Tonight’s game vs Lightning isn’t a ‘must win’ for Thrashers, however…

I think Sage might be interested in seeing your spreadsheet.

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Here’s hoping that Dawes and Antropov don’t end up on the same line again! Those two did not mesh very well last October. Modin-Antro-Dawes and Modin-Slater-Dawes were unmitigated disasters for the mosts part. Hmmm, what is the common theme in these line combos? Okay, with Modin on the shelf, what are your line combos du jour? I’ll go with:

Ladd-Pevs-Bergy

Kane\Antro-Litts-Stewy

Boults-Antro\Corms-Stapes

Dawes-Cormier\Burmy-Thorbs

Time for Burmy to get some pressbox time with Bogey to gain some perspective and eat as much as he can at the buffet. I reckon the boy has lost 10 lbs of weight over the course of the season and he can no longer muscle other forwards off the puck or protect the biscuit like he did earlier in the year with a stronger body and fresher legs.

Oh, and I got yer spreadsheet right here! You dirty rascal!!

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I believe it is a must win situation . They need the confidence to be able to whip the Lighting A$$ or any teams.

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Got another break last night when FLA blew another 2-goal lead to Columbus. Red Light, you usually have some cool stats. How many 2-goal leads has Florida blown this year? They have to have lost at least 5 of them….Then again, we have to easily have the worst record in the league when scoring first.

Anthony Stewart needs to step it up. Every time I see him slacking and I call him out, he seems to do something!

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ThrasherTim
• The Panthers, Blackhawks and Sharks are tied with five blown leads this season resulting in losses.
• The team leading after 2 periods in each of the last five Panthers home games have blown the lead.
• 7 of the Panthers last 13 games have been decided in OT or SO and they’re 3-4 in those games. Their record is 6-3-4 in the last 13.
• Each of the Panthers last 6 games have been decided by one goal. In their last 13 games, 11 have been decided by one goal.
• The Panthers have blown leads in the 3rd period in each of their last 3 games after coming from behind to beat the Preds on 1/13.

Everyone else!
Since Kari Lehtonen’s last start for the Thrashers vs. the Lightning on April 11, 2009, Atlanta is 1-9 against their SE division rival. In the previous 11 games with Lehtonen in goal vs the Lightning, the Thrashers were 9-1-1 in their last 11 games. And, the Lightning have won four straight games at Philips Arena.

But, Pavelec hasn’t been the problem. He has started just 2 games vs the Lightning and is 0-0-2 with a 1.90 GAA and a.938 save percentage.

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To clarify, when leading after the second period, the Panthers, Blackhawks and Sharks are tied with five blown leads this season resulting in losses.

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Given the way things are around here, ANY home game is a must win. Have got to get the fans a reason to show up. The team started great, but absolutely cannot afford to slide now that football season is mostly done and the casual fans are starting to pay attention to the winter sports.

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Yikes…..three AHL guys and Modin in the lineup….Not exactly an encouraging or threatening lineup at all……we really need to make a move, even if Kane and Slater get healthy quick. I may just have to cover my eyes tonight, although I’ll be doing it at the Bulb……Go Thrashers!

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I want to see Dawes go toe to toe with St. Louis in a street brawl. That would be something…midget wrestling on ice b/w periods? Grudge match to settle the affair if OT isn’t enough??

Looks like Kane is not gonna be able to go tonite so guys like Antropov, Little, Bergy, Ladd and Stapleton?? need to step it up. The top two lines need to be much better and the Buff&Tobes show needs to win the advantage at ES. They have actually been on the ice for the most ESGA (5) while the likes of Modin, Bogosian, Slater, Thorburn and EAGER have scored our ES goals against the Bolts this year. Ugggh.

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Let us hope that the Thrashers can catch “Lightning in a Bottle” (since M St.L is small enough to put in a mason jar) and that our boys can “zap” Tampa Bay with their Hockey Sticks, shooting and overwhelming the bolts goalie with “Lightning Speed” to the point our boys call their sticks “Lightning Rods” – One thing that the people in Tampa bay may not know is that birds can fly through any “Lightning storm” and tonight would be a good time to “rise above the storm”
Ok I think I am “done” with the “abuse” of quotation marks! GO THRASHERS!

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Dawes = Krog

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Dawes is 10 years younger.

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Hmmmm…… a free Zach B. jersey with purchase of a ticket???? Am I getting traded?

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Stamkos is the key. Shut him down and we greatly increase our odds of winning. Someone needs to hit him very hard very early. Then let Burmistrov shadow (and antagonize) him for the rest of the game.

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“Lord…you there Lord? I’m not asking for much, but would it be possible to have Le Thrash just beat the ever living tar out of the Bolts tonight? Thank you and Amen.”

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Trixie my dear, I tripped the blog gremlin wire!! Please help at your convenience! Thanks!

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Smoothie… GM’s might see Bolland as a guy with Top 6 potential in another organization. Much like Ladd and Versteeg were depth players in Chicago… Filppula in Detroit… etc.

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As a show of good “luck”, I will go ahead and state, for the record, that we lose and look pitiful in the process.

(It worked last time, didn’t it?)

Of course, it goes almost without saying that I won’t be ‘directly’ subsidizing the incompetence of putting even a minisule portion of my money into Don Waddell’s undeserving pocket….I’ll try to catch some of it if on TV, if my schedule permits.

Oh, and Rawhide, I would love to analyze your spweadsheet…As an auditor by trade, I take a particularly keen interest in reviewing numbers…and when the indefensible is being defended…

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Ah, there’s the basement-dweller now

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Anyone notice that since the falcons got dropped Standec is no where to be found… Just sayin’

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A2B: I think Stendek has been banned from this and Viv’s blog. Reasons as to why he’s gone and Sage isn’t: Sage is a weenie who only posts after a loss, but he also doesn’t post barely-literate screeds of hatred along with spamming links to his conspiracy-theory-loaded wordpress blog. The degree of obnoxious there is a lot different, really.

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Trixie: Properly spelling the “S” word was?

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Kill the Midget!

Get that kid off the ice!

Does your mom know you are out this late?

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i dont know of anyplace that’ll serve a six-pack and a boiled potato around here, RL.

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Thanks Bill.

Johnnie McCracken’s Celtic Pub?

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I second McCracken’s

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Haha… how ironic… my trade is audit defense.

So, Sage’s job is to find reasons to attack something, and mine is to find reasons to defend. Sounds about right.

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Hollywould… I hear ya… my closet has Lehtonen, Kozlov and Kovy. I stopped putting numbers on my jersey’s. In fact, I haven’t worn a jersey all season.

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… I also have Vick and Duckett… almost bought Deangelo Hall (as a former Hokie). I decided, even as a Hokie, I hate that bastard.

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GaVaHokie – I believe I am responsible for your owning the Kovy jersey. Didn’t you go find it at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Kennesaw after I posted the deal they had? Sorry ’bout that if so.

BTW, I still have my #17 jersey in my closet. I broke it out for the Devils game in December. I had taped over the existing name and written “TEAM KILLER” on mine……

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Funny Tom, I might do that next time. lol

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Dang it Red Light. I am not surprised that you have number 12 signed. The “fake” Tom Lysiak should have one of those if anyone does…..

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RL, I don’t think there is such a thing as having visited too many Irish Pubs. But that is just my opinion.

I own 2 jerseys and both have the same name on them – Forsberg. Those will be the last jerseys I will ever buy.

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I guess I should preface my previous post by pointing out that according to TSN, Evgeni Nabakov is about to sign with Detroit. He’ll need to clear waivers to return to the NHL.

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Welcome to the Greek God line, Burmy! Let’s get another Boulton hat trick tonight!

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I remember that, Tom. I got myself a Kovy jersey at Dicks thanks to you, you son of a…nah just kidding. For $35 I’d even consider buying a “Crotchby” sweater.

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Some team other than Detroit will claim Nabokov off waivers before he ever steps foot in the Motor City.

What McKenzie is alluding to is this year’s cap hit. Because Detroit has long-term injury replacement cap room of $3.5 million (Datsyuk, Osgood and Modano among others), and a total of $8.8 million in cap space, they can make Nabby a great offer to join them for the balance of the season, which makes his waiver price unpalatable for most of those higher echelon teams that need a goalie, like the Flyers for instance!

Lets say they offer him $7 million, which prorated for the last 36 games of the year = roughly $3.073 million. Some teams would have to dump salaries to fit him in even with a waiver claim.

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I guess I was DEAD wrong. Here’s what Cap Geek just tweeted…

@capgeek. Deal still isn’t done, but $570,000 for the rest of the year is what I’m told. Pro-rated to about $250,000.

And, that means he most definitely will be claimed by some other team.

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The Wings, according to Dreger and Cap Geek, must save room for when Datsyuk comes off the LTIR list.

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Owen Nolan could be a good deadline addition for a team… he’s the kind of guy you want for a few months, healthy, and not for an entire season, struggling.

… still… I pass.

Red Light, I saw those numbers too. There’s no way he puts on a Red Wings jersey. Florida, Colorado, Chicago, Washington and even Atlanta would take him at that price.

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So, thought for the hour: Anyone see Atlanta placing a waiver claim on Nabby?

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I wonder if the Bolland thing might be part of a larger deal? He’s got a medium cap hit (3.75) so it would be a way for them to clear salary so they could get NHL talent back in a trade instead of just picks and prospects? There was that Seabrook rumor a little while ago but I doubt they would trade him though they may be forced to as he is looking at a raise of 1.5-2.5 million. People on the Chicago blogs seemed to thing that Hjalmarsson would be the one to be traded instead. Dud’s knows his guys there so IDWT.

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Then again its just a rumor but I think Dud’s would like to continue to deal with Chicago.

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Nabbys number in the KHL weren’t outstanding and he’s suppose to be bad in the locker room if that’s true I would doubt if Dud’s would pick him up. And then there’s Mason….

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No Bogosian, should equal a close win tonight !!!!

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anyways that is

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Just read that Little has tied Savard for the Thrasher’s all time scoring lead – with 63. Kind of shows how dire the past years have been and how many forwards have been moved in and out of here. Gotta say I was surprised that the AJC hasn’t done their homework as I believe Kovalchoke holds that distinction.

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What will it take for the Thrashers to start getting the calls. There were 3 penalties in the late 3rd period and the overtime that were blatant and ignored by the referees.

Miss one, sure, but 3. You got to be kidding me. Little was manhandled in the first 15 seconds of the overtime to the degree that everyone on the rink stopped skating waiting for the call.

Then, like what happened in Florida, they finally call a penalty in the last 10 seconds on the other team. Like that is going to make a difference.

Screw you refs. You cost us a point tonight.

I wish the league officials actually gave a damn about the on ice referees.

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HAHA Greetings, Atlanta, I am The Kiss and I have lived here my whole damnable life in this veritable trophy vacuum of a town. I am the smooch that sends your teams to defeat! Serving Atlanta metro customers since 1966! Nothing escapes me, no individual, no team. The Kiss has descended down onto the Thrasher nation from 30,000 feet, FRESH from visit to Athens to oversee the DEFEAT of the Bulldogs at the hands of a last second wish by the Volunteers. I blew a kiss for that one in myself. And did you enjoy your FALCONS??? Hahahaha! I AM THE KISS who lays waste to promising Atlanta and Athens teams to whom you pour your heart and guts of pseudo-allegience, year after year after stinking YEAR. I AM THE KISS, and I just planted a big kiss on…

YOUR ATLANTA THRASHERS!!! See ya soon “nice guys”!

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHA

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Can’t hold a lead = losses on most nights.

There is no excuse for not being able to hold a lead in NHL. Three times tonight!

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If there were 12000+ in that arena tonight I will kiss Ramer’s skinny butt!

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If we lose the rest of our games in OT, getting 1 point for the remaining games…Do we have a chance to get in the playoffs?…33 + 54 = 99 points! YAY!

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We had this game won. We let it slip away. Instead of the 4-point swing, it’s a 3-1 split, for Tampa Bay. I still don’t feel “doomed.” With all the injuries, we had a real chance at winning. Even in the shootout, Bryan Little got us up, 1-0. Pavelec couldn’t hold it. Still, Pavelec wasn’t horrible in the shootout.

At least I was sure Ramsay wasn’t going to tap Mannino on the shoulder … and tell him to go get his 2nd NHL win, and 1st as a Thrasher. I am encouraged by our team’s performance. This wasn’t some 7-2 pasting.

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I really want to be vulgar towards Kiss, but I am more educated than that. But Kiss, you can kiss IT!

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Smoothie, I thought Pavelec had a pretty good game. That first goal against, I’m still trying to figure out. Disappointing loss, however. It’s times like these … when even the most ardent shootout supporter has to feel like … this was a terrible way to lose a point and hand it to our opponent. It’s always GREAT, SUPER, FABULOUS when the shootout works the other way, right? Way to stick it to TB, if we’d won. I know the shootout isn’t going away. Maybe ever. But I still wish that there could be a 10-minute quick-n-dirty intermission to resurface the ice, then play 10-minutes of 4-on-4 hockey. It’s a team game. I’ve always felt that way. I also think games should be either won or lost, but it seems like, all too often, these 5-minute overtimes result in shootouts. I can plainly see that playoff-style overtime won’t work for the regular season. But I just think these shootouts should become more of a last resort than they already are, for deciding the outcome of a game. Adding 5-more minutes to the 4-on-4 overtime … for a total of ten minutes of overtime … just might reduce the need for these shootouts by a noteworthy percentage.

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6,500 max in the stands IMO

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Curses and kisses (of death, Tom), never rest…

I’ll be at Philips Friday night at 7:30 (the Hawks are always hard to kiss during the regular season but there’s always the early round playoff kiss), followed by another trip to Athens Saturday afternoon, but I’ll be back that evening for the Rangers game. THE KISS OF DEATH! Ladies and germs, 45 years and counting!

SMOOCHIES!! Enjoy paying for those season ticket!

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It’s rare that I’ll use the “bad bounces” excuse, but that was a horrendous pile of crap last night in Tampa’s favor. One goal scored off Stamkos’ butt, another that pinballed around in front and happened to bounce back to him, and refs who opted out of calling anything on the Lightning, no matter how flagrant it was.

I think of that game as a free point, honestly — with that much weight against us fate tried to give us a zero, and we ended up with one and nearly two. Good effort by the guys mostly, write it off and do the same thing against the Ranjerks and you’ll get the two you deserve.

On the plus side, referring to my prior analysis on page 1: this is also a free point because it’s against a team that has way more in the talent arena than we do, so we can’t reasonably expect to win this game. If we put this same effort out in the 25 games against teams that are our level or below, we will definitely win at least 20 of them, and that’s the 40 points we need to make 94 and lock up a playoff spot for sure.

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BTW, who’s the Thrashers dude that got out of the penalty box in the third and simply crossed the ice to get a replacement while the Lightning were starting a rush literally 15 feet from him?

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Apparently that’s Tolkien. Woopsie daisy.

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Chilean miners, Monks in a Monastery, and astronauts on the space station…..they all knew the Bolts would come out flying in the third period. Unfortunately the Boys in Blue were the only ones not knowing this. Seems a common occurrence this year is letting the opponent take control in the third period.

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disinfect rather, err typos galore

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Oh yeah, very nice effort last night. It definitely boosts my confidence. Shootout wins/losses they’re really neither in my book and a points good.

ZAv, I agree shootouts are good for the game. Let’s face it, a loss from a shootout is the same as it was before a shootout, which I like…you still get a point. It’s just good for the game, lots of people (long-term hockey nuts and newbies alike) need a definitive resolution and a shootout of course does this. I would also agree that 10 minutes would be a better amount of OT, but how taxing would that be, I do think that extra five minutes would have a negative effect. I’d imagine that a shadowing a hockey player for a week or two would make most of us pooped and I’m just talking about shadowing them not really participating.

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Thought we lost the game in the first when Roloson was flopping around and way out of position. We should have put more than one behind him. And then when he lost his stick we couldn’t hold the zone.

Also noticed too much dump and chase.

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“fAN” Good you were they for the game

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Red Light, your hard on for Buf is becoming a farce. The basic fact is if not for Buf’s heroics in the first half of this year literally stealing us wins, we’d be a bottom third club right now and falling fast. And no, it’s not some diminutive Swede who “allowed it all to happen”. Or did Enstrom standing around doing nothing in front of our net on both goals allow Buf to “hand it over” snort, to Stamkos? At least he’s competing for the puck and playing d in our zone as opposed to his soft partner standing there doing nothing (watch the replays).

Speaking of Buf, it’s quite apparent that all teams have scouted and now understand if you shut down Buf, you shut down the Thrashers. He’s getting double teamed everywhere and chased all over the PP. If the diminutive Swede were all that, Red Light, he’d be potting goals left and right in Ramsay’s system with all the space opposing clubs are giving him while draping all over his d pairing mate. Buf has been shut down lately and our record shows it. I’d like to see him paired with another threat (brought in via trade) and it looked like coach was mixing up the d pairings in the 3rd to get Buf some looks, it almost worked.

The NHL showed it’s Mickey Mouse league status once again last night with more crap officiating. To miss that call in OT on Little is atrocious. As Dan Kamal tweeted last night, they might as well roll the clock back to 2004 if you’re not going to call that. 2 minute 4 on 3 there and the 2 pts are ours and Tampa only gets one. Mickey Mouse 2nd class league until the NHL decides to get real from the league front office down to the refs.

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Tronna wants a number #1, they need a #1 to save face after the horrible Kessel trade. That will be the price for Versteeg, if we are willing to give it up. Arnott is old and washed up, like Niedermeyer in Buffalo. Pass unless Arnott is free.

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i was actually kind of intrigued by the thought of Connolly. I don’t think they’re willing to give up what Versteeg would cost and I don’t think they’ll go for someone as old as Arnott.

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GaVa-agreed get Versteeg!
Soma-next time we play Tampa, take one play and pu him on Stamkos, everywhere he goes. don’t let him breathe, negate his skills and presense.

we have to

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Soma-you also have the chance of negate Stamkos’ linemates too

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The NHL refs have become as corrupt as the NBA refs.

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“spew your rancid mouth feces in person”

I want to nominate this as most disgusting, yet funny and awesome sentence of the new year on this fair blog! Awesomeness.

And yes, I’d rather make Simon Gagne and his washed up a$$ beat us than let Stamkos roam free around our net. WTH? They didn’t even have the midget playing with Stammer last nite yet we still can’t stop him. Terrible. I love Toby to death and, contrary to Joe’s opinion, he’s been fantastic, but I have no earthly idea what he was doing on those two goals against last nite. And yes the NHL officiating has become a complete, unmitigated joke. They hardly ever call obstruction and interference anymore and it’s becoming way too easy for trapping teams like TBL to clutch and hold at the blueline and through the NZ. We should have won that game easily last nite as DWTOO mentioned, Roloson was extremely shaky and we didn’t jam home two wonderful opportunities in the first period on doorstep rebound chances. Soooo frustrating!

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Smoothie-Gagne was supposed to be Stevie “Y” masterful pickup in the off season. Nyet!

I like the idea of getting Versteeg and I have no issue giving a number one to get him. The future for this team is now, they do not have the luxery of waiting to draft another kid to bring him up too early or in 2-3 years. The size of the crowd at last night’s game should be an indicator that fans are getting weary of the situation. Versteeg and his ex-Hawk mates would get us over the top. Make the deal now and give up the whatever in the middle of 1st round pick we might have for player like Versteeg that can do alot NOW, today, next game not sometime in the future.

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I don’t know whether to be encouraged that we played a tight game with solid team play with key players out…or to be extremely ticked off that TB won a game in which we totally controlled play and they got 2 extremely fluky goals. I think the latter actually. 3 losses on home ice in a row does not help attendance issue.

We have I think, 6 OT/SO losses within the division and basically 1 SO win in the division only against FL earlier this week. Turn half of that around and we are right in the mix for the division. That’s the positive. The negative is continually not getting 2 points when we take leads to start the game and taking leads into the 3rd period.

By the way, Stewart was the worst guy on the ice last night by far, goal notwithstanding. Absolutely brutal getting pucks off the boards and out of the zone. He needs a fire under him badly.

Also, did anyone see the NHL on the FLY segment where Kevin Weekes kind of called Buff out on D and said he needs to get tougher in front of our net? I think we can settle down on the Norris Trophy talk at this point.

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“I like the idea of getting Versteeg and I have no issue giving a number one to get him. The future for this team is now, they do not have the luxery of waiting to draft another kid to bring him up too early or in 2-3 years. The size of the crowd at last night’s game should be an indicator that fans are getting weary of the situation”

WBF – I tend to agree with this. This team has enough speed, grit and character to be good for awhile. But we need more skill on the wing especially and Versteeg would be a good fit with his old Hawks’ mates. We don’t have enough players with a quick trigger and I don’t see how drafting b/w 15-20 is going to help us net that immediately. Versteeg’s career shooting percentage is over 12% so he’s not a fluke. And he’s only 24/25 so we’d have plenty of time to work out a LT deal.

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Smoothie-yeah he’s our guy and I think Duds knows the sense of urgency of getting a guy like Versteeg in here.

Tim-Stewart is on the top of my sh_t list, to me, the guy has little value half the time. He needs to be kicked in the buck too often. Atlanta is a second chance for him, he should appreciate where he has been enough that he does not need continual motivation. The guy is a monster, he should be body slamming the opposition. Defenseman should fear him baring down on them but that’s not the case. He has too many Todd White tendencies.

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“okay, no points since January 2nd. Unacceptable.”

that’s the point. Teams have figured out you shut down Buf and you shut down the Thrash. We’ve won only two games during this stretch that he’s been shut down and both against Florida 3-2 and one was that flukey one we scored twice with the goalie pulled. Why are clubs keying on Buf? Cause they’re not afraid of leaving Enstrom open, he’s not a game changer, Buf is.

We need a top line d partner for Buf that’s a threat and good in our zone, put Enstrom down on the 2nd pair where he doesn’t have to worry about defending against the other team’s top lines, and get us a forward in here, there should be plenty of cap space to make both moves.

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Joe F – Enstrom has bad games. Every D-man does. Is he the ideal Topo 2 d-man? Probably not, but he is hardly a “liability” in our D-zone. Do you not realize how many times he gets to loose pucks before the opposition forecheck ensuring that the biscuit keeps moving so we don’t get trapped? That’s as important as tying someone up in front of the net. The problem is that there are only 3 d-men on this team with the mentality of cutting the puck mover off at the wall by pinning him so the other d-man or C can swoop in and keep the puck moving: Enstrom, Meyer and Sopel. If our bigger d-man could actually figure out how to do this more consistently and use their body for leverage as well as Enstrom does, we would not be 2nd worst in the league in SA and GA. I don’t know why you refuse to admit how good Enstrom is at winning wall battles, using leverage to free pucks, absorb hits and keep the puck moving etc. Weekes is right about Buff. He needs to work harder in front of our net pushing guys around and tying up would-be rebound hawks rather than wait for the puck to appear and than bat it around aimlessly or try to scoop it up and move it out of harm’s way. How many times lately has he cost us or nearly cost us in OT by turning the puck over in front of his own net from overhandling. We’re willing to admit that Toby Enstrom is never going to be as dominant as he could be due to his size, but when are you going to concede that he is the best d-man on this roster and probably to have ever suited up for Atlanta…not that that says all that much!

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Not a bad game, just unfortunate. There has never been a player in the league that has not given up the puck at a bad moment. At least you got a point. I have said and will keep saying this, Thrashy is doing just fine. Worried about my Avs though, we just traded for “Flash” and he has been killing it but is now out for the season with pulmonary emboli, so yeah, clots in both lungs. Brutha is only 26, wish him well. So chalk that up to another addition to the league’s team with the most man-games lost, argh!

@Iron Lol, nice treatment of the troll, made my morning. And yeah, when I was playing in 4 leagues at the same time it was very tiring but damn was I in good shape and got better so much faster – it is true what they say about ice time and how important it is.

I kind of like the trolls. Gives me great pleasure to blast them.

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Smoothie, Buffy is the best move the Thrashers have ever made, Pavs is a close second. Though I could argue ditching Kovy was the best move too.

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Guys, Byfuglien is obviously playing hurt…Do you all not recall, on at least 2 occasions, when he slid awkwardly into the boards?? If this wasn’t his first ever NHL all-star game, I would say that he would sit it out. Unfortunately, for him and us, he can’t. Did you all see last night how he fell at least 3 times? Also, one time he fell while backchecking a guy, he sat on the ice for a good 5-10 seconds with a look of extreme discomfort. The curse of Thrasher players playing while hurt strikes again.

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“Guys, Byfuglien is obviously playing hurt…Do you all not recall, on at least 2 occasions, when he slid awkwardly into the boards??”

TrueBlue – I was saying the exact same thing to my buddy as we walked back to the car last nite after the game. I definitely think he’s been hampered by this groin tweak or hamstring strain that occurred from multiple awkward collisions into the boards. However, he probably should work on getting the puck to teammates for open shots rather than continue to fire indiscriminately at the net. 35 SOG in the last 7!

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“all along”?

I’m wondering why this is in quotation marks. “All along” you’ve been annoying with your useless rant about how privileged we are to pay for an inferior product year after year after year.

And year after year after year, I pay far below market prices to watch NHL hockey in the city of Atlanta. Not my fault our ownership sucks and won’t spend their money wisely. Instead, they invest $120 M on an aging jump-shooter who will become the next albatross around their neck in a matter of two years. Mark it down. So stop pointing the finger at hockey fans and start pointing it where it should be pointed: the ASG.

The same argument you make time and time again, on deaf ears by the way, about overpaying for an “inferior product” and “subsidizing incompetence” could be used in a lot of markets yet people keep going to games becasue IT’S ENTERTAINMENT!! If you don’t like it, fine. Go watch some movies or drop some coin on getting pleasured at a local spa for all I care, but why must you continue this tilting at windmills.

I could go to the Hawks blog and belittle them incessantly for paying to watch a team that is going to lose AGAIN in the 2nd round of the playoffs because they can’t beat Orlando or Miami in a 7-game series. But you know what? People are still going to go an watch basketball because they derive some degree of pleasure and entertainment from it. Are you over there doing the same thing? Probably not. Stop this childish message board vendetta against a guy who isn’t even making personnel decisions anymore…it’s just pathetic. Acutally, it’s not, it’s an illness because I feel no sympathy for you SOB.

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It’s not Enstrom’s responsibility to win games for us Joe. If the forwards can’t step up and score more, then we’re screwed. Enstrom is the “stay at home” / set-up D-man. What is so hard to understand about that? Guess who has 11 points in the last 10 games by the way? He’s doing his part. And he has 2 G and 4 A in the 4 games we’ve won during that stretch. I don’t think Enstrom is the problem. It’s the fact our forwards aren’t good enough to score more when the chips are down.

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Joe Friday-I think we are all a bit surly right now, mostly because we have not seen a good Thrashers effort for 60 minutes in the month of January. Buff and Toby’s names come up, but frankly I can’t think of any Thrasher that has played really well the past few weeks. In general, what we are looking for is the same Thrasher team we saw in November and December. Now it is up to the coaches and captains to make that happen. With all the issues, I still believe we have lost any physical edge we had, the fore-check is non-existent and we cannot get the puck out of our end on a consistent basis.

I think trades for established players are going to be hard to come by. The deadline will consist of moving unwanted players in the last year of their contracts-rentals. Several of us agree on the value of Versteeg, but it Tronna really going to give him up now? If they do, they are signaling the end of their season before Feb 1. In their case, if they slip it just means Boston will have 2 higher draft picks in June. I am sure Dudley is looking, but so is every other GM since most teams are still in the hunt. I thought Buffalo would have a sell off at the deadline, but they looking more and more like a playoff team. More buyers and fewer sells means the price to improve will be steep.

Based on current conditions, I’d say the answers lie from within.

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“Buf is the catalyst on the team, not Enstrom. Enstrom’s been here all along and our d has sucked”

I don’t think we’re arguing the same thing. I’m not trying to dispute that Buff is the catalyst of our offense. But that has become the problem. What you are refusing to concede is that it is not Enstrom’s job to pick up the slack entirely, although he has done a pretty decent job during a rough ten games (one of the few bright spots IMO). For every goal that Byfuglien has, there are probably 2 instances per goal that Enstrom has saved Buff’s butt for a bad pinch and broken up a 2 on 1 or a potential odd-man rush. Enstrom can’t be as offensive minded as he’d like because Buff is still making risky plays even though he is a) hurt and not as effective and b) slumping and refusing to pass.

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@ All Rawhiders: We was robbed. The refs blew it for us. But as I told McGrath Jr., who was snivling how unfair that game was as he headed off to slumber, “what can you do about it–what’s done is done–at least we got a point.”
TrueBlue- You’re spot-on, Buff has a lower-body injury which is preventing him from getting off his shot. His shoot-a-bility has deminished since his first spill into the boards.
SOB-Rome is indeed burning and we need a firetruck RIGHT FREAKING NOW. We can’t wait until Feb. 28, or we’ll be in 9th, 10th or 11th spot. We need a good, big tough scoring power winger and a big, mobile defenseman. But we’ll probably only get a forward. I watched a lot of Preds games last year (I’m in there market) and he’s a gamer, but we need speed and toughness that can score. I’d take Verteeg. And if I were Duds and I was on the phone with Burke, I’d ask for Kaberle…I’d mortgage the farm for both. IMHO, with those two guys, we would have a better chance of making playoffs and would probably go deep.
Speaking of defensemen, all y’all who know more about hockey tactics than me may disagree, and I’m not seeing the games live so I don’t get a lot of the action behind the scenes, but I think our D pairings last night were very admirable. Sopes was a awesome–I don’t know if he can hold up on 2nd pairing the rest of the season, but he and Johnny O looked extremely comfy together. Meyer should stay dressed, he is better than Bogo…for now. But if Kaberle were our second D man—wow.

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Smoothie, Enstrom is WELL above the average for goals and assists. His points are almost 27 more than the average D-man, topped only by, wait for it………….Buffy. He is killing it this year. I can’t find any stats, also don’t have the time, on how often the Thrash win when he scores.

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I disagree with the post about “Rome is Burning”. I think Duds and Rammer had chalked up the late fade in December due to the rigorous schedule. Then we won our next 2 games as the New Year turned in Montreal and at Panters – two road wins. Not until the brutal Toronto game and the games against Philly and Dallas (two great teams as it looks now) did we start the really think things were a problem. Granted, not many regulation wins or any wins at all lately, but hanging in there despite lots of line-up changes and guys banged up.

Don’t get me wrong, none of the trends are good – PK is trending down, Man Games Lost to Injury are Trending Up, Goals Scored Per Game Trending Down. Place in standings trending down. I just don’t think some of what everyone here is asking for is realistic. There are too many teams in the mix for the same things and we don’t have a lot to give up right now. Now, if we lose at home to a depleted NYR team Sat. night and lose in reg again to TB Sunday…all bets are off.

We played a solid game last night despite not getting it done. NYR and Montreal are really banged up and have tough schedules while ours (on paper) gets really favorable in Feb. I just don’t think Rome is burning…just smoldering.

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Speaking of another phenom, how bout Smoothie? Your stats are amazing. Your like Mr. Wizard. I mean that in the nicest of ways.

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Iron League (aka former artist known as razorneck) – thanks for the kudos. Just trying to add to the discussion and do my best to prove to Joe that Toby is one of the best in the world, not just the NHL.

Pound for pound, he has to be the best d-man in the world for sure. I’m always amazed at how good his balance is and how good he is at using his strong legs to win battles. His awareness and IQ are off the charts and his stick is extremely quick even though it’s probably taller than he is!! Anyway, it’s nice to see Toby get the ASG recognition of his peers for being so very good at what he does. I’m doing another comparison Iron League that will blow your mind! Not really, but it just speaks to how valuable that pairing is to our fortunes.

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The Atlanta Thrashers were by far the better team on the ice last night – the entire game. They lost. Get over it.

The “tension” is in the blogs and not in the locker room. Don’t give in to the hockey clueless SOB.

I can not believe there is actual talk about the Atlanta Thrashers’ two All-Star Defensemen. Let me say that again… Atlanta Thrashers’ two All-Star Defensemen. When has Atlanta ever sent a D-man to the All-Star game? Both of them would get top line minutes on any team in the NHL right now – even Chicago.

Weekes was trying to make a point about Buff having more fire around his net. That may be true, but his analysis was off on last night’s two Stamkos’ goals. Both were flukes. He’s a great player. He makes stuff happen. Buff is physical in his own end and shows that fire. Did everyone miss the play where he threw St. Louis off the puck like a rag doll? Toby does not have to be physical. He’s Lidstrom Light and the smartest guy on the ice.

The Thrashers played a great game last night. Every one of them. They played their system to a T, scored a beautiful PP goal – with an assist from Sopel! – and killed off Tampa’s numerous and lethal PP chances. They were blocking shots – did everyone miss Sopel’s on a knee slide across the ice to block a PP shot? They were dumping the puck in deep to break Tampa’s horribly boring 4 and 5 man neutral zone trap. They cycled and controlled the puck deep in the zone. Burmistrov had his best game in weeks centering Thorburn and Boulton – Greek Gods Light. Dawes, Stapleton, and Meyer all hustled up and down the ice and played great filling in. Cormier looked good on left wing. Bergfors – committed to play Ramsay’s game. Hainsey – stellar.

The Atlanta Thrashers are not very far off from where they were in November. In fact, last night they were as good if not better. Lighten-up folks the “tension” is starting to get to you!

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“When has Atlanta ever sent a D-man to the All-Star game?”

The first time was our first year, Petr Buzek….Learn your history, please…

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Holy Guacamole…just when you think the ASG is getting it together, comes this story in the AJC by Chris that the “owners” (again that term is used very loosely here) have been trying to sell the Thrash since 2005!! All those denials about not wanting to sell the team sure ring hollow today, don’t they?

And now ASG expect us to support this franchise? I’ve got tix for the Rangers game tomorrow, but I don’t know if I’ll be going again at this point given the absolute failure to support this team from ownership, i.e. extensions for Buff, Ladd etc, getting another top 6 forward or D-Man and the flat out lying from ownership.

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Sage, read thoroughly and you’ll notice that I softened up on that in another post.

Tell you what though if you wanna step on my toes before reading, go ahead. I’m hungry and I’m not doing much. Plus you seem momentarily ostentatious and full of unwarranted gusto. Wanna go?

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“…And now ASG expect us to support this franchise?…”

Indeed. I suggest all of the sheep around here read that story on the front page of the AJC very, very carefully.

(and still you put your hard-earned dollar into their uncaring pocket?! There IS a word for that…but you wouldn’t like it….)

Oh my goodness, the extolling of lil’ Toby as having hall of fame potential continues…There IS a word for that, too…It’s pretty similar to the former…

Silly sheep….Do you feel at all foolish? You should.

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when I’m gone rather.

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SOB – I think I found your the name of your organization – Don & Octocluster Unify to Conspire for Hapless performance while Engaging in a Bickering Atlanta-spirit Group .
What does that spell? DOUCHEBAG. Perfect place for a SOB like you to troll in.

And this tension you keep referring to is only felt by you, the tension between your legs that wonder where your johnson should be. Only someone with a stifled manhood would drive the same argument OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

Until you have something, anything new to bring to the table why don’t you start your own “Anti-fan” blog and hold meetings where you and your 2 followers can sit around and cast your wild conspiracy theories and subsidize your incompetence and complete inability to ever be on topic in these blogs – for crying out loud I may get away from topic at hand but you don’t see me insulting anyone and everyone when going “off the grid”

Canada called. They’re waiting on you with open arms. Fly away, little bird. Join the rest of the flock of boo birds who refuse to let stupid things go. I hear Winnipeg could use more folks like you.

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Well, sidetracked by Mommy’s music, playground tomorrow.

Rawhide, thanks for the warning.

Soma, I like the attitude, reminds me of my playing days.

Maybe I’ll eat a Sage rubbed troll on another blog, I’m sure of it.

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I agree with Smoothie on Enstrom.

I am not sure why anyone is concerned with this new “revelation” by the owners. Why would we be surprised? It’s a lawsuit, so they are saying whatever they can to try and win back some $$ because they are idiots and don’t want to take responsibility for their ridiculous ownership group. It does make you wonder why they bother to write letters to fans though. We don’t believe them.

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