unfortunately, i just dont see us making the playoffs this year, we didnt really improve anywhere except by subtraction on the blueline. Dear god i hope im wrong, but i think the golf clubs will be out early again
yeah i was at a party this afternoon and heard someone say they thought we'd tank really bad the first 20 games and hartley'd be history....
in the immortal words of tristlelune...whatever happen, happen.
Seriously, I don't think we will miss the playoff. The guys will be hungry after last season hastly elimination. But then again, it will rest on the shoulder of our young goalie.
unfortunately, i just dont see us making the playoffs this year, we didnt really improve anywhere except by subtraction on the blueline. Dear god i hope im wrong, but i think the golf clubs will be out early again
Thats what they said about Hurricanes 2 years ago. Who knows Thrashers may win the Stanley Cup. That would continue on the pattern wouldnt it.
I would love for J. Allison to join the Thrashers. Hes pretty slow and is injury prone but is a wizard in the offensive zone, especially behind the net. Hes said that he would play for the min. 1 mil. 1 year so why not take the risk. Big body, great playmaker, and will definately help with the PP. Ide rather have Allison center Kovy than Holik. Almost a point per game player throught his career. If hes healthy and if for the right price, he can be a steal
We need guys like Bryan Little, Brett Sterling, Tobias Enstrom, and Marc Popovic to have great pre-season camps.
The rookies will be the key to the season. Right now the F's look OK, the D looks OK, and the G's look OK. In fact, we are in better shape now than we were to start last season.
If 1 or 2 of the rookies above have a breakout season, we could win the SE again. If Little can make the team as a 2nd line C, that would be fantastic.
I agree with the sentiment that this team will do as well as it's rookies. If Sterling can get 60pts/30gls opposite Kovy that would be a lift to this offense. Holik is not the playmaking center that this team needs playing with Kovy....but he is better than just about everyother center that played with him last season. I want to give Holik/Sterling 15 or so games with Kovy to see what they can do before I dump on Kovy's lack of line mates again. Also I think a full season of Zhitnik and Enstrom will help the defense and the PP...I think that will be the biggest impact this team sees this season. An improvement in defense will help this team.
As far as goal keeping goes. We know what we get in Moose and Kari...well if he gets his head screwed on straight that would help a lot as well.
I don't see the team being any worse than it was last season. Sure, there were no big name FA acquisitions, but I think the small moves improved the team's supporting cast.
We've got full season of Zhitnik. Hopefully Havelid returns to form. Ken Klee ended up +18 logging the same kind of minutes as deVries, so he must be doing something right. Pilar and rookies will be fighting it out with McCarthy for the last 2 spots. Defense should be slightly better.
A full season of Todd White is going to be better than the failed Rucchin/Kappy experiments and the Belanger stop-gap. How Holik and Sterling work out with Kovy remains to be seen, but it can't be worse than last season's situation. Maybe Little surprises at camp or Slater finally shows he can be a playmaker.
A full season of Dupuis along with the additions of Thorburn, Perrin, and possibly Bartovic makes the bottom six a much better group than last year's. The team's PK should be better. You might even see a supporting cast goal or two.
Lehtonen is a year more mature. Moose will continue to be solid.
I'll wait for the team to tank the first 15 games or so before I panic, but I see this team in about the same place as last season. I don't expect the team to be off to as hot of a start this season, but at the end of the year I do expect them to be fighting for the SE crown and a playoff spot.
