The latest and greatest installment of Midweek Musings is… next!
The Atlanta Thrashers continue to baffle me.
Don Waddell (the Thrashers GM) has been at the helm in Atlanta since the team’s inception in 1999. In the worst division in hockey, they’ve compiled a 238-326-45-47 record, and have a franchise playoff record of 0-4. To make the playoffs, they had to deal a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick (along with Glen Metropolit) for 18 games of Keith Tkachuk, AND trade Braydon Coburn (their 1st round pick in 2003) for Alexei Zhitnik. Zhitnik stayed on another season, and compiled a whopping 22 points in his stint with in Atlanta before retiring. Coburn has settled in as a top four defenseman in Philly, and had 36 points last season alone.
The strangest thing about Waddell is despite his job security (which is indefensible), he manages as if he’s on the bubble (equally indefensible). Atlanta is like the New York Islanders, except with Ilya Kovalchuk. Take a look at the team’s numerous deficiencies, and tell me if this is a franchise on the way up any time soon:
- Their top three scorers are Ilya Kovalchuk, Slava Kozlov, and Todd White. Kovalchuk is serving out the rest of his contract/sentence and will be gone next year, and Kozlov and White are 36 and 33 years old respectively. Outside Bryan Little and Zach Bogosian, there isn’t much in the pipeline.
- One of Atlanta’s big free agent moves this summer was Mathieu Schneider. Atlanta took on the 39-year-old defenseman with a terrible contract to help bump themselves up to the cap, and free Bryan Burke of one of his more inexcusable contracts.
- Atlanta falls under “one of those crappy NHL locations no one wants to play in” to the point that they can only draw the Marty Reasoners of the world to town. The franchise is currently offering “$1 concession” night against Chicago, and a 60% discount if you’re willing to move from the nosebleeds down to the better seats for the remainder of the season (you also get a discount next year if you’re willing to make the move). I doubt anyone watches Thrasher hockey on television, but from what I’ve seen they’re drawing in the neighbourhood of 5,000 fans a night. And that may be generous.
- Kari Lethonen – once considered to be one of the best goaltending prospects around – has been destroyed.
- Your top players (Kovalchuk and Kozlov) are not proven leaders, don’t play any defense, and have the worst +/- on the team.
It’s all well and good (and easy!) to bash Atlanta, but my overall point is – why not deal Kovalchuk? Don’t you have to deal Kovalchuk? The only way a team like Atlanta is going to succeed on the ice is a major youth movement (see: Phoenix) and hopefully draw in some name free agents once the team takes some steps in the right direction. Watch Kovalchuk out there – he’s mentally checked out long ago. Trade him, get some value, and move on.
I don’t pretend to know more than an NHL GM, but this is common sense. It’s not like the 5,000 in attendance are there to see Kovalchuk coast around the ice, anyway.
The hockey world’s distaste for fighting is starting to annoy me.
I understand why there are so many advocates against fighting in the NHL lately. And it’s easy to say removing fighting will keep players safer, because on the surface, that’s true.
Like any movement to revolutionize a sport, it needs a few major incidents to happen closely together (the semi-pro Ontario player cracking his skull on the ice and dying, as well as the Philadelphia Phantoms’ goon having an on-ice seizure).
But I wish people would consider the long-term implications of removing fighting from the league (or hockey in general). The NHL has already created a situation where cheap-shot artists like Matt Cooke, Jarkko Ruutu, and Denis Gauthier are household names because they’re allowed to take liberties without consequence. With no fighting, the “agitators” (as they’re generously referred to) will gain more influence, and I don’t know if I’m willing to live in a world where Jordin Tootoo is “influential.”
The Oilers’ Jason Strudwick makes a good point. He wondered why the hockey world isn’t more worried about boarding and flagrant hits to the head, leading to repeated concussions. As long as I can remember, only two players’ careers have ended because of fighting (Adam Deadmarsh, and the always charming Nick Kypreos) – and in both those cases (along with the two recent incidents) the player getting hurt lost his helmet. Without fighting, we'll see more flagrant cheap shots than ever before. Isn't that just as big a risk to players safety?
Remember these? (sidenote: I know a lot of these borderline crimes are committed by NHL goons... by saying fighting has a place in hockey, I am not necessarily advocating the Derek Boogaards of the world have a place on the ice.)
After watching this, I better not read another puff piece about Claude Lemieux's amazing return to the NHL.
Don’t believe the Oilers-related rumours.
Contrary to popular belief, Jaromir Jagr will not be coming to Edmonton (he’d have to clear waivers first, and every team below the Oilers in the standings would have first dibs… and, believe it or not, there are still teams below the Oilers in the standings), and Jay Bouwmeester will definitely never play in Edmonton.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have got to be setting some kind of record.
Say what you will about the Leafs – and I do – but they play a sort of entertaining hockey that would kill me if I’m a Leafs fan. I suppose that’s better than the boring hockey that is killing me as an Oilers fan. But look at the games the Leafs have managed to lose this year:
October: 13: vs. St. Louis – Led 3-0, Lost 5-4 in overtime
November 2: vs. Carolina – Led 3-1, Lost 6-4
November 22: vs. Chicago – Led 3-0 and 4-2, lost 5-4 in overtime
January 16: vs. Atlanta – Led 3-0, lost 4-3 in overtime
January 21: vs. Boston – Led 3-1, lost 4-3 in shootout
February 3: vs. Florida – Led 3-1, lost 4-3 in overtime
February 10: vs. Florida – Led 4-1, lost 5-4 in overtime
That’s seven games that Toronto has led by two or three goals, and lost (five of them were at the Air Canada Centre). I don’t remember the Leafs blowing leads like this when Mats Sundin captained the team…
And yes, Dave, this section was written almost solely with you in mind.
Say what you will, but the stats don’t lie.
The New York Rangers are in the process of bringing Sean Avery back. Take a look at Dallas’ before/after split with the NHL’s least favourite clown:
Dallas with Avery: 8-11-4
Dallas without Avery: 18-8-3http://scotttougas.blogspot.com
Original Story:
http://scotttougas.blogspot.com/2009/...
The Atlanta Thrashers continue to baffle me.
Don Waddell (the Thrashers GM) has been at the helm in Atlanta since the team’s inception in 1999. In the worst division in hockey, they’ve compiled a 238-326-45-47 record, and have a franchise playoff record of 0-4. To make the playoffs, they had to deal a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick (along with Glen Metropolit) for 18 games of Keith Tkachuk, AND trade Braydon Coburn (their 1st round pick in 2003) for Alexei Zhitnik. Zhitnik stayed on another season, and compiled a whopping 22 points in his stint with in Atlanta before retiring. Coburn has settled in as a top four defenseman in Philly, and had 36 points last season alone.
The strangest thing about Waddell is despite his job security (which is indefensible), he manages as if he’s on the bubble (equally indefensible). Atlanta is like the New York Islanders, except with Ilya Kovalchuk. Take a look at the team’s numerous deficiencies, and tell me if this is a franchise on the way up any time soon:
- Their top three scorers are Ilya Kovalchuk, Slava Kozlov, and Todd White. Kovalchuk is serving out the rest of his contract/sentence and will be gone next year, and Kozlov and White are 36 and 33 years old respectively. Outside Bryan Little and Zach Bogosian, there isn’t much in the pipeline.
- One of Atlanta’s big free agent moves this summer was Mathieu Schneider. Atlanta took on the 39-year-old defenseman with a terrible contract to help bump themselves up to the cap, and free Bryan Burke of one of his more inexcusable contracts.
- Atlanta falls under “one of those crappy NHL locations no one wants to play in” to the point that they can only draw the Marty Reasoners of the world to town. The franchise is currently offering “$1 concession” night against Chicago, and a 60% discount if you’re willing to move from the nosebleeds down to the better seats for the remainder of the season (you also get a discount next year if you’re willing to make the move). I doubt anyone watches Thrasher hockey on television, but from what I’ve seen they’re drawing in the neighbourhood of 5,000 fans a night. And that may be generous.
- Kari Lethonen – once considered to be one of the best goaltending prospects around – has been destroyed.
- Your top players (Kovalchuk and Kozlov) are not proven leaders, don’t play any defense, and have the worst +/- on the team.
It’s all well and good (and easy!) to bash Atlanta, but my overall point is – why not deal Kovalchuk? Don’t you have to deal Kovalchuk? The only way a team like Atlanta is going to succeed on the ice is a major youth movement (see: Phoenix) and hopefully draw in some name free agents once the team takes some steps in the right direction. Watch Kovalchuk out there – he’s mentally checked out long ago. Trade him, get some value, and move on.
I don’t pretend to know more than an NHL GM, but this is common sense. It’s not like the 5,000 in attendance are there to see Kovalchuk coast around the ice, anyway.
The hockey world’s distaste for fighting is starting to annoy me.
I understand why there are so many advocates against fighting in the NHL lately. And it’s easy to say removing fighting will keep players safer, because on the surface, that’s true.
Like any movement to revolutionize a sport, it needs a few major incidents to happen closely together (the semi-pro Ontario player cracking his skull on the ice and dying, as well as the Philadelphia Phantoms’ goon having an on-ice seizure).
But I wish people would consider the long-term implications of removing fighting from the league (or hockey in general). The NHL has already created a situation where cheap-shot artists like Matt Cooke, Jarkko Ruutu, and Denis Gauthier are household names because they’re allowed to take liberties without consequence. With no fighting, the “agitators” (as they’re generously referred to) will gain more influence, and I don’t know if I’m willing to live in a world where Jordin Tootoo is “influential.”
The Oilers’ Jason Strudwick makes a good point. He wondered why the hockey world isn’t more worried about boarding and flagrant hits to the head, leading to repeated concussions. As long as I can remember, only two players’ careers have ended because of fighting (Adam Deadmarsh, and the always charming Nick Kypreos) – and in both those cases (along with the two recent incidents) the player getting hurt lost his helmet. Without fighting, we'll see more flagrant cheap shots than ever before. Isn't that just as big a risk to players safety?
Remember these? (sidenote: I know a lot of these borderline crimes are committed by NHL goons... by saying fighting has a place in hockey, I am not necessarily advocating the Derek Boogaards of the world have a place on the ice.)
After watching this, I better not read another puff piece about Claude Lemieux's amazing return to the NHL.
Don’t believe the Oilers-related rumours.
Contrary to popular belief, Jaromir Jagr will not be coming to Edmonton (he’d have to clear waivers first, and every team below the Oilers in the standings would have first dibs… and, believe it or not, there are still teams below the Oilers in the standings), and Jay Bouwmeester will definitely never play in Edmonton.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have got to be setting some kind of record.
Say what you will about the Leafs – and I do – but they play a sort of entertaining hockey that would kill me if I’m a Leafs fan. I suppose that’s better than the boring hockey that is killing me as an Oilers fan. But look at the games the Leafs have managed to lose this year:
October: 13: vs. St. Louis – Led 3-0, Lost 5-4 in overtime
November 2: vs. Carolina – Led 3-1, Lost 6-4
November 22: vs. Chicago – Led 3-0 and 4-2, lost 5-4 in overtime
January 16: vs. Atlanta – Led 3-0, lost 4-3 in overtime
January 21: vs. Boston – Led 3-1, lost 4-3 in shootout
February 3: vs. Florida – Led 3-1, lost 4-3 in overtime
February 10: vs. Florida – Led 4-1, lost 5-4 in overtime
That’s seven games that Toronto has led by two or three goals, and lost (five of them were at the Air Canada Centre). I don’t remember the Leafs blowing leads like this when Mats Sundin captained the team…
And yes, Dave, this section was written almost solely with you in mind.
Say what you will, but the stats don’t lie.
The New York Rangers are in the process of bringing Sean Avery back. Take a look at Dallas’ before/after split with the NHL’s least favourite clown:
Dallas with Avery: 8-11-4
Dallas without Avery: 18-8-3http://scotttougas.blogspot.com
Original Story:
http://scotttougas.blogspot.com/2009/...
