Amazing.

Mobileblog. Who the crap is this team!?!? 10 11 goals in two games. Maybe moving Doogie was the cure?


EDIT: Still working the kinks out of phone blogging.

Gameday vs. Leafs

Seems the vets did all descend upon the Don and make something happen. This is a good thing. They're showing ownership, and are taking initiative. They really do care!

Jason Williams' comments to the ajc don't make me feel all warm and fuzzy, but I can't really explain why.

“It’s just one of those things,” Williams said. “He’s a very skilled guy, plays a lot of minutes. Sometimes he tries to do things on his own. He’s got the skill and the talent to do that. For some reason, him and I playing together didn’t click. There’s still a lot of guys in that dressing room that he’ll have fun playing with and hopefully they can make it click. If he has someone to get him that puck, he’s going to score a lot of goals.

“For both organizations, I think it’s better.”

It just.... don't make me feel good.


Does anyone remember any of these?

11.25.08
6-3

12.22.08
6-2

12.30.08
4-3

How 'bout this buckethead?

I don't know why I dislike Ian White - I just do. Much like I dislike Scott Hartnell.

Can we at least play for pride tonight, boys?

From the yahoo.com preview of the game:

Friday’s game will feature two of the league’s worst defenses and two of its worst penalty-killing units.

Yea. Thanks for that.

The Leafs suck on the back end of consecutive nights. If we can work 'em up and make 'em take stupid penalties, our guys are gonna roll.

Go Thrashers.

Should I Stay or Should I Go, Part 3

The Khaluha line!

13 LW Slava Kozlov (A)

Pros: Great leader; Great hockey sense; Workhorse player; Incredibly consistent; Solid shootout performer; Member of the most effective Thrasher line this year; On pace for a career-high in PPGs; Re-signed in Atlanta in '07, though he probably could've gone elsewhere; Has his name on the Cup. Twice.

Cons: Getting older (36)

I may be a victim of misunderstanding stats here, but I can't really see a lot of down side with Slava. He's a solid veteran presence, a consistent performer, and probably lends a lot of credibility to the Thrashers organization as a whole. Even if there was a total & complete meltdown next year, he would have excellent value as trade bait.

Verdict: Stay.

12 C Todd White

Pros: No longer "squeezably soft"; Not currently overpaid; Solid work ethic; Good for 17:00-18:00 minutes per night; dependable third/second-line center

Cons: Looked a little pricey for a 40pt/year guy until this year

Todd White is a solid hockey player. His contract might scare some trade partners away, but as long as this line keeps up the pace, that shouldn't be a problem.

Verdict: Stay.

10 RW Bryan Little

Pros: '07-08 Calder Cup winner under HC Johnny A; Excellent hockey sense; Offensive-minded, but not at the expense of his defensive game; Rose to the NHL pretty rapidly; Hard-working & energetic

Cons: (still looking)

I read somewhere that "Bryan Little is the real deal." Yes. Yes he is. In a perfect world, he would be Kovy's linemate (with, oh, I dunno, maybe a Marc Savard-type centering them). Lock him up.

No, you lock him up.

Verdict: Stay.

About Last Night...

Not really what I wanted to see after the 8 goal debacle, but let's call it an acceptable loss. Some things I noticed:

- Pevs likes to go to the net. This is good.
- The possibility for chemstry with Pevs & Kovy is good (unlike the recently departed Jason Williams; you can read between the lines here, courtesy Laura @ Wazzupwitchu?).
- Boris has not made many friends on the Senators.
- Some good sustained offensive pressure at many points during the game.
- Didn't get a chance to watch, had to listen to Dan & Ex. Ex has a future in broadcasting, I believe (I don't wanna hear any "he should get started" remarks from the back of the class, let's be nice to Ex - he is injured, after all).

Later, we'll have SISOSIG, part III.

Should I Stay Or Should I Go, Part 2

Continuing the theme, I give you tonight's top line, left to right:

17 LW Ilya Kovalchuck (C)

Pros: 500 points in 500 games; unbelievable slapshot; even more amazing wrist shot; the celebrations:


Cons: Tends to cheat a little defensively.

Verdict: Stay.
Please, please, please for the love of hockey in this town, Stay.


47 C Rich Peverley

Pros: Almost a point-per-game in 4 years in the AHL; rated among the top 20 Preds prospects by HockeysFuture.com (great interview with the magnificent Holly Gunning to be found here); all stats point to a possible top scoring forward

Cons: "Knock, knock"
"Who's there?"
"Rich Peverley"
"Ummm.... who?"

Other than lack of name recognition, Peverley looks like a keeper. An RFA with a cap hit this year of $244,000, and 2 more years at roughly $500,00 each, Pevs looks like a forward who cold find space on not only this roster, but some others as well (ooooh, trade bait!).

Verdict: Stay.

20 LW Colby Armstrong

Pros: Great locker room guy; fan favorite (rumor has it, some Pens fans cried when they learned of Army's trade); has at least 20g/20a potential; pretty chippy, likes to agitate, but in a good way; massive hits; just a ton of fun to watch.

Cons: Still prone to making "young guy" mistakes; hasn't had a consistent enough role to establish an identity.

A hard hitter, a point-producer, fan-favorite, and locker room glue. As long as he likes Atlanta, I'll have him.

Verdict: Stay.

Tonights game v. Sens: The team we love to hate, the only team in the league more depressing to watch (c'mon, those preseason expectations were at least a little higher than 34pts at the midpoint). We can leapfrog 'em with a regulation win, boys. All eyes on Pevs. And Little. And Bogo. All hands on deck, full speed ahead.

Go Thrashers.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

January is Clash month here at the Outsider, so we're starting a recurring feature called "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" Not the great of the band's output (I prefer "Police On My Back" or "Train In Vain," myself), but a great title for this segment.

With a playoff berth looking less and less likely, lets take a moment and discuss who in the Atlanta Thrashers organization should stay and who should go during the inevitable off-season blowup (and, if we're really lucky, the start of a new five year plan). Some pros, some cons, some kibitzing, the usual. Let's keep it simple to start. Who's up first?

Yeah. Go.


Next:

HC John Anderson

Seriously, asking this guy to make a playoff contender out of this team is like asking Robert Pattinson to get out of the mall food court alive, unharmed and fully clothed. But still, some are already wanting to show him the door for the lack of progress.

Pros: Almost frighteningly upbeat; has (arguably) gotten more out of less than any other Thrashers coach (here's just one example, via Thrashers Recaps); not averse to a youth movement; lots of prior success with current & future NHLers; willing to take chances on strange line combos; the mongoose.

Cons: Almost frighteningly upbeat; still somewhat untested as the head coach of a real NHL team; no longer sports the sweet 'stache:

Verdict: Stay.

Tomorrow, more candidates!

Tibits and such...

Just because I feel compelled to comment, and no one is around to stop me...

Re: Florida game. Y'know, I actually had hope after Kovy's goal in the third... the whole thing about not going quietly into that good night and such... but, too little, too late. C'mon Kari, time to put on the big-boy pads and play like a pro. No matter what time the game starts.

Re: Kovy's captaincy. If what Waddell says is true about the other A's giving him the thumbs-up, that's a tremendous vote of confidence. It also puts to bed the biggest fear in my mind: that Kovy was a locker room problem. Now, most games (especially the games that resulted in a win), that thought would never even cross my mind. But other games... The rap on him was that he was a selfish "showoffy" player. In my mind, that conjured up images of a locker room demeanor that would be less than productive. Not along the lines of a Sean Avery, but more like a bizzaro-Avery: so quiet and reserved that his on-ice celebrations and actions would cause others to avoid him. Throw in a lack of production from the rest of the team and a scoring slump, and that thought started to creep in more & more. So when the trade rumors stared to float around, I started to wonder, "Is this how he's gonna go?" Giving Kovy the 'C' (and more importantly his decision to accept it) is a huge bright spot in a pretty dismal time.

Re: Rich Peverley. On the ajc beat blog, a commenter made this statement:

It’s kind of embarrassing when you grab a waived guy and make him the first line center, eh?

I understand the point: how good can your team actually be when you pull a guy off the wire and then drop him on the top line for the very next game.

But then there's the chemistry. Just like Savard coming over from Calgary improved his point total considerably (btw... required reading: Mike Chen's article on Savard and the "unraveling"), this might be the move that Pevvy needs to jumpstart his offense. You can never make judgement calls on how a line will play together until they actually play together. Who predicted the success of the Kahlua line before the season started? If I remember correctly, it was Slava who said they were so successful because they think so much alike. Rich may have a mindset that fits Kovy's game perfectly. On paper, Kovy-Pevvy-Army makes a lot of sense. Super-offensive left wing, offensively-minded centerman, and gritty right wing. Let's give it a shot. Johnny A. may have some experience with/against Pevvy. Besides, it's not like there's another number one center kicking around to mortgage the farm for...

...oh, wait...

Re: Speaking of Johnny A... He and our esteemed GM were taking to the airwaves today. Check out Rawhides' recaps.

Re: "James Wisniewski, the Audubon Society is on line 1 for you..." The Blackhawks hate pigeons. Pigeons, stay away from the Blackhawks.

Re: The newest Thrasher/Wolf. Welcome Brett Skinner. Trade bait, or Chicago depth?