediation still pending.

Gotta wonder who’s gotten paid more – Kovy? Or all the lawyers? :/

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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.

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I noticed the leafs have cooled off, kind of like macarther.

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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

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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Brendan, don’t give those people credit for being savvy…..they have yet to show an iota of that….

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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.

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Former Thrasher Jon Sim has been waived by NYI.

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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.

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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.

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“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.

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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.

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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!

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Back on topic, Meyer is the pick. One shot in five games.

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@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

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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Puckhead, interesting link. Good to know, I suppose.

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Brendan-big surprise but maybe theyu have a deal brewing and they need a body. Sabres need something they were blanked by Dallas Saturday.

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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.

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Yes, I know you don’t want goal scorers blocking shots, but if they ain’t scoring they better do something. Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin each blocked more shots than Stafford and Vanek.

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Al got 60 million for Hawks, maybe Octotards spend some on Thrashers next year.

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Red Light-always “The Man” with the numbers.

Vanek needs a centerman to feed him, he is not getting the puck.
Stafford is afraid of the dark, as well as going to the net. Many of Vanek and stafford’s shots come from the perimeter. Meanwhile, in Philly, little Danny Briere goes to the net unconcerned about getting bruised on the way there.

Good things happen when you go to the net, it is that simple.

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What’s happening in NJ is called Karma. I feel bad for the players, but it’s still entertaining to see.

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When I saw Kovy’s cap hit of 6.66 million per season, I knew the Devils were truely playing with fire.

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Not sure what this refers to but here is a tweet of passing interest to a few people in these parts….

PuckCentral Huge win for NYR tonight, hopefully White showed Torts once and for all that he’s really not worthy of spot in lineup unless injuries occur

Please pass the….uh, White Cloud

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I’m not normally the kind of guy that would do something like this, but I think it would sure feel good if everybody laughed hysterically anytime the puck is on Kovy’s stick when the Devs pay a visit to Philips.

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Brendan, you rekon when Ilya turned down the $$, the Octotards said lets use it on the Hawks based on DW telling them with RD as the GM and the new coaching staff “we can build a winner with minimal $$’s spent”? Oh how I would have loved to have heard those board room meetings.

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Who needs Patrick Sharp!? We have Patrice Cormier!!

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Smoothie: I know you’re dreaming of when PSharp10 joins Twitter.com!

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Dollar Bill Wirtz has now turned into Junior Moneybag Wirtz. He’s got the money to burn, and then some, if they need to hide a contract in Rockford, they’ll do it . . .I’ll take their 9 guys at $44m plus whoever over our 23 guys at $43m all day long . . . and twice this Saturday night!

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R/L – yes, then I can stalk him like nobody’s business! I’ll work him over so good that he won’t be able to refuse ATL’s free-agency overtures! Ha!

I think folks are really underestimating the value of Marian Hossa. I know some of us still love to hate him (perhaps that’s a bit strong), and we all enjoyed his battle with bad karma in the first two Stanley Cup failures, but he makes teams so much better.

Look at how much better we were in 2006-07 when he was at the top of his game. Kovy was a complementary piece that season and it rankled him big time. Who knows how much potential animosity b/w the two was a factor in Hossa wanting to leave. But as Brendan always says, he was traded here and you can’t blame him for wanting to have control of his destiny.

But back on point, this Chicago team, so far, doesn’t look anything like the team from last spring. Yeah, Duncan Keith is still a stud and he controls the puck as well as any. And Patrick Kane has the potential to be a dominant player, but he’s not gonna win you puck battles on the boards and in the corner. Sharpy is a great offensive player, but he isn’t always committed in the defensive end…so on and so forth.

But those bottom two lines of theirs reek. And without Hossa and Bolland, they are really hurting. I would hope our Thrashawks could completely out-man and outclass those two bottom lines, especially without Bolland in the line-up. And while Kane, Toews and Keith will give us fits, hopefully our depth can win out in a 5 to 4 or 4 to 3 offensive slugfest.

Blackhawks management better hope for a GOP/conservative landslide and a resulting turn of fortunes in the economic landscape so the NHL revenues will continue to trend upwards for a much higher salary cap in the next round of CBA negotiations.

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Darn it, I got caught in the blog filter of limbo again. Just wanted to follow-up on one of Joe F’s points about hiding players in the minors.

Thanks in advance Ms. Trixie! Please release me when you get back from the polling booth!

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Alan R. for Thrashers PR guru! Nice work if you can get it.

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Make that, “Tell them that,” as opposed to “them them that.” D’oh!

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Red Light, I rather enjoy your novels. Keep publishing!

I think Chicago is doing what they have to do to make sure that an outstanding core nucleus of players remain, giving them “the chance” to win another Cup. I’m mostly worried about Marty “Playoff choke” Turco as the backstopper. But, if Chris Osgood can win a couple of Stanley Cups for the Red Wings, anybody can do it, I suppose.

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Ben Wright says Boris is on re-entry but is not being recalled. Does he need to clear before he can be used in a trade? Could the trade winds be blowin’ this soon? It is getting rather chilly outside with this backdoor cold front moving in.

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Octocluster is waiting to see if this formula gets the THRASH to the playoffs. If so, then they spend for a deal from a team unloading……….

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I guess they couldn’t get rid of him via a trade and they don’t want him blocking the development of Postma, Kulda, Zubarev etc. I guess they are THAT cheap…duh.

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Or maybe he goes to the Islanders and becomes the next Brayden Coburn, Kurtis Foster or Brian Pothier story.

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Thrashers and Hawks enhance radio technology – no know how this effects the fans in the metro area but here’s the link – http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2010/11/02/hawks-thrashers-upgrade-radio.html

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Today, per capgeek.com, the Atlanta Thrashers salary cap figure is $40.765 million. http://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=7. How does this even happen?

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This is actually somewhat humorous (or depressing). The Thrashers have drafted 35 defensemen beginning with the 1999 draft, and 34 of them were listed at 6-feet or taller. Of those 34, eight have actually played for the team, for a grand total of 615 games, or roughly 77 games per player so far. Boris ranks 3rd in games played for Atlanta behind XLB and Bogo with 80.

One only d-man drafted was listed under 6-feet, that being Enstrom, who has appeared in 257 games for the Thrashers, and has 130 points, which so far is 30 points more than the other seven combined. Hmmm?

Defensemen drafted by Thrashers listed at 6-feet or taller
Sellars (1), Exelby (357), DiLauro, McRae, Nielsen, Dwyer, Ustrnul, Nikulin, Cartelli, Suderman, Sipotz, Levokari, Boldt, Oystrick, Flache, Manson, Vannelli, Sharrow, Coburn (38), Lehman (1), Lewis (1), Valabik (80), Zubarev, Denny, W. O’Neill, Kulda (4), Postma, Bogosian (133), Redmond, Sol, Chiarot, Stoykewych, McFaull and Melchiori.

Defensemen drafted by Thrashers listed under 6-feet
Enstrom (257)

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Blog Title:

Dudley Dumps Don’s Dumb Draft Decisions.

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League just lifted the blackout on Center Ice for all all non FSS and SS televised games.

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Very interesting research, Red Light. There is no accountability in the Thrashers Draft Department. Which I covered in my very own novel.

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