After shootout victory Thrashers embark on last road trip of season
Here are just a few random, passing thoughts that I have following Sunday’s 5-4 shootout win over the Ottawa Senators. I’ll just toss them out there for you and you may deal with them as you may…add yours if you’d like
First off, I would seriously like to know just what it is with the Thrashers and 2-goal leads. Yesterday Atlanta held leads of 3-1 and 4-2, but the Senators were still able to drag them past regulation anyway.
By my count, yesterday was the fifth straight time they’ve fail to properly care for that kind of advantage when they’ve had it. Twice they’ve lost in regulation, the other three they’ve won, but required overtime or a shootout.
Thrashers captain Andrew Ladd, seen here in action against Vancouver last Friday, says his team needs to learn how to play with the lead (Photo Michelle Rivers)
At least this time was one of those that we were able to celebrate a victory…and we in Thrasherville have come to know all too well that when it comes to this team and wins, you get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit.
To that point, Thrashers captain Andrew Ladd opined after the game. “It’s still frustrating to give up a two-goal lead in the third. At some point we have to learn to play with the lead and not give up two goals.
“But we wanted two points and we got them.”
It was the 27th time the Thrashers have played beyond the scheduled 60 minutes during a game. That’s greater than one-third of the 75 games played so far. Atlanta has won 15 of those games, five in a shootout.
Just what does that mean in the big scheme of things? Well, consider this…the Thrashers have now netted 76 points for the season, or a points winning percentage of .507%.
However, given that their opponents have won 31 times in regulation, 12 times in OT and15 times have force overtime before losing to us…that means they’ve collectively skated away with 101 of a possible 150 points so far this season. That’s a “points losing” percentage of .673.
In the second half of the season alone, Atlanta has allowed the opposition 52 of the possible 68 points, or a points losing percentage of .765%.
In earning points 75 and 76 this year, coach Craig Ramsay has now match the total points total of John Anderson in his first season behind the bench. He now has seven games left in which to try and equal the 83 Anderson coached the Thrashers to in his last season here.
If you wish to go back to the first full season Bob Hartley coached here, which was 2003-04, he was able to coach the team to 74 points. However, he had a little more than half a season the year prior after he was hired on. Also, they didn’t have the benefit of shootouts to determine the outcome of games back then.
If you want a more “apples to apples” comparison, if you remove the 5 gimmick points awarded for shootout wins, the Thrashers would have 71 points right now if they played under the same rules as prior to the lockout.
After celebrating their shootout win over the Ottawa Senators, the Thrashers will now take off on a five-game road trip. It will be their last games away from home this season (AP Photo/John Amis)
In allowing four goals to Ottawa Sunday, Atlanta has now given up a total of 246 for the season. That’s 10 off of last year’s 256. The season before that they gave up 280.
They’ve scored 210 goals so far…and will need 24 goals in the last seven games to match the 234 scored a year ago. They produced 257 goals during the 2008-09 campaign.
With their -36 goals for/goals against numbers, it looks like the Thrashers will not continue the downward trend of that stat over the last couple of seasons. During the dable that was the 2007-08 season in which they allowed 56 more goals than they scored, the GF/GA deficit was cut to -23 and -22 in the past two years.
The 28 shots allowed to the Sens marked the seventh consecutive game in which they’ve held their opponent to fewer than 30 SOG. Just prior to that streak they gave up exactly 30 to New Jersey. In fact, since the All Star game the defense has allowed the opposition 30 or fewer shots 15 times in 23 games played.
Their record is 8-12-3 during that time.
The Thrashers will now embark on a five game road trip before closing out the season with two home games. During their travels, they will take on five teams that all currently hold on to a playoff position.
Montreal and the New York Rangers each have 87 points and have the sixth and seventh spots in the Eastern Conference. Boston recently clinched a spot and lead the Northeast Division with 94 points. Nashville’s 92 points puts them in sixth place out west while the Flyers own the east’s top spot with 100.
While they won’t be able to knock any one of those teams out of the playoffs during this year’s ‘Spring Spoiler Tour’, the Thrashers will at least have a chance to help bump them down a peg ot two.
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76 comments Add your comment
moriler
March 28th, 2011
12:01 pm
CHARTREUSE
World Be Free
March 28th, 2011
12:09 pm
Another season without playoffs-just like being a Bills’ fan.
One of the reasons I have been hard on Ramsay the second half of the season, is his team’s inability to protect a lead regardless of the strength of the opponent-we can fail against the worst of them. This is basic hockey, drop at least one forward back to ensure you have NO odd man rushes against your team. Watch the elite teams protect a lead and you can see it can be done.
Get a center that can win faceoffs
Big and Little
March 28th, 2011
12:16 pm
Hey what do you mean “last road trip of the season”? The “Miracle Run Has Begun” started yesterday afternoon. We will win every game the rest of the season and scrape into 8th place. There is no confidence around here and that is the problem!
LAC
March 28th, 2011
12:20 pm
WBF is right, holding leads is a BIG problem, look at yesterday.
Need a NHL Quality Goalie and two Defensive defensemen, and about 6 guys who can put the puck in the net on a regular basis. Lastly get RID of little zach, he will never learn !
World Be Free
March 28th, 2011
12:21 pm
How about bringing back Marty Reasoner? Just a thought….
Montreal tomorrow night and the media is starting to call the Habs “gutless”. Thanks media, for stoking up the Habs just as our plane touches ground!
World Be Free
March 28th, 2011
12:28 pm
LAC-embarrassing that this team has developed one goaltender in 11 seasons-Pavs. The Preds could outfit an entire conference with the goaltenders they have developed.
TableHockey
March 28th, 2011
12:36 pm
I suspect we get mathematically eliminated on 4/2 vs the Bruins – let the Death Watch begin. I need to dig up my pre-season projections here on the blog to confirm but I think I’m pretty close though I thought we were going to be in the lottery pick which seems unlikely now.
I do hope we can get Ladd signed – wasn’t too long ago Chris Viv was reporting that they were close. Would be nice to keep a captain for a second season for once.
oh well
March 28th, 2011
12:41 pm
Wait! The Falcons blow a four TD lead in the fourth quarter then kick a FG to defeat the Detroit Lions at the Georgia Dome. Am I happy about win? Yes. Such a performance does however have the feel of a loss. Like 4-2 lead on home ice in dying stages of third period. Only to be forced to salvage SO triumph. Doubt any Thrasher followers will/can understand that comparison but I tried.
michael
March 28th, 2011
12:41 pm
I still don’t understand why we traded sopel. He lead the team in blocked shots and was willing to pay the price down low.
World Be Free
March 28th, 2011
12:55 pm
michael-right on, I was hoping he would resign at the end of the season as well
Smoothie
March 28th, 2011
1:00 pm
Hey, that Slater guy is pretty good at winning face-offs…oh, darn.
Bill – great job with the numbers but for a more meaningful comparison, I think you need to adjust out S/O goals AND empty netters. We’ve lost far more 1-goal games this year than under JA in either of his two seasons. We had more “big” games last year offensively where as we’ve seen the team lose a lot of heart-breakingly close games where they lost in OT or couldn’t get the equalizer at the end. Seriously, 13 empty netters and counting. Take that number off the team plus/minus and it’s a respectable -12 at even strength. I’d say the PP going belly up has been a bigger problem than our ES play, but it’s close.
Smoothie
March 28th, 2011
1:03 pm
Take it from me, via a guy who lived next door to Sopes during the season, he was NOT going to re-sign here regardless of how the season turned out. He was one and done.
TrueBlue
March 28th, 2011
1:04 pm
Anyone else wish that the Thrashers would get a 2 point lead and then just play hard core defense the rest of the game like almost every team in the league does? I blame these blown leads on Ramsays’ “go go go” offense. If you go up by two, time to set the “trap”. Who cares if it’s boring. It wins games. Look at how many games ATL went down by a goal and the other team went into survival mode and just played to win…Bad coaching.
Alan R.
March 28th, 2011
1:07 pm
We traded Sopel because we knew he wasn’t going to re-sign. His family is in Chicago, and I hope they sign him.
Really didn’t think it was that hard to see…
TrueBlue
March 28th, 2011
1:14 pm
Sopel was terrible…why does anyone miss him?
40yrs
March 28th, 2011
1:20 pm
If Bogo keeps his stick on the ice Ottawa never scores that third goal.
Alan R.
March 28th, 2011
1:21 pm
Sopel wasn’t terrible. However, Hainsey had the most blocked shots on the team when Sopel was traded.
Smoothie
March 28th, 2011
1:23 pm
Sad thing is we were trapping late in the game. But we got caught too deep at the end of that last PP, after several good chances to score, and the poor transition gave Spezza too much time and space to make a play. On the last goal, Kaner and Thorbs were lazy attacking the points and then Kaner and Schremp (I think) failed to clear the puck along the boards when they had near full posession. Protecting 1-goal leads comes down to wall play and battling in the corners, and we faded again after dominating those two facets most of the game. Conditioning? Seems hard to believe at this point, but Barry Brennan was criticized for not having the CBJ’s in good enough shape at the end of the season. I find that hard to believe for this young team; it’s more likely a matter of mental strain and playing not to lose.
Smoothie
March 28th, 2011
1:25 pm
Sopel wasn’t “terrible” and he was a close second to Hainsey in BS before he was traded. They made a good cerebral pair who used smarts and savvy to make up for a lack of mobility (Sopel) and strength (Hains). Wouldn’t it be nice to get us a legit top 2 D-man so we can roll out Buff/UFA, Toby/Zach or Oduya and Hains/Stuart??
TrueBlue
March 28th, 2011
1:30 pm
Meh…Sopel did nothing for me. He didn’t have the speed to be effective…He got in the way of shots…Okay…Not hard to stand in the way (though it’s pretty damn brave)…He showed very little offensive ability (yes, I get he is a defensive-defensemen) and his skills did not translate to this team.
Speaking of Sopel…Anyone know why he has only played 7 games with Montreal? I feel like he has been gone a whole lot longer then only 7 games…
Smoothie
March 28th, 2011
1:40 pm
He got hurt. Sopel & Hainsey really weren’t asked to contribute offensively. They kept the puck out of our net. Before Sopes & Hainsey were broken apart, they only yielded 28 ESGA in roughly 50 games. They both had a +/- up around 7 or 8. After Toby got hurt, things started to slide as the pairings got jumbled up and Bogey was given more minutes. Since then Hainsey has stepped up the offense and his +/- is still around 6 or 7. But without Sopes, he’s been on the ice for ESGA about 16 times in 25 games. With Sopes, 28 in 50 (.56) and without, 16 in 25 (.64). As it has been all year, the 2nd pairing has been our downfall.
Brendan
March 28th, 2011
1:46 pm
Rawhide, that was another great blog. I’ve been looking at the possible Thrashers points totals ever since we got stuck on 60-points, mired in a 30-game stretch of season where the team won on a .333 clip. The 76-points in 2008 and 2009 have now been equaled, in a season where the Thrashers never had the services of one Ilya Kovalchuk. The goal production has been down because of that. Lest we average 4 goals a game, for the rest of the season. Last year’s 83-points is actually in reach, but it’ll take a good road trip to make that happen.
Nobody in our AJC.com contest picked 82-points, out of more than 80 guesses, believe it or not. If it winds up 82-points, we’ll have to go to the Division rank and Conference rank tie-breakers to determine our winner(s) this year, Rawhide.
d
March 28th, 2011
1:49 pm
Great values at Thrashers game. Yesterday we pulled into our “usual” parking lot – the state bar of georgia building one block south of blueland. At first the attendant was going to charge us $15 – but he forgot this was a Thrashers game and not the Hawks – so the price to park was only $8. The attendant tells us they “take what ever they can get for a Thrashers game”.
Given we were without tickets, we find a couple of scalpers on the street. The second broker to approach us said “I will take any offer”. So we bought 3 tickets in 113 Row T for just $40 total – $13 per ticket – that had a face value of $78.
Of course I then spent $10 for a diet coke and pretzel…
World Be Free
March 28th, 2011
1:50 pm
Agreed, Sopel was NOT terrible and it was wishful thinking on my part that we could resign him after this season. Seems to be a common theme for most of the players (not all) that have the option of staying here or moving on.
KLS1
March 28th, 2011
1:59 pm
Hainsey definitely has the most blocked shots into our own net if anyone is counting.
Give me a break…blocked shots? This team has much more to worry about than whether Sopel stood in front of more shots than Hainsey.
Trade Bogosian for a good forward and bring up Kulda and Postma. Or trade Kulda and Postma and get a forward who can score. We have all these alleged assets but they somehow never make the team, we bring up Stapleton?
Red Light
March 28th, 2011
2:04 pm
WBF:
I have found only a few instances in which a quality veteran, unrestricted free agent that was previously acquired in a trade chose to stay with the team long term…Slava Kozlov and Chris Thorburn (Shean Donovan & Andreas Karlsson if you’d like). I am sure there are others but few worth mentioning.
Did you know the Thrashers claimed D Stephane Robidas from Montreal in the 2002 NHL Waiver Draft and then dealt him to Dallas for a sixth-round pick (Mike Hamilton)? Robidas has played 600 NHL games since; Hamilton = 0.
Rawhide
March 28th, 2011
2:14 pm
Gwinnett Fred – From your post in the previous blog…it was nice to have met you too.
Big and Little – Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Even if they did, we’d need the Habs and Rangers to earn no more than 2 points and/or the Sabres to earn no more than 4. And that assumes Carolina nor Toronto get to 90 either. They have 80 and 78 repectively.
Brendan – If I’m not mistaken, by preseason prediction was 88 points. They would have to go 6-1 to get that mark. I think the official statistical term for the odds of that happening is…
Notgonnahappennowayinhell.
R. Stroz
March 28th, 2011
2:18 pm
I’m pulling for Jethro in the points contest.
EA
March 28th, 2011
2:26 pm
Sopel has made some real crappy remarks about Atlanta to the Montreal media. In one of them he used “y’all” to make a sarcastic point. This is coming from a guy who can’t spell. Have you ever read his twitter?
Big and Little
March 28th, 2011
2:50 pm
Rawhide: Helllloooo, that’s why they call it a “miracle”. What else do we have other than hope!
Rawhide
March 28th, 2011
3:12 pm
Big and Little – LOL
OK, OK….I gotcha!
I’m with ya, brothah…here’s to hoping!
james c.
March 28th, 2011
3:15 pm
Dear New Potential Owner(s),
1.Please promote this team positively in our community going forward with its young nucleus of talent.Atlanta can be a great hockey town…witness several recent crowds of over 16,000.
2.Sign some solid defensemen to protect our two goal leads.
3.Ditch those dark red jerseys!
SportsFan
March 28th, 2011
3:25 pm
I know Kincade keeps chirping about this “Balkan” as a potential owner…so where is he or it is a ruse? Don’t you find it is rather quiet on the ownership front? I know the Coyotes deal is taking all the pub, but when that settles (if it ever does), the heat goes back on ATL…just sayin’.
james c.
March 28th, 2011
3:29 pm
There has been very little news on the ownership front.Hope there is some good news.Does anyone know how many season ticket subscribers the Thrashers currently have? 2011-2012 tickets are now on sale so I assume that should put the done deal to Winnipeg rumors to bed for a while.I can’t see the NHL letting a market as large as Atlanta fall by the wayside.Phoenix as well but the Goldwater group certainly seems to have screwed that deal up for now unless the NHL steps in and guarantees the bonds instead of Glendale,Arizona.
Zombie Steve
March 28th, 2011
3:31 pm
Sopel has joined the proud group of the one-hit-wonder Thrashers; he’s chillin’ with McArthur and Schubert right now.
SportsFan
March 28th, 2011
3:33 pm
I have no idea on ST holders. I know that I don’t see the political will that AZ is showing to keep the Thrashers should no owners present themselves. I know ASG wants to ride themselves of the Thrashers, and need a local owner willing to take them and not have the extra benefit of having an arena for revenue as well. Unless they take the whole package, but I didn’t think that was an option, or even a package someone wants.
PensFan
March 28th, 2011
3:45 pm
Good to know D. I thought I had some deals at prior Thrashers-Pens game, but yours is great. 13 bucks each for 78 dollar tickets. nice. Maybe the Pens game being the last one will not bring enough Pens fans to lessen the bargains. Last time, I paid half price for some 5th row from midice seats a little towards the vistors attack zone. Unfortunately for me, the pens laid an egg. This was two winters ago.
Flagstaff
March 28th, 2011
3:51 pm
I’ll be there supporting them in Boston!
Terrible (albeit somewhat expected) news about Jim. He’s my favorite player… and I hope to God he’s back next season!
Dwayne
March 28th, 2011
3:56 pm
Any group of Thrasher fans going to Nashville on the 5th of April?
World Be Free
March 28th, 2011
4:03 pm
Zombie Steve-throw Max in there too!
World Be Free
March 28th, 2011
4:07 pm
Red Light-it just seems that more of our UFAs head for the hills than other teams. Images of atlanta are not enhanced by MacArthur, I think Slava enjoyed being out of the limelight in ATL. Robidas-thanks for tossing that 5 # bag of salt into the never-healing wound. Just wonder how good we would be if we could have corrected half our obvious blunders.
Red Light
March 28th, 2011
4:10 pm
“Just wonder how good we would be if we could have corrected half our obvious blunders.”
Just ask our opponents!
Back from NJ
March 28th, 2011
4:15 pm
I wondered about the “Balkan” thing. I was sitting behind a gentlemen at Sunday’s game with a towel with “Reveal the Balkan” or something to that affect.
Back from NJ
March 28th, 2011
4:23 pm
Ooops. “effect”
hockeygoon79
March 28th, 2011
4:32 pm
Yesteday’s win goes in the “too little too late” column. But how good was it to see Maxwell “house” the puck into the net for his first goal.
World Be Free
March 28th, 2011
4:49 pm
Do we want to finish strrog or do we want to limp in with the chances of getting a higher pick? Can’t wait to hear the responses on this one…..
jimbo
March 28th, 2011
4:50 pm
Rawhide- your presentation of the numbers reinforces the the total folly of Clueless Craig’s strategy of a wide open game. On numerous times, he said that our overall team speed would carry the day. In the last couple of months as others tightened up preparing for a playoff run, he opened up our offense. What did it produce? Very very little. We end up with one of the most porous defenses in the NHL (only Colorado is worse) and we end up with an unbelievable three month skid that has us on the sidelines at playoff time. He has shown no ability to motivate, adjust strategies or stop the free fall. He has failed miserably which means that according to Waddell Wisdom, he’ll be rewarded with a long term extension. What UFA would want to join this zoo?
litz
March 28th, 2011
4:58 pm
“I wondered about the “Balkan” thing. I was sitting behind a gentlemen at Sunday’s game with a towel with “Reveal the Balkan” or something to that affect.”
I can see it now … 5 minutes left before the last game of the season, and improbably, if we win, we make the #8 slot.
Video plays to rile the fans up, and the last line is “Release the Balkan!”
DWTOO
March 28th, 2011
5:01 pm
C Viv’s blog brings up the topic of playing hard to the end. Doubt that many on the bubble (think Stewart, Shremp, et al) would tank it for a draft pick. Some of these guys, like Shremp, are probably auditioning for next year. Hopefully somescouts are paying minor attention to Stewart so he’s gone next year.
Chuck
March 28th, 2011
5:29 pm
Looks like an uphill climb for the Thrashers now, after that loss to Vancouver. Need a big collapse by Buffalo and sweep the rest of the games. I hope chef Ramsey, I mean coach Ramsey, will “grill” his players not to give up to the bitter end…
tonyb
March 28th, 2011
5:29 pm
Your not going to hear a lot of stuff on ownership change. Parties keep that stuff hush, hush. One, there are non disclosure agreements signed to put a gag on each party. NHL and ASG will play everything close to the vest, as yes indeed, they want to sell tickets for next year.
When Arthur Blank bought the Falcons, no one new the deal was even in the works until it was announced. We may get info if a party goes into an exclusive negotiation period with the ASG, but even that may remain quiet. One day we will get a headline, and hopefully it will be that the team has been sold to local buyers, and all is well.
Red Light
March 28th, 2011
5:35 pm
Imagine if this five-game road trip actually had come when there was something at stake. At Montreal, at Philadelphia, at Boston, at Nashville and at New York Rangers. How confident would you have been if this team was within four points of Buffalo, rather nine points behind?
Five points by Buffalo, including just one win, eliminates Atlanta.
Right on
March 28th, 2011
5:42 pm
I agree, ditch the red jersey’s
Chuck
March 28th, 2011
5:49 pm
Montreal hasn’t scored a goal in 3 games and the media is torching their butts just as the Thrashers roll in. Not good for the Thrashers. Meanwhile, Buffalo is cruising into useless Leafs territory, also not good for the Thrashers. The worst thing that could happen is for the Thrashers to wind up in 9th place, out of the playoffs and then rewarded with the worst draft pick out of the non-playoff teams.
Brendan
March 28th, 2011
6:07 pm
Chuck, I agree in principal. But any team that holds pick # 12, # 13, or # 14 has something to deal … if someone up in the 20’s wants to move down. Let’s say they’ve got pick # 39. Moving from # 14 back to # 22, to go get # 39, might not be so bad, assuming there’s absolutely no one of noteworthy value at # 12, or # 13, or # 14., etc. Or, better still, move pick # 12 in the draft … for a Top six forward or a 2-3 defender, with years left on his deal. Atlanta doesn’t really know how to properly develop talent, so this might actually be the best Thrasher fans can hope for, in terms of a draft.
Red Light, are you serious? Atlanta once owned the rights to Stephane Robidas?
Brendan
March 28th, 2011
6:08 pm
Every time I see Chris Kunitz, Red Light, I think about how we once had him within our fold. Bygones.
Red Light
March 28th, 2011
6:21 pm
I am serious Brendan. Oct. 4, 2002.
Yeah, it’s funny that the Habs torch the Wild for eight goals last weekend and then get shutout in three straight games, and have gone scoreless for 186 minutes and five seconds. They have been shutout nine times this season, also a new record for the franchise.
Big Time Suzie
March 28th, 2011
6:22 pm
Hey ya’ll. first time commenting here. I really hope we dont get new owners and I hope Wadell stays also. They really have improved the team so much! We are moving in the right direction! It’s just like in lord of the rings when Aragorn said “there is always hope” and when Gandolf said “is it secret, is it safe” We just need an NFL player or two to tryout for the thrashers like Ocho Cinco is trying out for mls team.
glovesave29
March 28th, 2011
6:27 pm
RO – reds are already gone for next season
Tom Lysiak
March 28th, 2011
8:25 pm
It is amazing to me that as anemic as our offense has been at times this year….we lead the league in fewest times shut out this year. Once.
Toronto leads the league in being shut out 11 times and Washington has been shut out 10 times.
We are 17th in the league with a 2.73 GF. Washington is 20th in the league with a 2.64 GF. Toronto is 23rd in the league with a 2.59 GF.
KLS1
March 28th, 2011
9:11 pm
3 things needed…
Ditch the red jerseys.
Pray for a new owner.
Have the patience of Abe.
Brendan
March 28th, 2011
10:32 pm
Rawhide, I have you, officially, at 88-points, 2nd in SE Division, and 8th in the Eastern Conference, from preseason picks, with a 38-32-12 record. You’re still alive in the contest. Gotta get a win in Montreal.
B. Thenet
March 28th, 2011
10:35 pm
Smoothie hit part of it: Conditioning is a problem, the main reason being that Ramsay shuts it down to 3 lines late in games. Our guys are getting outworked by fresher legs late in the game.
I get the feeling the team is just going to fall apart on this road trip.
Rawhide
March 29th, 2011
12:21 am
Good evening all. I had the chance to gather some answers and quotes for two of the Thrashers recently and will share them with you in the coming days.
Tomorrow I’ll be posting my interview with Tim Stapleton in which he discusses his play recently and his thoughts looking into next season. Later in the week I share with you Mark Stuart’s thinking on why he decided to extend his stay in Atlanta beyond this season.
Gwinnett Fred
March 29th, 2011
12:34 am
First of all – nice blog going – some great conversation.
A previous point of mine still stands. You don’t wipe out Detriot and have the 6 game win streak against the teams we did without a pretty fair amount of talent. We need more, but there is enough here to begin with.
The bad periods turn into bad games which turn into bad stretches.
I think the missing ingredient is mental toughness. I was hoping Buff, Ladd, etc would have helped in that area and I think they did early on, but it didn’t last. Not sure if that’s coaching or on ince leadership, but somebody that is paid to figure it out needs to figure it out.
As for certain players that can hit the road before next year:
Antropov: Never seen someone so physically intimidating be such a wuss on the ice. It looks like he’s skating constantly with a bad back. And when he shoots or passes, I swear it looks like he’s playing with a warped stick blade or something – it never goes right where it needs to.
Dvorak: Talk about someone out there just going thru the motions
Oduya: Can’t put my finger on it, but he just doesn’t impress me and except for a 2 minute span in a single game this year, hasn’t scored a goal!
As for building blocks:
Wheeler is a keeper
Thorburn is the hardest worker on the team
Bogosian has the talent, needs to be coached up
Little is the teams best forward and needs consistency
Kane needs to play a little more under control, but that should come
Anyway, they show signs at times like they can produce and other times they are heartless. This goes back to mental toughness I believe.
Oh well – that was a lot of typing, so just call it my nickels worth!
Later Thrasher Fans!
World Be Free
March 29th, 2011
7:27 am
Conditioning and the fact that the Thrashers have very little NHL depth, which was a subject we talked about at the beginning of this season. The top players on this team are gassed because they do not have organizational depth to rely on. Years of poor drafting and development.
Dump the red jerseys – sorry Biltong and Sara.
Fred-Thorburn IS the hardest worker on the team by far-too bad he lacks NHL talent, but he’s a keeper because he never stops. Are you listening Mr. Stewart?
World Be Free
March 29th, 2011
7:28 am
Oduya will be a bargaining chip this summer.
glovesave29
March 29th, 2011
7:38 am
Fred – Antro IS playing with a bad hip, so I am giving him a pass this season. A summer of rest will do him good.
Kane is going to be a stud. He just needs to ditch the outdside / inside move he tries on every rush. The motor never stops and I like his attitude. Did anyone else catch the way he and Burmi were playing “lacrosse” during warmups? GREAT hand / eye coordination.
Reebok has issued the catalog to retailers for the next season…the red jersey is GONE. LA is dumping the purple and adding a new road jersey. Ottawa is dumping the “Sens” third and adding a heritage uni. Dallas is offering a new third. Edmonton is adding a retro white. Florida is getting new unis without so much striping, and the Panther is only shown waist up. Nashville is getting a total re-design. The Isles are getting a new third. Pittsburgh is getting a new third. Tampa is getting a total redesign and look like a blue version of the Wings. Toronto is adding a heritage third.
Red Light
March 29th, 2011
8:09 am
A very interesting schedule tonight around the league.
Buffalo at Toronto
A Sabres win virtually eliminates the Leafs and can pull Buffalo closer to the 6th spot in the conference.
Philadelphia at Pittsburgh
The battle for the top spot in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference
Chicago at Boston
Back to back games for the Hawks who reside in 8th out West and the Bruins are close to clinching the NE division.
Atlanta at Montreal
Habs need a win desperately to end skid and to stay ahead of Buffalo. Thrashers need a win to keep flickering hopes alive.
Carolina at Washington
Canes are in must win situation being 5 points behind Buffalo and Caps are seeking East’s top spot too.
Vancouver at Nashville
A Preds win and a Coyotes loss would move Nashville into the 5th spot (maybe 4th if Kings loses too) of the Western Conference. Vancouver, which doesn’t seem to know how to coast, can coast to the finish line if they wish.
Dallas at Phoenix
A virtual must win for the Stars, while the Yotes look to gain ground on the Sharks for first in the Pacific.
Enjoy.
World Be Free
March 29th, 2011
8:27 am
Red Light-thanks for the recap on tonight’s schedule. Habs/Thrashers should be the most interesting game of the night.
Anyone see the Detroit/Black Hawks game last night? That was a playoff game, Marian Hossa was the skating star and Joey MacDonald the goaltending star. Great game
ThrashDawg
March 29th, 2011
8:56 am
Good to hear about the red jerseys being gone next year. I never have understood why with us being the Thrashers, named after the state bird the brown thrasher, why we did not incorporate more brown into the uniforms. Hey, if UPS bought the team I bet there would be alot more brown everywhere! Wishful thinking…
KLS1
March 29th, 2011
9:02 am
If the red jersey is in fact gone, that will be the best news coming out of this franchise in a month.
Rawhide
March 29th, 2011
9:03 am
Good morning everyone…as promised, here is my writeup on Tim Stapleton.
Old Time Hockey
March 29th, 2011
11:10 am
Never understood the introduction of the red jerseys right after calling the arena blueland. Welcome to blueland…well…not really BLUEland…more like…uh…oh heck, I don’t know WHAT they were thinking.
R. Stroz
April 1st, 2011
1:25 am
LAST
Rawhide
April 4th, 2011
9:21 am
R. Stroz – Nope