After making the playoffs in the 2008 season, the Thrashers took a major step backward when they didn’t even qualify for the 2009 post-season. Once again, it looks as if the Thrashers organization is in another rebuild mode, something they have been stuck in ever since they became a franchise. This upcoming season looks to be another down year with more than half the team full of players that are under the age of 25. Most of those players got to stick around last season and will be on board full time this season, but will struggle.
The one true standout player on this team is Ilya Kovalchuk, who can fill the net with ease and is always a threat to score fifty goals. Even he has his faults, such as not passing the puck, and he doesn’t like to back check either, and his -12 rating can prove that. After Kovalchuk, there is a 15 point drop off with the teams’ second leading scorer Vyasheslav Kozlov. He too is a player that doesn’t like to play both positions and basically drifts in and out during the season.
That is the problem with this Atlanta team, too many forwards don’t like to play defense and that will kill the team this year, which will result in a playoff-less season. There really isn’t much muscle up front either, and that will make it easier on opposing defenses to handle the Atlanta forwards.
There a few players that can take the body and dish out the big hit like their big free agent signing whom they vastly over-paid, Nik Antropov. He will help out up front as he did score 28 goals last season, which was a career best, but it also came in a contract year. He and Kovalchuk will be tough to play against on one line, but there will be plenty of odd man rushes that will go the other way as those two players are heavy on their skates.
Chris Thorburn is another player with a huge frame but his offensive output from last season isn’t at all flattering. This leaves the offensive corps pretty damn weak.
At the same time a few small players did shine and did find ways to get around defenses with their quick speed. Todd White for one had a huge year with 71 points, but repeating those numbers will be a tough task. There is a chance he could repeat those numbers as he may play alongside Bryan Little who scored 31 goals in a very impressive rookie season.
Other players that will be looked at closely will be Angelo Esposito who was once touted as a top five draft pick, has something to prove or re-prove. And Anthony Stewart a former top ten draft pick hasn’t really played all that well during his time in Florida, and had trouble sticking with the big club.
Defensively the Thrashers did get somewhat better with the acquisition of Pavel Kubina who can really score, but at times is weak defensively and has trouble cutting corners on his skates.
Tobias Enstrom just seems to be getting better and better in his first two seasons in the NHL, and will most likely improve his overall numbers and add an extra scoring punch on the backend.
Sophomore Zach Bogosian had an amazing rookie season which saw him score 9 goals and add ten assists in 47 games. Injuries did hurt him last season, but if he can get a full year under his belt that will be huge for the Thrashers.
When it all boils down, the Thrashers do have a weak defense, with Enstrom and Bogosian as their two best defensemen. That isn’t bad, but after those two it is slim pickings, and no disrespect to Kubina, but he takes nights off here and there. After playing in Toronto where he couldn’t do that but still did, he is now in Atlanta where hockey is an afterthought and can get away with whatever he wants. This is also his contract year, and it will be interesting to see which Kubina shows up, the one that won a Stanley Cup in 2004 as a top defenseman or the up and down Kubina in Toronto?
Goaltending was a problem all season long for the Thrashers as it was a carousel in net, and they started more than five different goaltenders. Kari Lehtonen was supposed to be the solution to Atlanta’s goalie issues but he has only made the problem bigger. Of the three goaltenders that started more than ten games for the Thrashers, Lehtonen, Johan Hedberg, and Ondrej Pavelec, neither had a goals against average less than 2.97.
The one goalie that can end that one problem is Kari Lehtonen, for that to happen the whole team needs to be better defensively as they ranked in the bottom five with 280 goals against.
OVERALL--> THE THRASHERS HAVE A FEW SNIPERS UP FRONT AND TWO YOUNG STUDS ON THE BLUE LINE, BUT THIS TEAM IS STILL LOST AND IS VERY FAR AWAY FROM COMPETING YEAR IN AND YEAR OUT.
POSITIVE--> GOOD SCORING THREATS IN KOVALCHUK, LITTLE AND ANTROPOV, AND BOGOSIAN AND ENSTROM ON THE BACK END. GOOD COACHING STAFF LED BY HEAD COACH JOHN ANDERSON.
NEGATIVE--> NOT A COMPLETE TEAM, PLENTY OF HOLES THAT CANNOT BE PATCHED UP INSTANTLY, AND VERY WEAK IN OVERALL TEAM DEFENSE.
X-FACTOR--> THAT COMES BETWEEN THE PIPES IN KARI LEHTONEN, IF HE PLAYS WELL THE THRASHERS WILL WIN GAMES, BECAUSE EVERYONE KNOWS THE LAST LINE OF DEFESNE IS YOUR GOALIE, AND LEHTONEN HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE A SOLID GOALIE.
SLEEPER PICK--> RICH PEVERLY VERY QUIETLY SCORED 15 GOALS AND ADDED 29 ASSISTS IN JUST 66 GAMES. A TWENTY PLUS GOAL SEASON SHOULD BE WITHIN REACH THIS UPCOMING SEASON.
PREDICTION--> THE ATLANTA THRASHERS WILL NOT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS THIS SEASON, AND WILL PROBABLY WIN BETWEEN 33-37 GAMES.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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