I'm as excited as anyone about Boris getting called up, but we'll have to
wait at least another day until we see him play. He won't be in the lineup
tonight against the Flyers, and that decision makes sense to me. It's a
nationally televised game against a wildly unpredictable team. Valabik hasn't
skated with the Thrashers yet (aside from the morning skate today) and he could
use a day to settle in. Plus Mark Popovic deserves to play tonight as Ken Klee
sits to mend some bumps and bruises.
Why am I so excited about Boris?
- 6' 7" and 240 lbs. That's a big body.
- He's mean on the ice. He leads the Wolves in PIM and he's willing to
take on anyone. He's also the first guy to stick up for teammates.
- He's a great interview off the ice. His English is outstanding and
unless something has changed since he was here for training camp he isn't
afraid to speak his mind.
- It's something different. With the Thrashers slipping out of playoff
contention there hasn't been a lot to get excited about. Valabik won't get
the thrashers into the playoffs, but he gives disinterested fans something
to watch. How will he perform? Is he good enough to crack the lineup next
season? How does he stack up to our other defensemen? Those are questions
you should all be asking when you watch him.
As I said, he won't play tonight, and neither will Ken Klee, Alexei Zhitnik
and Erik Christensen. Todd White is getting eased back into the lineup and will
play minimal minutes. Here are your
line combinations (with Lehtonen in goal). If you take a look at the game
sheets since Kovalchuk started playing with Holik and Thorburn you'll notice
that the ice time for everyone has been incredibly balanced. Outside of Enstrom,
Boulton and Larsen pretty much everyone else has been playing between 13 and 22
minutes, and on some nights it's even closer than that (depending no how much
time is spent on special teams). So while the lineup chart shows Ilya on the
third line, there really is no third line in this scenario. The coaching staff
is consistently rolling three attacking lines one after the other.
We'll see how that works tonight against the Flyers. History is stacked
against the Thrashers, which is why I think they're going to pull this one off.
Kari has never been Niittymaki in North America. Both of them are starting
tonight. The Thrashers haven't beaten the Flyers in their last nine meetings and
haven't won in Philly since Nov. 18, 2005. We're long, long overdue and just
maybe the flyers will be caught off guard. They're struggling with injuries and
are clinging to that last playoff spot, so they need this win in a big way. I
think our guys would take a lot of satisfaction in hitting them where it hurts
by giving the Sabres, Capitals or Panthers a chance to catch them.
And yes, I find myself pulling for the Capitals and Panthers. If we're not
going to have playoff hockey in Atlanta I'd just as soon know it's being played
in other Southeast cities. It's good for the division and it's good for the
sport. The Panthers have a great young core of guys like Weiss, Horton,
Bouwmeester and Jokinen who are itching to get in the playoffs. I'd love to see
what they can do. The same applies to Washington where Ovechkin will be a treat
to watch if the Caps are playing in mid April. I won't be cheering for either
team when they play the thrashers of course, but I'd rather see one of them make
it into the playoffs than another Atlantic or Northeast Division team.
