Sunday, January 31, 2010

Wha'bout them Leafs?

Quite an interesting day for the Leafs and their fans. Scared me for a time there. I know it still could happen (though I hope it doesn't), but what with the Leafs giving up so much of their scoring, (roughly 38% by Kevin Allan's estimate on Twitter), and details trickling out to those of us not in the loop on the presser, it really looked like they were clearing the way among their scorers for a certain Russian who plays for Atlanta. I'll admit, it still could happen, but at least it didn't happen today. Gotta say, that Burkie, he certainly provides some entertainment, love 'im or hate 'im.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Kovalchuk slips Flyers roofie, Thrashers come back to win

Kovy completely ripped off Matt Carle after a faceoff and roofed the shot to pull the Thrashers within one. Peverley was next to score, after which I witnessed a classic Kamal call: "Rich Peverley!! I know your vanity plates make no sense to anyone but you!!" Sounds like a great line for the Ten Gallon Dick series over at The Blueland Chronicle, except that I'm not quite sure how acting-Sheriff Peverley could have a license plate...

Slater later scored his second of the night, his second 2-goal game of both the season and his career. I don't know how better to say it, so I'll quote Ben Wright on Twitter.With the win, the Thrashers are back in playoff position, if even for one night only. **UPDATE** Having finally watched the highlights from the game, I have to say, Evander Kane pretty much scored both of those goals by ricocheting them in off Slater's stick...

Stulberger has been on a Blazing Saddles kick tonight: just now, sometime around talking about the Ottawa Senators and their 8th straight win, "horn-swoggling" was said. I think we're all indebted to Stulie (Johnson) for clearly stating what needed to be said.

Though I didn't see it as I was listening via radio feed, Moose came way out and challenged a Flyer on a breakaway. The two collided, and Moose lost his mask and ended up with his jersey over his head. Kamal, always good for a funny line, dubbed Moose "Headless Heddy", which brings up the question: As NHL goalies often get a new mask every season, will Moose's next mask be a Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane-themed mask? Will we see "Ichabod Moose" in 2010-2011?

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

MOOOOOOOOOSE

Moose pretty much stole this game. Seriously.

Also, liked the Mystery-like ending to the game, where one team (this time, the bad guys) pulls the goalie and then rings a shot off the post in the dying moments of the game. Thrashers beat the Ducks 2-1! Hopefully it's not too little too late.

Obstruction as a cause for Little, White, Kozlov slumps?

All throughout the Ducks-Thrashers game, Dan Kamal was saying the NHL is allowing more and more obstruction penalties go. Which makes me wonder... Could all these hooks and holds be a large part of why Slava Kozlov and Todd White and Bryan Little, all three fairly small guys who, in a wide-open league, would need to showcase skating or veteran craftiness in order to overcome their small statures. Also, in order to pick up a good number of assists, the players who would be skating into the open space into which White, Little or Kozlov might be passing would need to be able to arrive at said open ice. Should either the passer or the recipient be held up, it would mean the passing lane would be gone and it might even eliminate a quality scoring chance. It could also add unexpected wear and tear to the (older) bodies of White and Kozlov, which could be part of why they've both been slow and therefore scratched a few times.

Just something to think about. I doubt there's any way to prove it, but it's something that has my interest.

Articles to articles

Upon reading a few articles today, I have two very differing thoughts on two of the pieces, both of which can be summed up with quotes from Blazing Saddles.

EXHIBIT A: "Authentic Frontier Gibberish"


The first involves something that, were it in print, would be classified as little more than toilet paper. It is poorly written, with no clear points and the thrown-together nature of the initial rough draft of a 9th grader's "What I Like Best About..." essay. It would seem the series title of "Campbell's Cuts" is a bit too appropriate, as it seems this article was taken from the trash bin. He has one or two salient points throughout the entire piece (and I use the word "piece" for a reason...). Quite frankly, it is so poorly written, so obtuse and non-linear, this thing that must have bypassed its editors completely, I'm surprised he could remember the aforementioned salient points well enough to put them in his piece, despite their being stated ad nauseum for six or eight months now. Judging from this piece, and I am so mortified that such a piece was allowed to exist that I likely won't waste my time on another unless I need to feel good about myself, Ken Campbell is to hockey journalism what Colin Campbell is to NHL discipline: totally arbitrary. If Ken Campbell had any credibility beforehand, and a rotten egg like this is not often laid by mistake or only once, it should be seriously questioned after submitting that... thing.

EXHIBIT B: "Well Put!" (This is such a classic scene I had to include the whole thing. That, and I couldn't find a video of only the revelant bit. Fast-forward to about 2:30 for the actual line)


The second article is a better-written, far less biased, and MUCH more coherent article with far superior groundwork on (more or less) the same thing, though Wysh doesn't descend into a rabbit trail whose essence is anti-salary cap diatribe. Wyshynski examines the options the Thrashers have and gives an apt analogy in order to put the situation into something easier to understand among the huddled masses, lists some pros and cons and possible consequences, and, most importantly for a writer or editor or any kind, DOESN'T STRAY FROM HIS SUBJECT AND ACTUALLY EDITS FOR CONTENT.

Take good notes now, Kenny boy. That's how one should write about something.

Even Campbell's comrade over at The Hockey News (which is quite often a joke of journalism in my opinion, but that's neither here nor there) is ready to admit that his conjecture is... conjecture. He also writes a much more fluid piece, doesn't write from a position of bias and doesn't trash anybody, and actually does enough groundwork to come across as sober and at the very least half-witted, and more likely in possession of a fully functioning brain that has not taken a vacation. Not to mention Boylen actually makes a trade proposal that might, just maybe, make an ounce of sense or more for both teams involved. If Boylen usually writes less-than-stellar pieces, this one is far above his average. I wouldn't know either way because in general I don't keep up with The Hockey News, but this Boylen piece actually is worth reading, actually.

Maybe Rory convinced Kenny that today was Casual Friday...

Monday, January 25, 2010

Thrashers still have a chance



They still have a shot at the playoffs, but it's very near the point of no return at which the Thrashers are, for all intents and purposes, out of the playoffs. Not mathematically eliminated, but that is often a formality for teams that know early they won't make the postseason shindig.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Oh the pain.

Well, at least Boris Valabik got his first fight win of the season, and in a fairly decisive fashion... Looks like he *might* have figgered out how to fight a shorter guy and USE THAT HEIGHT TO HIS ADVANTAGE. He's in no danger of being thought the next Derek Boogaard, but he might yet develop into a decent tough guy who can play a little, or the other way round as a decent 5-7th defenseman who can fight with most players in the league, excepting Rick Rypien. Maybe Valabik can be like a slightly taller, poor-man's version of John Erskine? Still say he was drafted too high, but I like his presence in the lineup.

Nitty owns the Thrashers, but that doesn't really make it suck any less that the 'Ning gained a point on the Thrash. Or that the Thrashers seem to have returned to their December-ish ways following a nice little 5-game stretch of 7 points out of 10...

Saturday, January 23, 2010

I love this team.

Well, I had been gonna say something about how well the Thrashers did vs. Toronto after a dismal first, but Rawhide over at the AJC and the gents of The Blueland Chronicle had that pretty well covered already, so I didn't. Annnnd, then we go out and lose to the "Tropical Depressions" as Bird Watchers Anonymous called them before the game, so it's a little late for that now... Woo Thrashers.

Anyway, on to the 'Ning.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Thrashers trounce Sens

Huh. Who'd'a thunk? Looks like this team remembers how to play. Kovy with 1g 2a, Whitey with 1g 1a, Kozzy with 2a, BOULTS with 1g, Little with 1g 1a. And Ondrej Pavelec picked up what I believe was his first career NHL point with an assist on Bryan Little's 3rd period goal to go along with a very solid performance in net. Well done Pavs!

Now then. If this team remembers how to play and how to win on their next outing, they stand a chance of rebuilding their psyche and making a push for the playoffs. If they lose vs Buffalo or 2 of the next 3 or 4 games, that probably would pretty much do them in for the season. That is conjecture on my part, but it would create a playoff obstacle that would be extremely difficult to overcome.

Please make sure your safety belt is properly secured at this time. Keep all limbs inside the car at all times, and keep some Tums handy. Looks like we're in for a little bit of a ride down the stretch.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Thrash/Caps Simulation, Game I

The Thrashers really frustrated me with the 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Capitals. I know the Caps are an elite team, but I feel like the Thrashers could have, nay, SHOULD have had a better game. In response to such frustration, I decided to simulate a 7-game series (I had originally thought a 10-game series like one might would discuss between two fighters, but I don't particularly feel like watching the extra three games), using NHL 2k8 for XBOX 360 (my most current game... I'm working on that), between a semi-accurate Capitals roster and a Thrashers roster consisting only of current Thrashers Jim Slater and Ilya Kovalchuk, the rest of the Thrashers roster being filled out by players who are or were journeyman NHLers at best, including the goalies. And oddly enough, there are a couple of (old) former Thrashers on the roster for this, including some (busted) draft picks. Here are the teams.

Washington Capitals
Alexander Ovechkin - Sergei Fedorov - Alexander Semin
Matt Cooke - Brendan Morrison - Chris Clark
Tomas Fleischmann - Brian Sutherby - Eric Fehr
Matt Bradley - Jakub Klepis - Ben Clymer
Tom Poti - Mike Green
Brian Pothier - Jesse Schultz
Steve Eminger - John Erskine
Jose Theodore
Brent Johnson

Atlanta Thrashers

Ilya Kovalchuk - Jim Slater - Peter Ferraro
Milan Bartovic - Simon Gamache - Brad Tapper
Matt Ellis - Tommi Santala - Brad Leeb
Quintin Laing - Ben Simon - Petr Kanko
Jeff Jillson - Dan Smith
Marc Moro - Peter Ratchuk
Alex Brooks - Tomas Kloucek
Philippe Sauve
Jean-Marc Pelletier

Game Settings
Nothing fancy here. Period length of 10 minutes for expediency, fighting turned all the way up so as to see some tensions released, and shot accuracy turned down just a little so that not every shot is right on target.

Game I

The Thrashers rang 1 shot off the post; the Capitals, 3.

Hardly a surprise, but turnovers in the neutral and offensive zones caused the Thrashers much duress, but they were able to cycle the puck for sustained pressure on several occasions, much like the real Thrashers. Also like the real Thrashers, they fell to 2-1 before equalizing and forcing overtime, during which the Thrashers seemed to be playing for the shootout, as they played dump and chase, made frequent line changes, bunkered up in front of the crease to keep shots and opposition players out. Shots seemed to be heavily in favor of the Capitals in the OT period, and I only recall two shots attempted by the Thrashers in OT, one going very wide and the other deflecting into the stands, but I didn't take a count so I can't really be sure.

Shootout
Kovalchuk shoots first, hits post. Miss.
Ovechkin shoots first for the Caps, hits post. Miss.
Gamache shoots second for the Thrash. Takes it right into the goalie. Save.
Fedorov shoots second for the Caps. Misses wide.
Slater shoots third for the Thrashers. Takes it right into the goalie. Save.
Semin shoots third for the Caps, shoots 5-hole. Save.
Santala shoots fourth for the Thrash. Shoots it right into the goalie's right leg pad. Save.
Poti shoots fourth for the Caps. Goes 5-hole. Save.
Bartovic shoots fifth for the Thrashers. Shoots 5-hole, stick save.
Fleischmann shoots fifth for the Caps. Dekes, goes 5-hole. Save.
Ferarro shoots sixth for the Thrash. Leg pad save.
Morrison shoots sixth for the Caps. Shoots wide. Miss.
Leeb shoots seventh for the Thrash. Leg pad save.
Fehr shoots seventh for Caps. Leg pad save.
Jillson shoots eighth for the Thrash. Goes backhand, leg pad save.
Green shoots eighth for the Caps. Dekes goalie out of his pads, fires wide and high. Miss
Ratchuk shoots ninth for the Thrash. Goes backhand, rings it off the post, then back off the goalie. It trickles in for the goal.
Pothier shoots ninth for the Caps. Goes backhand, leg pad save.

Thrashers win, 3-2.

Three stars
3rd Star Ilya Kovalchuk
2nd Star Alexander Semin
1st Star Peter Ferraro

Game Stats:
Shots: 16 apiece
PIMs: 20 apiece, 4 fights (
No powerplays/penalty kills in this game.
Hits: 39-27 Capitals
Faceoffs Won Percentage: 53-47 Capitals
Passing Percentage: Capitals- 89%; Thrashers- 85%
Breakaways: Capitals-0/3; Thrashers-0/1
One-Timers: Capitals-0/8; Thrashers-0/8
Offensive Zone %: Capitals-22.0%; Thrashers-22.9%
Neutral Zone %: Capitals-12.3%; Thrashers-10.9%
Defensive Zone %: Capitals-17.8%; Thrashers-14.2%

Goalies:
Capitals - Theodore: Overall 82 Minutes 65:00 GA 2 GAA 1.85 SOG 16 SV 14 SV% .875
Thrashers - Sauve: Overall 65 Minutes 65:00 GA 2 GAA 1.85 SOG 16 SV 14 SV% .875

Thrashers of note in this game were Jim Slater and Ilya Kovalchuk, though neither potted the SO goal.

Slater: 1a, 2 shots, 50% faceoff success, 100% passing, 2 hits, missed in SO, 5th in TOI with 26:14 on 11 shifts, even +/-
Kovalchuk: 1a, 4 shots, 66% passing, 2 hits, 2 fights (both losses), missed in SO, 6th in TOI with 25:28 on 12 shifts, even +/-

Thoughts: A pretty heroic effort from Video Game Kaptain Kovy, picking up to fighting majors, an assist, competent passing, and generally creating some scoring chances while playing reliable, if not above-average defense. Video Game Slater played pretty much like Slater in real life. I counted many more collisions, but that particular video game only counts it as a hit if you knock the other guy down. Slates was very effective in this game. If the Video Game Atlanta Thrashers play this well the whole series, they could Cinderella the Video Game Washington Capitals and end up taking the series in a massive upset.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Postgame, Roughly during Casino Night

Well, the Thrashers played hard, got some great goaltending and a couple of lucky bounces, ended regulation tied at 1, and won in the shootout over the New York Rang...

Wait a minute, we didn't play the Rags last night. Lemme do a quick check of the boxscore here... Oh buggah. We lost by HOW MUCH??? Did we have the same 2 dmen and 3 forwards playing the whole game?? Did we even HAVE a goalie?? Wow. Now I'm really glad I didn't put down the Better Homes and Garden magazine and tune into the game last night...

Just for the sake of fun, I'm going to go simulate a 10-game series between the Warshington Capitals and the Atlanta Thrashers on my NHL2k8 for XBOX 360 and see what the outcome is. Oh, and I'm going to make the Thrashers have only Kovalchuk and Slater as the players that are currently on the team. The remaining cast will be played by old has-been's and never-was's and middle-aged (for professional athletes) never-will-be's. Kovy, because he's the captain and seems to be gunning for a monster contract, so we'll see if he can do enough to earn it in the video game realm. Slater, because he seems to be just about the only one on the entire team who actually gives a flying fuddy duddy. I will post the outcome at a later time.

I'm sure it'll feel like watching the REAL Atlanta Thrashed in real life. Beer at the ready! Forward, DRINK!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Capitals @ Thrashers 09 January 2010

Tonight the Thrashers (19-18-6; 1-6-3 in their last 10) host the Capitals (26-11-6; 6-4 in their last 10) and have a chance to show the NHL that they're ready to return to their early season form. The win over the Rangers in a shootout on January 7th finally broke the losing streak, but after such a dismal December the Thrashers are still in the process of pulling themselves out of a long-lasting slump, and a win a very strong team like the Capitals would do quite a lot to fortify team morale and confidence. The Thrashers have essentially gotten to the point that every point in the standings matters more than anything else has all season, and while they won't magically mathematically qualify for the postseason by winning tonight, a win could very well be the turning point in the season in the minds of the Atlanta Thrashers. They're still in the mix for a playoff spot, but are currently on the outside looking in by a few points. A win tonight could be the catalyst needed for that to change.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Rangers @ Thrashers 7 January 2010

The Thrashers host the Rags tonight during one of the worst periods in Thrashers hockey. Think about it....

Anyway, the Rangers (21-17-5; 7-1-2 in their last 10) have that Gaborik guy. I think he leads the league in goals right now. Gotta watch out for him. And they're coming into this game practically on fire. The Thrashers (18-18-6; 1-6-3 in their last 10) are coming home after being downtrodden and devastated during December. However, they earned points in two consecutive games vs. Buffalo and NYI before losing in regulation to the Penguins. If the regulation loss to the Pens didn't kill the Thrashers' confidence completely, I smell a win coming at home to keep this team over .500 by the NHL's points system.

enero, febrero, marzo....

The Thrashers went 4 and sucked-@ss in December, so here's to a much more bettererer January and Febtober!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Obstacles to Thrashers' playoff hopes

Chris Vivlamore of AJC sports fame has written a piece on 5 things the Thrashers need to do in order to right the ship.

While all these things are easily identified as problems, and therefore one could pass C-Viv the O'd cape of Captain Obvious, I think perhaps it needed to be said again. However, short of bringing up some kids from the farm one at a time until something works, I'm not entirely sure how to fix them without going outside the organization. I don't think it's time to fire either coach or general manager at this point. There could come a point where I agree with one or both of those lines of thinking, but I still think this is a playoff caliber team with playoff caliber management. Not, probably, Stanley Cup Finals caliber, and perhaps not even Conference Finals caliber, but I certainly think this team is capable of making the playoffs and even winning two or three games, hell maybe a series, while there. And, as Ben Wright posted via Twitter, the bar for qualifying for the postseason seems to be a bit lower in the Eastern Conference this season.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Thrashers @ Isles 2 Jan 2010 & the shootout

I tuned back into the game when the score was 5-4 because of this tweet. I had jumped the gun on finding something else to do. The game had a great finish, and I even agreed with the decision to play not to lose in the OT period in favor of the Thrashers' chances in the shootout. Unfortunately, that was where the Thrashers' luck ran out, as Moose uncharacteristically gave up two shootout goals on three attempts. Kozlov converted, but Kovalchuk and Peverley did not. The Thrashers fell in the shootout after a comeback attempt reminiscent of when the Thrashers were stealing games in the third.

Though the Thrashers have typically been pretty strong in the shootout with the likes of Moose in net and Kozlov usually scoring, but it has long been said that Kovalchuk does not perform as well in the shootout as might be expected. Peverley has scored some clutch goals during his time with the Thrashers, but . The loss in the shootout raises some questions: Should Kovalchuk be taken out of the shootout? Should Peverley? If so, whom should be inserted into the shootout lineup? Afinegenov was extremely dangerous on breakaways earlier in the season; I would likely put him in there were I to remove either Kovalchuk or Peverley, but I don't know which I would remove. Or perhaps it isn't broken at all and nothing needs to be changed. It just seems to this fan that the Thrashers rely on Moose to make a save or three and Kozzy a goal and aside from that, the shootout gameplan seems to be "Hope and pray we win." If and I knew a quicker way to do it than sifting through every game-deciding shootout since the lockout, or even this season, one by one, I would really like to see how often one goal is enough to walk away from the shootout with the extra point for the standings. Maybe the statisticians over at Bird Watchers Anonymous can help me out with that.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Thrashers at Islanders, 2 January 2010

So I tuned into the game at 7:25 and we were already down by 2. Within 15 minutes, the Thrashers had dropped another goal. Sorry Thrashers, I'll catch the boxscore tomorrow.

No Thrashers on U.S. Olympic Team

Can't really say I'm surprised. Craig Custance lists six Americans for an all-snub team, and Hainsey is on that list. While I like the respect for the Thrashers and their talent that Custance expresses by putting Hainsey on that list, I tend to disagree with calling Hainsey a "snubbed player" from the long list of those who didn't make the U.S. Olympic roster. He seems to have been struggling most of the season, with point totals on pace to be well below his totals last season. Bogosian is on pace for a pretty solid sophomore season points-wise (around 35 points by quick estimation), but there have been times when he seems to have been pulling an Exelby and passing to his D-partner or going for the big hit at the expense of sound defensive positioning, thus making him something of a liability, which is something that Brian Burke likely would not accept on his Olympic team. That they weren't selected doesn't surprise me at all, though I must say I am somewhat disappointed. Marty Reasoner could play a defensive and leadership role on the U.S. team, but I'm not entirely sure he would beat out someone like Langenbrunner or Drury for those roles at forward, especially since they tend to bring more offense to the table than does Reasoner. Jim Slater is the only other American-born Thrasher. I like Slates' hard work, but an Olympian he is not.

As an American myself, it would have been nice to have a player or two from my favorite NHL team to make the U.S. Olympic roster. Next time, though. By then I feel pretty sure that Bogosian will be a player they won't be able to dismiss, and there may well be another American-born Thrasher who makes the U.S. Olympic roster.

Thrash @ Isles

Thrashers (18-17-5; 2-6-2 in last 10) visit the Islanders (16-18-8; 4-5-1 in last 10) on the tail end of a back-to-back that saw them lose the handle in an OT loss to the Sabres in Buffalo. The Thrashers can't afford to overlook the Isles like they have twice this season, one time being the game in which Matt Moulson (15g and 11a for 26pts in 42 games; 2nd in goals, 4th in assists, 3rd in points on the Isles) recorded a hat trick in a 4-1 Isles win. The Isles are also coming in on the tail end of a back-to-back. The Isles finished their first game strong though, whereas the Thrashers spiraled downward after holding a 3-1 lead in the second. I've been more optimistic about the Thrashers' chances in the past.

If the Thrashers can come out like they did last night vs. Buffalo, they'll put themselves in a very good position for the rest of the game. If they do that and their legs hold out, they'll be a tough team to beat tonight. If they come out strong, and their legs hold out, AND they get a little luck (either the Isles tire out or are disinterested, or they get a couple of lucky bounces) they could even walk away from this thing with another one in the Win column.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

So the Thrashers dropped the game to Buffalo in OT after having a 3-0 lead in the 2nd. This is redonkulous. Let's hope tax season pisses the Thrashers off enough that they come out a'swingin' and have a rebound January and a return to the top echelons of the conference.