Posted by: Brian on March 3, 2008 10:32PM EST We need to stop going gaga over forwards. What about defense? What about goaltending? Of D and G, it's the sloppiest I've ever seen of any team. Unless that improves, there is no future for the Thrashers. We've lost the last seven games, and it seems like every game, won or lost, the score is only one point apart. I'll grant you that a win is a win, but there's no excuse that every Thrashers victory is hanging on a thread. Defense needs to step it up and stop allowing everybody and their grandmother past them.

Posted by: David on March 3, 2008 11:12PM EST Big deal! Its not like Waddell brings talent up from the minors anyways!

Posted by: aroha on March 4, 2008 4:00AM EST clearly our farm system knows how to work players. why does it fall apart when they get to Atlanta? perhaps we should bring a new coaching staff up from the minors...

Posted by: Doug on March 4, 2008 7:59AM EST John Anderson needs to coach this team and a few good d men would help

Posted by: David on March 4, 2008 9:38AM EST There's so much talent down in Gwinnett and they never call any of it up. There's a guy in Chicago now, that came from Gwinnett that has a 104 mph slap shot. The kid is amazing... and yet he's sitting in chicago... we need a new staff.

Posted by: rn on March 4, 2008 10:07AM EST It's all part of the master plan to have a Cup in Atlanta by 20------ uh.. oh who am I kidding. There's a ton of great talent in Chicago and Gwinnett, are they ready for the NHL? Some are.. But why waste them on this team? Let's face it, until we get a full time coach in here and we don't have the duopoly of Brad running practices and Don playing coach at game time we're not going to have a decent team. Consistancy is important.. and the players are not getting that from the coaching staff. This team needs to stop, get some Defense, get a full time coach, Have Don do his magic in the front office (He's a pretty damn good GM folks...) and put a winning team on the ice.. or else we're going to see the same thing happen to this club as happened to the Flames.. and the Knights..... Attendance is going to drop, and someone is going to pick up and take the team north of the border where they appreciate Hockey.

Posted by: Kurt on March 4, 2008 1:25PM EST rn Please explain to me how Don Waddell is a good GM. He hired all 3 thrashers coaches that are supposes to be the problem. out of 17 1st and 2nd round draft picks only 3 have played the season on this team and Little plays once in a while. He made the worst number one over all pick in the history of hockey (Hockey News) He has put together a defense that is the worst in all of hockey. Most shots on goal He has been unable to put a good center with Kovy for 2 years. (Ruchin and White are 3rd line guys TSN) He spent more than 10 million dollars at the center position this year and none of them are even on the plus side or can any play with Kovy. The back up goal tender has the worst GAA in the NHL and the 4th worst percentage. But other than that and all the bad trades, picks and his inability to keep or attract big time players he is great. What makes you think that this guy has earned the right to be GM coach or even clean up the locker room. But I do agree it is time for a new coach.

Posted by: Daniel on March 4, 2008 2:09PM EST I agree. If the Capitals could grab Huet off of a 2nd round pick, Waddell should have thrown something like that out there and get a really good, really consistent goalie in. I like Kari and all, but he is so inconsistent, and doesn't make the big saves when he really needs to. A great hockey team starts from the Goal forward...need to start.

Posted by: Chuck on March 4, 2008 2:50PM EST I don't have a problem with Kari his save % is one of the beter in the NHL but Hedberg is a waste and Huet would be a better backup by far.

Posted by: keep the faith on March 4, 2008 3:55PM EST I don't believe you can place a lot of the blame on the goalie given Kari has seen such a high number of shots. As Chuck said, Kari's save % is good. When he is facing upward of 50 shots every game you can't expect him to stop every one of them.

Posted by: Brian on March 4, 2008 4:10PM EST I agree with just about every comment here (including my own comment, heheh...) I absolutely agree that the duopoly needs to end and Don go back to just being a GM. He's brought a lot of excitement to Atlanta with Thrashers hockey, but we need a coach that's not going to mess around. I personally thought highly of Bob Hartley, but we let him go after 6 games. Guys, Hartley has coached the Avalanche, a two-time Stanely cup winning team. He lead us to be division leaders, next season he loses the first 6 games and suddenly he's good to be fired? Those six games weren't his fault; there's only so much he can do, and Waddell is creating more of an atrocity with losing streaks than Hartley ever has in his coaching career. 6 games, even if they're the first 6 games is not enough to convince me that a coach is bad. Buffalo had a 10 game losing streak at a point this season and they're one of the harder working teams in the NHL (granted they're not in the playoffs quite yet). Then there's our defense. Break it down, folks. Enstrom is a lone gunman. He's quick, he's a scorer, and the only dependable defense. Otherwise where are our assists? Zhitnik and Havelid may have their good days, but realize that Atlanta's defense is the sloppiest I've ever seen of any NHL team. Why, why, why are we so focused on offense? Please somebody answer this for me? We have plenty of good guys and Kovy on forward. As far as goaltending, Lehtonen is a good guy, but I think any goalie would fail miserably if Atlanta's defense was backing them up. Defense's job is to keep the puck out of their own endzone, and if defense doesn't perform, that means your goalie will suffer. I agree that Hedberg is ready to be put to pasture, but I think Kari has some incredible potential that I hope is put to good use in the coming seasons. Kari is fine if he has a good defense backing him up. Plus he's still young. I may just be a fan, but if we could invest in our coaching staff and defense for next season, I promise Atlanta could pull some pretty huge surprises in the coming seasons, dare I say, contending for the Stanley cup. Armstrong is working on toughening up our offense. I think some of Pittsburgh's skills from Army and Christensen will rub off. But please, please, somebody, for the love of God, work on that defense and staff. Stop focusing on our prospective forwards and look at the important things.

Posted by: dwayne h johnson on March 4, 2008 4:45PM EST dw built the team his way, and when bh couldn't coach them, he got fired. as long as the owners let dw run everything(because they don't know jack about hockey)this is what you will get year in and year out. fun to watch when they are going good with NO Defense, kari ought to sue for none support. why did they resign Slava instead of Sutton??? have you ever seen a more uncomfortable person with a mike in front of him(Slava) "uh, we play hard for fans of blueland" Question: Slava, tells us about your winning goal? "uh..we play hard for the fans of blueland"

Posted by: Mike on March 4, 2008 6:00PM EST Wouldn't get too excited about Angelo Esposito. There is a reason why Pittsburg did not hold onto him and he has been cut from the Team Canada World Jr. program three years in a row. Hopefully he can turn things around but he will need at least 1-2 years in the AHL to transition to PRO hockey.

Posted by: Stan on March 4, 2008 6:37PM EST Brian or anyone What has Don Waddell done to deserve being the GM of this team? Bob did not win because of DW he won in spite of DW. WAKE UP if you want a better team Don Waddell must go. Stop making excuses for someone who has done nothing to help build this program he has only one goal and that is to keep his job for another year. This bad Defense will be back next year that is DW's fault, he over paid for White who is not up to the job of playing with Kovy (but no one else can have a try) that is his fault also. This team is uninspired and is just cruising along trying to make it to the summer. If you really want a better team blame the person responsible and stop blaming the untalented players and the poor coaching. Blame the one who hired this sorry team and the sorry teams before it. Numbers do not lie so WAKE UP. You may like him as a person and a few of the players have skill but with out a GM who can draft and trade this team is sunk. This fool would not have a job in a city that cares about it’s hockey because the news would ride him out of town, but as long as the local media is content to print DW’s press releases and not take him to task this train wreck is all we will ever have until people loose interest in a team that can not win and the team moves north.

Posted by: Anonymous on March 4, 2008 7:52PM EST The reason that Chicago players do well is that they are not just a farm team but are organized to win in the American Hockey league unlike many others. Don't get me wrong the other teams try to win but they do not save spots or playing time to all the young players trying to grow. If these players were good enough they would bring them up but bring the wrong player up is very costly with a bad effect.

Posted by: Anonymous on March 4, 2008 9:14PM EST Bull DW is afraid of another Patrick Stafan Haydar was one of the best players on the Thrashers at the begining of the season and he still got sent down. The players that DW has on the Thrashers are players that should not be playing in the NHL Bolton,Klee, Exelby,Larson,Hedberg (All of these players should not have been signed in the first place now we are stuck with them for the next few years. And why would some one sign Perrin and white both under sized centers when Krog and white are already here.

Posted by: Stan on March 4, 2008 9:18PM EST A few months ago dozens of Don Waddell apologists would have leaped to Don's defense now I will have to wait for one to clock in to work at the thrashers for some one to defend old Don as the greatest Gm of all time. I hope this means people are starting to realize how bad this team has it.

Posted by: KP on March 4, 2008 9:27PM EST The slide really started with losing Savard. Coburn was just icing on the cake. DW is to blame. We have the worst shot differential, worst goals against vs. goals for, and have only won 15 games in regulation (out of 67). Ouch!

Posted by: aroha on March 5, 2008 1:55AM EST I guess you can criticize anyone when you post anonymously. Blaming HEDBERG for anything at this point is stupid. He has been a huge asset to this team. So has Perrin.

Posted by: Brian on March 5, 2008 1:56AM EST Last post from me, here. I promise. Stop the denial man. Don't say the future looks bright without looking at the REAL problems with the Thrashers. That's the trouble with the official blog of the Atlanta Thrashers. The general fanbase doesn't want to hear the rotten truth about the team. Let's see a blog post when things HONESTLY look bright for the Thrashers.

Posted by: John Tate on March 5, 2008 10:28AM EST Brian you hit the nail right on the head what this tem needs is some honesty from out side and inside. Hedberg is 44 of 44 goalies in GAA and 41 of 44 in save %. What huge asset are you talking about maybe how three times in two weeks he passed from the boards to a sabers player for an open net goal. And yes it is easy to make a criticize when no one knows your really name "aroha"

Posted by: Vicki Fraser on March 5, 2008 10:51AM EST DW does not have a clue on how to be a GM or a head coach! I live in the Chicago area and I am a season ticket holder for the Chicago Wolves(farm team). I am sure that Hartley is happy that he is gone from the Thrashers. DW must go if your team wants a fighting chance.

Posted by: PW on March 5, 2008 11:31AM EST dwayne - Sutton wanted $4 million to resign. He did not get it anywhere else either. His nose was out of joint because of Zhednik and he was very public about it.

Posted by: Alan on March 5, 2008 12:43PM EST Brian, our goaltending is fine. Bad defense makes good goalies look bad, just like how good defense makes bad goalies look good. Pavelec went 3-3-0 in seven NHL games this season, which is impressive considering that he just came out of the Juniors. Lehtonen has been picking up the slack of the defense all season long, and keeping games close enough to give our skaters a chance to win it for us. Our problems run deep, but goalies are not part of our problem at all.

Posted by: Baz McDaniel on March 5, 2008 2:20PM EST I really don't believe there is a problem with Hedberg. He is not played a lot (which is understandable when you want to keep your primary netminder warm), but a goaltenders numbers are going to substantially affected by the performance of the defense in front of him. Any goaltender would suffer in Atlanta right now.

Posted by: PW on March 5, 2008 6:42PM EST I am proud of the net minders. Other teams are crying for net minders like we have. A Lot of blame has been placed on them this year but I have seen very few "bad" nights from either of them. I do not think Moose is a starting goal tender, but I do think he is dependable and works well with Kari. The problem is much bigger than these players. I think that is what Hossa was saying. He said it at the beginning of last summer when there was time to act. I see changes being made long enough for all of us to stop complaining but real commitment is not there. Case in point - at the beginning of the season, everyone was excited about the rookie talent and who would make the team this year. Enough players to fill the roster were signed. The rookies played long enough for the fans to be happy and then sent back down. Two coaches have been fired and they are still struggling. The team can win the games everyone says they shouldn't so the ability is there. That leads me to look at management. It's time for a serious change. Enough chances have been given.

Posted by: JD on March 6, 2008 12:52PM EST I think the problem is basically two things. It seems on most nights we are bad defensively and playing uninspired hockey. I don't think you can blame the goalies for all the defensive problems. There are so many opposing players unchecked and unchallenged in front of our net. Then you have people missing assignments or getting caught up ice. No goalie can stop every odd-man rush and unlimited shots from in front. The second one concerns me much more. So many times it appears the other team just wants it more. They want to get to the puck more. They want to stop us more.They want to pay the price more. They just want to win more. Some of that has to come from within the players. But, when most of the team plays that way you need some hard (new)coaching and/or players losing jobs.

Posted by: Vicki on March 9, 2008 12:30AM EST Why is Mark Popovic sitting out? Just a healthy scratch or is something else going on? I figured that we(Chicago Wolves) would have Kiwi and Little back. Is DW that desperate?