When an NHL team has an 0-6 record there are a limited number of changes they can make if they want to turn their season around.

Trades are difficult to make because every other team in the league knows you're in a tough spot and they'll make you pay dearly for any pieces you try to acquire. Teams at the bottom of the standings in any sport- not just hockey-  rarely come out on top in the short term in trades. If they're lucky they can acquire good prospects and raft picks as they dismantle a team, but if they plan on being competitive right away that's not an option. The roster we have is the one that has to win games, and heading into this season few people expected this kind of performance from this group of players.

If the roster wasn't going to get blown up the only available change was at the head coaching position. Bob Hartley has accomplished many things over the course of his professional coaching career and I have no doubt he'll accomplish more before his career comes to an end, but for one reason or another he wasn't able to coax a consistently strong effort out of this particular group of players.

As Bobby Holik and Garnet Exelby said in the AJC, part of the responsibility for that failure lies with the players themselves, but there are 23 players and one coach.

So Bob Hartley is no longer the head coach of the Atlanta Thrashers and this team is now tasked with proving that they have the talent and the ability to win some hockey games. No player likes to be responsible for getting a coach fired, and this should be a big wake up call to everyone in the Thrashers locker room.

Everyone here in Duluth was on the same page after the announcement. Don Waddell mentioned that he's heading into his new role as interim coach with the mentality that the team has an 0-0-0 record it's a clean slate. Exelby said more or less the same thing, stating "We're going to look at it like tomorrow is the first day of the season."

This team and this company are still committed to winning and to winning this season. Asked today if the outlook or goals for the Thrashers have changed due to their start Atlanta Spirit CEO Bernie Mullin was firm.

"Absolutely not. We want to put a winning team on the ice and go deeper into the playoffs than we did last year."

For that goal to be accomplished the change had to come now. Waiting 10 or 12 games into the season would have been too long. This team is capable of digging itself out of a hole, but the hole could only get so big before it would be impossible.

As for the search for a new coach, it begins immediately but don't expect Waddell to rush it.

"Timetable is less important than finding the right person to coach this group of players" he said.

When asked how hard it would be to interview candidates while he is on the road for seven straight games as the interim coach Waddell pointed out that it might make things easier. The trip includes stops in cities like Toronto, Chicago, Montreal and Ottawa that are big hockey cities. There are a limited number of candidates in the Atlanta area so hitting the road might not be such a bad thing.

If you want to see or hear the full press conference from this afternoon you can listen to the audio here or watch the video here.

Lost in the mix heading into the long weekend and Game One of the Stanley Cup Final is this gem of a video featuring the best goals of the 2007 NHL playoffs.

What better way to start the work-week than with more than 10 minutes of top-flight NHL goals?

And remember- if you were vacationing in your thrashers gear over Memorial Day we want your pictures.

In case you didn't get it, that was Luc Robitaille (668 career NHL goals) and Martin Brodeur (494 career NHL wins so far). And in case you were wondering, Delissio and DiGiorno pizza are the same thing and are both made by Kraft. Delissio is sold in Canada- DiGiorno is sold in the United States.

For other great hockey-themed commercials just do a quick YouTube search for Nike Hockey. That ought to keep you distracted from work for a while.

Here's a taste of we're missing at the World Championships since no American broadcasters are carrying the games. Having all of the games during North American office hours would make it pretty tough for most people to watch anyway though, so I guess I can't blame them.

Anyway- here's what Marian Hossa and Marian Gaborik were up to yesterday in Moscow:

Like him or not, Hockey Night in Canada personality Don Cherry has a large following and what he says carries a fairly significant amount of weight in hockey circles in Canada. When he comes out and says something about a team people aren't particularly familiar with they listen, and what he says goes a long way in shaping their opinions of those teams.

So when Cherry chimed in on the Thrashers earlier this week you can be pretty sure Canada was listening. So what did he have to say? Well, would you believe he was singing the praises of Ilya Kovalchuk? It wasn't exactly characteristic for a guy known for ranting about European players, but it sure was nice to see. You can watch the full Coach's Corner video right here.

Don't forget that today is the final day for submitting Unleash Your Fury videos (the deadline is 5pm). The response has been fantastic and we're going to have a hard time picking a winner. If you have a few minutes to spare check out some of the new entries that you might have missed over the weekend.

From Maple Leafs head coach Paul Maurice:

"The hockey is different in the South," Maurice said. "The style is different. It's not as physical. The teams play a more open style. It's why they give up so many goals against."

And From Leafs captain Mats Sundin, talking about the Southeast Division leader getting a top-three seed in the playoffs:

"You should be seeded by how many points you get, not being in a (soft) division," Sundin said.

Right... we're soft and not physical. Ex must have hit Sundin so hard last year that the whole Leafs organization lost it's memory.

We've received a couple of entries for the Unleash Your Fury video contest. Here's the first one:

Not too shabby. Keep them coming folks. If you're on the fence about entering keep in mind that there's a VIP playoff experience on the line, complete with a pair of playoff tickets. Playoff tickets.

Keep an eye on NHL.com's Countdown to the Quest page. Each day they're putting together some Stanley Cup related videos and articles from players around the league, and they've done a great job highlighting the spirit of the Cup and the playoffs in general. Next up is a feature that will include interviews with various Thrashers talking about Stanley Cup and playoff traditions. People that don't know better might think of this team as being inexperienced when it comes to the playoffs, but keep in mind that the individual players have six Stanley Cup rings between them.

Speaking of video features, make sure you check out the new Unleash Your Fury contest. Do you think you're the biggest Thrashers fan in Blueland? Show us how you Unleash Your Fury by filming yourself and uploading it to YouTube. We'll post the entries here on our site and the best of the best will get VIP treatment at the Thrashers first playoff game.