If you're interested...

DET @ MTL is on FSN-Detroit (which is 663 on DirecTV). It's not the Thrashers, but it's live NHL hockey! Also don't we play Detroit again tomorrow? We can see what the boys will be up against!

NHL.com blurb, 3 more cut

NHL.com's Mike Morreale put together a blurb on "one player to watch from each Southeast Division club who could become an influential component in a postseason run." Obviously Kari was the one from the Thrash. The write up he received was surprisingly positive.

Kari Lehtonen, Atlanta Thrashers -- Thrashers General Manager Don Waddell felt the revamping of his team's defense wouldn't have been complete without the assurance his record-breaking goalie was back in the mix, and signed him to a one-year deal in July.

The 24-year-old Lehtonen, the second pick in the 2002 Entry Draft, is the Thrashers' all-time leader in games played (158), wins (75), shutouts (11) and save percentage (.913). Lehtonen completed his third full season in 2007-08 with a 17-22-5 record, a career-high four shutouts, a 2.90 goals-against average and franchise-record .916 save percentage.

"It was my goal all summer to get a deal done and it was great to finally reach an agreement, so this way everything is in order from the start of training camp," Lehtonen told NHL.com. "I'm looking forward to playing for John Anderson since he was my coach for two years in Chicago (in the American Hockey League). We had great success there and I'm very excited that he's been given a chance to prove his ability on this level."

Lehtonen's new contract came after Waddell signed free agent defenseman Ron Hainsey to a five-year deal and drafted Zach Bogosian third at the 2008 Entry Draft, all in an attempt to retool a defense that yielded a League-high 3.24 goals a game last season.

Nothing we didn't know, but still nice. Also there's a video! So check that out.

FORWARDS
#20 Colby Armstrong
#36 Eric Boulton
#9 Erik Christensen
#42 Joey Crabb
#45 Matt Hoffman
#17 Ilya Kovalchuk
#13 Slava Kozlov
#50 Jordan LaVallee
#38 Junior Lessard
#10 Bryan Little
#41 Joe Motzko
#11 Eric Perrin
#19 Marty Reasoner
#23 Jim Slater
#21 Brett Sterling
#40 Grant Stevenson
#49 Colin Stuart
#27 Chris Thorburn
#12 Todd White
#14 Jason Williams

DEFENSEMEN
#4 Zach Bogosian
#39 Tobias Enstrom
#2 XLB
#6 Ron Hainsey
#28 Nic Havelid
#62 Arturs Kulda
#51 Scott Lehman
#47 Nathan Oystrick
#25 Jamie Rivers
#48 Boris Valabik
#?? Mathieu Schneider

GOALTENDERS
#1 Johan Hedberg
#32 Kari Lehtonen
#33 Ondrej Pavelec

Quoth Karppa

Kari Lehtonen on how he felt after his 34 save performance last night:
"Of course it sucks that we lost, but from a goalie standpoint I think this was better for me to get more shots and that made me feel comfortable. You never know what's going to happen in the first game of the year but there was plenty of action. Now we have to go forward from this. We didn't play very well and they did. I think the defensemen did a good job letting me see the puck. There were only a couple of shots that I wasn't able to see and they went wide, so that was a good think to take away from the first game."
-- Blueland Blog

More photos from Detroit

Joey Crabb works against Jonanthan Ericsson

Tobias Enstrom

Niclas Havelid fights Darren Haydar in front of Lehtonen

Ilya Kovalchuk

Kari Lehtonen and Tobias Enstrom defend from Dan Cleary

Arturs Kulda

Jordan LaVallee

 

Matt "The Hoff" Hoffman and Darren McCarty have words.

Zach Bogosian

Jimmy Slater battles with Brian Rafalski

Todd White against Cory Emmerton

Zach Bogosian pins Johan Franzen

All photos from GettyImages and are not to be republished.

The more things change.... (Now with more pics)

The more they don't really change at all. Two shots up until the 3rd period? Really?

ATL Stats: SOG: 14 MS: 12 A/B: 5 BS: 12 H: 16 FOP: 53%

DET Stats: SOG: 38 MS: 14 A/B: 14 BS: 5 H: 8 FOP: 47

Um... No.

Blah blah blah, it's pre-season, it doesn't matter, rosters aren't even set. Right. I get that. I preach that. You're not preaching to the choir, you're preaching to the preacher. HOWEVER (howevers are never really good, are they?) that sucked ASS. I don't want to hear "Stanley Cup Champions" either, because we beat them in January. Pretty much the same damned team, except Conkblock was in net, not Ozzy.

I will keep reminding myself that it's just pre-season, it's just pre-season, it's just pre-season. And hope it isn't a harbinger of DOOM.

OTOH, I give Jordan LaVallee 1st star of the game: 3 shots, 1 hit, 2 takeaways, 2 blocked shots. That's hustle.

More photos!
1-4: US Presswire

 

I'll be doing another post with more photos shortly. So... come back later!

And then there were 35

35 if I can actually count. So... don't bet on that. Counting = hard.

Cuts are striken, tomorrow night's starters for Detroit are in blue.


FORWARDS
#20 Colby Armstrong
#36 Eric Boulton
#9 Erik Christensen
#42 Joey Crabb
#57 Angelo Esposito (QMJHL)
#45 Matt Hoffman
#43 Riley Holzapfel (AHL)
#53 Rylan Kaip (AHL)
#17 Ilya Kovalchuk
#13 Slava Kozlov
#50 Jordan LaVallee
#38 Junior Lessard
#10 Bryan Little
#46 Spencer Machacek (AHL)
#41 Joe Motzko
#11 Eric Perrin
#19 Marty Reasoner
#23 Jim Slater
#21 Brett Sterling
#40 Grant Stevenson
#49 Colin Stuart
#27 Chris Thorburn
#12 Todd White
#14 Jason Williams

DEFENSEMEN
#44 Zach Bogosian
#55 Chad Denny (AHL)
#39 Tobias Enstrom
#2 XLB
#6 Ron Hainsey
#28 Nic Havelid
#62 Arturs Kulda
#51 Scott Lehman
#52 Grant Lewis (AHL)
#47 Nathan Oystrick
#25 Jamie Rivers
#48 Boris Valabik
#?? Mathieu Schneider

GOALTENDERS
#1 Johan Hedberg
#32 Kari Lehtonen
#33 Ondrej Pavelec
#30 Dan Turple (AHL)

We shall never speak of this again

(All below are 1024x768)

X puts the hurt on Tkachunk

Moose and Grant Lewis, with possibly Hainsey on the left

Grant Lewis sends a Blue flying

Probability of cherry picking: 90%

Knee hockey!

Grant Lewis does the dejected glide

(Pre-Season?) Alternate Captains

Congrats to tonight's (?... pre-season's?) five (5) (!) alternate captains:

#2 Garnet Exelby
#6 Ron Hainsey
#17 Ilya Kovalchuk
#19 Marty Reasoner
#20 Colby Armstrong

Guess we're staying away from the all-Euro captaincies this year?

Can I campaign for my choice?

Boys, vote for Perrin! 

Eric, Eric, he's our man! 

If he can't do it... 

he'll yap at the ref til someone's penalised... !

Thrasher acquire Schneider (for more than if they got him off the wire)

We get Mathieu Schneider.

Anaheim gets Kenny Klee, Brad Larsen, and Chad Painchaud.



Seems most everyone else thinks he's the second coming of Chris Pronger, but I'm a lot more reserved. I don't think this is a great move - actually I believe I referred to this on someone else's blog as a move that would be akin to slapping a band-aid onto a gushing artery. But time will show, eh?

We play STL tonight. Go Thrash.

ATL 4 - NSH 2, with photos

 2 - 4
Damn is it nice to be posting game photos, and also adding one to the W column, even if it is meaningless! Photos from, shockingly, ModSquadHockey. All photos enlarge onclick to 1024.

 

Espo stands ready, watching a shot from Jr Lessard (not pictured)

 

  

Ex fights for the puck in what looks to be a mostly-empty rink

 

Pony kicks the puck out

   

Slats keeps his eye on .. well it looks like on the guy's hands. 

  

Mike Ryan gets a little pushy with Brett Sterling

 

  

Grant Stevenson and Slats celebrate a goal 

  

Post-game goalie-love, AKA the Helmet Nuzzle

Epic FAIL, also, a coo-pin!

I was browsing hockeyattire.com - they're having a sale and if you use the code ALLOFF50 at checkout, you can get an additional 50% off your order (Score! Authentic jerseys for $90!). They don't have a lot of Thrashers merchandise - act surprised - but I saw this shirt.... Now before I really go off on my tear about this... HOW is it there is not a Kari version? I would totally wear a LETNONEIN 32 t-shirt. Shit, as long as the colours and logo are right and it's got 32 on it, I'd wear a LEHTINEN shirt!

Boldly segueing back to the EPIC

This can be yours, for the low, low price of just $14.99! Less 50%!

In actually relevant Thrash news, tonight's pre-season game can be listened to live online, at 104.5 The Zone (Nashville).

Today's Sunshine Recipient: WWD!

Robbie, of We Want Dunham!, is todays BLOWING SUNSHINE UP YOUR ASS recipient, because he totally hooked me with camp pictures! Mr Dee is charming, and handsome, and has great hair, and he takes amazing photos, and has impeccable taste in music, and women!

So if you visit either link, you can take a gander at his awesome photos from camp! Taken yesterday! I, however, will regale you with the photos of Karppa! I know, just try and act surprised, okay? Thx.

Who am I kidding? Here's Moose and Pony (Pavelec! He does have an animalistic nickname!):

Also, Colby and Kovy, and Perrsy:

 And now onto Karppa!

Preparing for the ATL regional break-dancing championships.

So in summation, send me photos you took and I will also blow sunshine up your ass. If they're really super duper awesome photos, I will reward you with a prize!

And then there were... like 43 I think?

Reassigned:
Tomas Pospisil
Matt Siddall
Myles Stoesz

Returned to Junior:
Chris Carrozzi (Mississauga St. Michael’s, OHL),
Danick Paquette (Lewiston, QMJHL)
Paul Postma (Calgary, WHL)

Released
Matt Anderson
Scott Marchesi

Remaining:
FORWARDS
#20 Colby Armstrong
#36 Eric Boulton
#9 Erik Christensen
#42 Joey Crabb
#57 Angelo Esposito
#45 Matt Hoffman
#43 Riley Holzapfel
#53 Rylan Kaip
#17 Ilya Kovalchuk
#13 Slava Kozlov
#29 Brad Larsen
#50 Jordan LaVallee
#38 Junior Lessard
#10 Bryan Little
#46 Spencer Machacek
#41 Joe Motzko
#54 Chad Painchaud
#11 Eric Perrin
#19 Marty Reasoner
#23 Jim Slater
#21 Brett Sterling
#40 Grant Stevenson
#49 Colin Stuart
#27 Chris Thorburn
#12 Todd White
#14 Jason Williams

DEFENSEMEN
#44 Zach Bogosian
#55 Chad Denny
#39 Tobias Enstrom
#2 XLB
#6 Ron Hainsey
#28 Nic Havelid
#22 Kenny Klee
#62 Arturs Kulda
#51 Scott Lehman
#52 Grant Lewis
#47 Nathan Oystrick
#25 Jamie Rivers
#48 Boris Valabik

GOALTENDERS
#1 Johan Hedberg
#32 Kari Lehtonen
#33 Ondrej Pavelec
#30 Dan Turple

Well... we're not the Blues! So we've got that going for us...

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Blues defenseman Erik Johnson, the No. 1 pick in the 2006 draft, tore two ligaments in his right knee during a recent golf outing and is expected to miss the entire season but recover fully. Johnson, 20, was injured during a team golf outing on Sept. 16 when his right foot got caught between the accelerator and the brake of his golf cart. Two surgeons determined that Johnson tore the anterior cruciate (ACL) and medial collateral ligaments (MCL) in the knee that will require an operation to fix. 

 So.... Is it just me or is Johnson campaigning to be the next Marty Straka? 

If you didn't get that, start researching. It's funny, trust me.

Tobi's gonna be sticking around!

Ben quoth: Short of pulling off a blockbuster trade, it's the biggest move Don Waddell could possibly make heading into the season. Tobias Enstrom just signed a 4-year extension with the Thrashers, keeping in an Atlanta uniform through the 2012-13 season.

Best.
Move.
Evar.

It's like I'm psychic.... or something

According to Knobler, Crusher's MRI results came back negative. For what I'm not sure since he doesn't actually say, but I'll presume he means a tear? Whatev. This was the important bit to note:

Eric Perrin centered the line with Ilya Kovalchuk and Jason Williams today (Wednesday).

Heyyyy, who saw that coming?! OH RIGHT! ME! Also apparently "about a dozen [rookies] are gone" ... although he didn't say who got the axe. When things slow down a little I'll compare the camp roster to the (hopefully, but probably not) revised roster on the site. Anyway... take note:

The six defensemen working on this sheet of ice (they’re using both rinks) are Tobias Enstrom and Ken Klee, Bogosian and Boris Valabik, and Niclas Havelid and Grant Lewis. Lewis is the interesting guy in that mix; if it’s not a random addition, it could mean coach John Anderson wants to give him a good look.

There are a couple of lines made up of guys who also might be getting a fair look to see where they fit: Joe Motzko, Rylan Kaip and Jordan LaVallee is one; Chad Painchaud, Riley Holzapfel and Spencer Machacek is the other.

What I would give to see any of these pre-season games on the TV. Is ANYONE showing preseason? Anywhere? Man I love Jordan LaVallee. We should keep him up here, along with Bogo. Just sayin.

Crusher, no! Sob!

Christensen injures shoulder

By MIKE KNOBLER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Erik Christensen injured his right shoulder in an intrasquad game on Tuesday and might have thrown a monkey wrench into the Thrashers’ search for a first-line center.

Christensen was scheduled to undergo an MRI Tuesday evening, and the result of the diagnostic test wasn’t expected to be known until Wednesday.

Christensen, 24, has been the leading candidate to center the team’s first line, with NHL All-Star Ilya Kovalchuk on the left wing and Jason Williams on the right. If he can’t play, Williams might take over at center. Other alternatives include Todd White and Bryan Little.

Christensen hit the ice hard, and the game came to an immediate halt as he skated toward the bench. He stood there for a moment, then skated off the ice, his right arm tucked tight to his body. No preliminary diagnosis was available.

Hello? Eric Perrin is no longer an option? Not an alternative when Todd White and Bryan Little are?  Says who? I sincerely hope that with all his AHL experience, Coach knows what Perrin is capable of at center. All he needs is a finisher to whom he may dish. If only we had a winger whose wheelhouse is highlight reel goals, that needs a set-up man...

Crush! Get well soon! You relax and take it easy! We need you!

GM roundtable 'script

Whilst in Traverse City, you might recall I'd posted previously about DW meeting with JD and Ken Holland, sitting down ironically enough at a round table. Dan Rosen from NHL.com was there, and thusly:

 Photo courtesy Getty Images

NHL.com Roundtable Podcast (15:48)  

Below is the partial transcript, with only DW's answers (in context). Should you be interested, you can read the transcript in its entirety on NHL.com.

John Davidson -- Off the ice, I don't know Don what you think, but I'm a little nervous with that cap number going up to where it's going. It's gotten there in a hurry and that's tough on some cities.

Don Waddell -- As you said, some of our markets, our increases during the year are going to be 4 to 5 percent, not the League going up 7 to 8 percent. Trying to keep up with that, as you said, we have to find some national money and the obvious thing is TV. I know the League has worked hard at it and continues to work hard. It's certainly an aspect of the business that we have room to grow in.

Dan Rosen -- One of the things we're doing here (in Traverse City) is obviously watching prospects. Everybody has some different views on prospect development. Don, what are some of your views on prospect development?

Don Waddell -- Well, this tournament I think is really set up well for young players because I always believe when young players come to your camp, they are intimidated and this gives them an opportunity to showcase their talent against their peers. Then, by the time they come to your camp, they have a weekend under their belt. The other thing is we have always brought our top players here. Ilya Kovalchuk played here. Dany Heatley played here. Kari Lehtonen and our first pick this year, Zach Bogosian. So, I think it's a tournament that is set up for your development players to get a showcase for how we view them against the other teams' best players also.

Dan Rosen -- There are a couple of days on the calendar now that fans look forward to: Trade deadline and July 1. What do you guys think of July 1?

Don Waddell -- Well it doesn't mean a lot to us because we don't shop until July 7. We let all the big teams shop on July 1 (laughter) (Ed note - oh that's real hilarious. Laugh it up, chuckles.). Certainly, as you said, I always feel in this league everything happens for a deadline. The trade deadline, it's a crazy world because you can make those trades a week earlier, but for some reason they don't happen until the trade deadline. Nobody wants to make a decision until they're forced to make a decision, and that's the part I can't hardly figure out. I had Marian Hossa last year and a week before I couldn't get a third-round pick probably for him at that point, and two hours before the trade deadline it really heats up. So, it's interesting how we operate with deadlines, but obviously it's two key dates for building your franchise. You have three ways to build your team: Through the draft, through free agency and through the trade deadline.

Dan Rosen -- (vis-a-vis players flocking overseas to the KHL) But doesn't the NHL need the marginal players?

Don Waddell -- Well, I think there are enough players to go around at that level. If you start losing a lot of stars after a while you'd be a little concerned, but the players we've lost this year with maybe one exception are all players we can replace on our roster. And, J.D. hit it on the nose, this is the best league in the world. If a player wants to go to Europe to make money, you know it's happened before. Guys have gone to different countries for whatever reason, and you're almost better off to move on. (Ed note - Subtle dig at Wonder Twin #5?) It's something that I don't worry about at all. We have enough things to worry about. I'm a big believer of worrying about the things you can control. If we can't control it, don't fret too much about it.

Dan Rosen -- Another topic this summer is Columbus had a case of burnout with Stefan Legein, their prospect. A lot of people will say, 'How can a 19-year-old kid be burned out?' But are we treating the kids the right way? Are the kids playing too much?

Don Waddell -- No[ne]. I think this is one case. If it's a complete burnout situation, it's one case of the million players that are playing out there. It's not a factor at all.