During a summer in which players signed mammoth contracts for exorbitant sums of money you have to give Don Waddell credit for keeping a cool head while still managing to upgrade his roster with quality pieces. Yes, he swung for the fences with Brian Campbell, and when that didn't work he had a good back-up plan in the form of Ron Hainsey. Then he went shopping for a forward and signed Jason Williams, who James Mirtle referred to on Saturday as one of the best forwards left on the market.

Neither player has ever been an All-Star, but both are young (27) and both are power play experts. Neither one is past his prime playing years and both of them were signed to very reasonable contracts. To mix sports metaphors, home runs are flashy but it's tough to build a team based on them. You need singles, doubles and triples as well. Hainsey and Williams should turn out to be solid extra-base hits for the Thrashers.

So what do you need to know about Jason Williams? He's 27, he's from London, Ontario and he can play center and right wing. He played almost exclusively on the wing in Chicago and that's where he'll probably fit here since we have Christensen, Little, Slater and White down the middle already (note that I listed them in alphabetical order, not in order of where I expect them to play).

Williams was a member of the 2001-02 Red Wings Cup team, though he only played 25 games in the regular season and nine in the playoffs. He was undrafted and signed with the Red Wings as a free agent in 2000. He played his junior hockey in Peterborough (as did Zach Bogosian). He was traded to the Blackhawks in 2006 and 13 goals, 23 assists and 36 points in 43 for Chicago last season. He missed all of December and most of January and February with a sports hernia but came back with a vengeance, scoring 17 points in the last 23 games of the season, including a six-game nine-point scoring streak. Four of his 13 goals were game-winners and he led the Blackhawks in PP time-on-ice per game when he played. He's 5-10 and 194 lbs, so he's an averaged sized NHL forward. He has a nose for the net and doesn't mind going into the corners. He had a 12.9 shooting percentage last season, better than all Thrashers except Kovalchuk.

As for where he'll fit, pencil him in on one of the top two lines as a right wing. It's way too early to play the line combination game but Williams could replace Recchi on Kovy's line. Recchi had 40 points in 53 games as a Thrasher. Williams had four fewer in 10 fewer games. Recchi had five goals and 14 assists on the PP with Atlanta. Williams had six goals and 13 assists with the man advantage (again in 10 fewer games). So while you shouldn't compare Williams to Recchi in terms of experience and presence, his numbers match up favorably and he's 12 years younger. Williams could turn out to be a great, affordable piece for the Thrashers, and if not he's only on a one-year deal (according to TSN) so there's really no downside.

Last summer the average age of the Thrashers went up through free agent signings. This year it has gone down considerably, and that's something for fans to be excited about. I still don't think Don Waddell is finished upgrading the roster, but so far I'm very pleased with what he has done upgrading the defense with Hainsey (and Bogosian) and the forwards with Williams.