Blueland Blog

Moving Day

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:27:13 GMT

HTML clipboard Given that you can barely read this entry, it should be pretty clear that this blog is broken. We've decided to relocate the Blueland Blog to a new home, which you can find right here. By the end of the day you'll be able to get there simply by going to bluelandblog.com.

Test

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:15:49 GMT

Move along... nothing to see here.

Draft Reading and Canes Kudos

Wed, 27 May 2009 14:32:52 GMT

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TO Sports Magazine has a list of the Top 10 players in the draft that you need to know about, other than the usual suspects. If the only names you've heard are Tavares, Hedman, Duchene, Kane and Schenn then you might want to check it out. They do make the mistake of calling Olivier Roy the son of Patrick (he's not), so I'm not sure how many grains of salt to take the article with, but it at least gives some names and basic assessments.

On an unrelated note, Luke DeCock from the Raleigh News and Obersever has a nice post-mortem on the Canes, who were eliminated by the Penguins last night. It's a shame they'll be remembered for being swept by Pittsburgh, because in all honesty they made it a lot further than pretty much anyone expected- even Hurricanes fans I bet. They were a long-shot to make the playoffs at one point, and not only did they claw their way in, but they won two games sevens on the road against very good teams. There's no shame in what they accomplished. Good for them.

**UPDATE**

This was published last week but I missed it. Hockey's Future has posted their yearly review of our pro prospects in the AHL and ECHL. It's worth your time.

Will Draft Date Impact Dealings?

Tue, 26 May 2009 16:52:45 GMT

Something to keep in mind when late June hits- usually the NHL draft is around June 20, give or take a couple of days. That gives GM's another 10 days to sort out their free agents and figure out their budgets heading into the July 1 free agency frenzy. This year the draft is June 26-27 and free agency kicks off the following Wednesday. I have a feeling that we'll see more draft-weekend wheeling and dealing this year with just four days between the draft and free agency. GM's should have a pretty good feel for their own free agents by then, since they can't pull the old "we're going to talk in the week after the draft" routine without putting themselves right up against July 1. It should be interesting.

Preparing for the Summer

Mon, 25 May 2009 13:21:52 GMT

Happy Memorial Day hockey fans. Did you know that today is the first day of the NHL Draft Combine in Toronto? It gets about one one-hundredth the publicity that the NFL Combine gets, but it's more or less the same thing- a battery of physical and psychological tests as well as interviews with team management. The Thrashers tend to place a lot of emphasis on the interviews, which last about 20 minutes each.

The top 100 prospects will be at the combine, and I'm hoping NHL.com's draft microsite will have plenty of coverage of both the written and video variety.

The draft, of course, is one method for improving a team over the offseason. Another is through free agency, and Jamie Fitzpatrick has a list of the main unrestricted free agents from each team in the NHL. Who do you think would be a good fit for this team? Don Waddell has said he'd like to add a top-four defenseman and a top-six forward. See anyone that makes sense?

Draft Party Info

Fri, 22 May 2009 13:14:45 GMT

It seems like the NHL Entry Draft is still a ways off, but by the time Memorial Day Weekend is over it will only be a month away.

The Thrashers' annual draft party will be held on June 26 (the night of the first round) at Jillian's in Duluth. Darren Eliot and Dan Kamal will be your hosts as they break down all of the nights' actions, and Zach Bogosian will be on hand to talk about what his draft night experience was like. He'll also be signing autographs and talking to fans.

Make sure you mark your calendar.

Exclusive Q&A With GM Don Waddell

Thu, 21 May 2009 21:08:35 GMT

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The blog and the rest of the site have been quiet this week because I've been working away at getting this Q&A with Thrashers GM Don Waddell ready for you. It's fairly long because I didn't see a reason to cut anything form our 20 minute conversation. I know two of the biggest questions on the minds of fans are re-signing Kovy and how the goalie situation is going to play out, but I intentionally avoided those topics for two reasons. First, I suspect that any media members who talk to Waddell over the course of the summer are going to ask about the same two things, so I preferred to spend my limited time talking about other topics that don't get much coverage. Second, I didn't think I would get different answers than what has already been written in the AJC and other spaces. I hope you find the interview interesting. Within minutes of finishing the actual interview I had a dozen things running through my mind that I wished I'd asked him, but that's the way interviews go.

In other news, the Blue Crew will be unveiled via video on the site tomorrow morning by 10am if everything goes according to plan. Feel free to stop by if you want to know who made the team.

Kevin Allen Talks NHL Offseason Moves

Mon, 18 May 2009 14:10:05 GMT

Here's an interesting Monday-morning read from Kevin Allen at USAToday in which he talks about 10 moves around the NHL that he thinks would make sense. The Thrashers are mentioned twice.

Vivlamore Chimes In

Fri, 15 May 2009 16:30:20 GMT

I'm working on a few general site things today (Blue Crew audition galleries), but Chris Vivlamore has some actual Thrashers news-type stuff on his blog. He has some stories coming out soon and he teases what they're going to be about, including a possible goalie trade at or around draft time.

IF the Thrashers trade a goalie, who should they trade and what do you think the return would be for that player?

Discuss.

Angelo Esposito Update

Thu, 14 May 2009 19:25:12 GMT

If you're wondering how Angelo Esposito has been doing since his knee surgery and you can read French, you should check out this article.

The basics, as I understand them, are this:

Esposito is helping Jonathan Roy (Patrick's son) launch an album.
He's spending some vacation time with the Roys, who he knows from when he played for the Remparts.
Esposito thinks he can make the Thrashers but won't be surprised if his knee injury set him back enough that he'd have to start the year in the AHL.
He had surgery on his right knee to repair a ruptured ACL in February. He works out with a trainer three times a week and with a physiotherapist three times a week. He spends a lot of time in the pool.
He plans to be back on skates in July.
He's disappointed about the injury, but not discouraged.

What Do you Want?

Thu, 14 May 2009 14:29:04 GMT

I have a simple question to ask Thrashers fans- what kind of content would you like to see on the blog and on the main site over the offseason and during the 2009-10 season? What did you like about the coverage this past season and what did you dislike?

I know I'm opening myself up for a lot of criticism by asking, so try to be nice about it. Your feedback matters and it will help shape our planning for next season. Thanks for all of your support this season.

If you don't want to leave your feedback in the comments feel free to shoot me an email or hit me up on Twitter.

Kovalchuk, Armstrong, and Hedberg Tidbits

Mon, 11 May 2009 15:09:18 GMT

The World Championships always play second fiddle to the NHL playoffs in North America, but to many European players the tournament is a huge deal. They're held after all of the European leagues playing, so countries that don't rely on NHL players to fill their rosters (pretty much everyone except the USA and Canada) have most of their best players available. If you question how big of a deal it is for these players to win gold, just check out this video of the Russians singing the national anthem yesterday after beating Canada for the second year in a row. The highlight comes right around the 1:00 mark when the camera pans to the captain of the Thrashers (found via hockeybelle31 on Twitter):

By the way, Kovalchuk was named the tournament's MVP and top forward. Here are some pictures from the tournament. It shouldn't be a surprise that they're heavy on Ilya.

In other Thrashers-related news, Colby Armstrong received plenty of praise from Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong (no relation) for his role as a character guy. Universal Sports has that story. And Johan Hedberg likes to read to relax and unwind. What does he like to read? Check the AJC and find out.

Thrashers Not Moving

Sun, 10 May 2009 01:57:12 GMT

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A lot of people have asked me about the reports of a Vancouver-based group wanting to buy the Thrashers and move them to Hamilton, Ontario as reported by the Hamilton Spectator in an article that didn't cite anyone tied to the Thrashers or the NHL.

Well, as expected, Thrashers Executive Vice President and General Manager Don Waddell has come out and dismissed those rumors. You can read it on AJC.com.

Here is what Waddell said to the AJC:

"“There is no truth to it... We are not a movable franchise. I have talked to our owners, and no one has had contact with any group.”

He also issued a statement to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN:

"I have spoken to our owners again today on this subject," said Waddell. "The Atlanta Thrashers hockey club is a vital part of the Atlanta area. We also own the Atlanta Hawks and have controlling interest in a 99 year lease with Philips Arena. Our franchise is not available to be moved, we will continue to be part of this community for many many years."

I was debating whether or not to weigh in with reasons why selling/moving the Thrashers make little sense from the team's perspective, but Phil Foley at Examiner.com beat me to it. His post is more than worth your time.

Thrashers Bringing Home Medals

Fri, 08 May 2009 12:38:55 GMT

HTML clipboard When next season rolls around there's going to be a lot of new hardware being shown off in the Atlanta locker room as players show off their medals from the World Championship. The question is which one (or ones) will have the gold. Will it be Ilya Kovalchuk (and Ilya Nikulin if he finally decides he wants to play in the best hockey league in the world), Ron Hainsey, Zach Bogosian and Colin Stuart for Team USA, Colby Armstrong for Canada, or Toby Enstrom, who is out with a facial injury but who would still get a medal for his efforts? Russia is the heavy favorite against the Americans in the first semifinal today (10:15am, live on universalsports.com), but miracles happen in hockey, right? Canada plays Sweden in the other meeting (2:30pm). Three of the four countries will win medals on Sunday when the winners of today's games play for gold and the losers battle for bronze.

Bruins vs Canes

Thu, 07 May 2009 15:47:19 GMT

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I was watching the Bruins/Hurricanes game last night and it struck me how many connections there are between the Bruins and the Thrashers, from former players to less obvious ties:

Marc Savard played three seasons with the Thrashers.
Shane Hnidy spent two season as a Thrasher.
Mark Recchi was a Thrasher for half of the 2007-08 season.
Bruins defenseman Mark Stuart is the brother of Thrashers forward Colin Stuart.
Bruins power forward and fan favorite Milan Lucic is good friends with Atlanta prospect Spencer Machacek who was his linemate with the Vancouver Giants. According to Spencer, the two talk or text several times a week. In his words, "Looch is my boy."
Tim Thomas was Eric Perrin's teammate at Vermont back in their college days. Like Perrin, Thomas was undrafted and battled his way up through various minor leagues.

That's an unusual number of connections if you ask me, and that's without getting into players that were teammates at various international tournaments like the World Juniors or World Championships.

It's really a shame that the series is getting so little love on Versus or NHL.com, because from what I've seen on Center Ice, it's been a great series. As a former Bruins fan I was kind of pulling for the Bruins in the beginning, but the more I watch them the more I like what the Canes are doing this year. Eric Staal has been a beast, and once again the Hurricanes are showing that you can play great defense without having all-star defensemen. It's like it's 2006 all over again.