* Wow! Dan Hinote an assistant coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Guess he’s retired. Unless he’s going the player-coach “Slap Shot” route!
* More once it hits noon!
* Michael Leighton re-signed in Philly. (Two-year deal.)
* Paille re-signs Boston. Savvy can address later!
* It’s noon. Let the game begin!
* Sergei Gonchar moves to Ottawa!
* Former Thrasher Braydon Coburn stays with Philly (two year deal, per Craig Custance). Thank you D-Wad for losing him for Alexei Zhitnik! Grrrr…
* COME ON THRASHERS!!!!!
* People who do on-air fonts need to remember the difference between a person who “resigns” and a person who “re-signs.” HUGE difference, loves. /copyeditor rant
* Alex Tanguay (back) to Calgary Flames. Wow.
* Philly VERY busy! They got Andrei Meszaros from Tampa.
* BABCHUCK’S BACK. The ‘Canes pick up their on-again, off-again, sometimes troublesome Slavic baby.
* Wheee! Guillaume Latandresse re-signs with Minnesota Wild. Get WILD!!
* Marty Biron leaves Philly for New York Rangers — will he be the next Kevin Weekes — never able to secure that No. 1 goalie situation. I think he already is the new Kevin Weekes.
* Come on Thrashers — if you can’t get the Moose, get DAN ELLIS! YEAH! Come on!
* Former prime minister Paul Martin to Pittsburgh!? What’s going down with NJ?!
* Does letting Paul Martin go mean a Kovalchuk signing is nigh?!?
* Dying to see where Kovy goes — is he a greedy bastard? Or does he just dislike Atlanta’s direction? Does he go to LA to revive his wife’s singing career?!
* Little Philippe Paradis traded! Awww Mr. Glasses from last year’s draft to Blackhawks. Versteeg going back to Leafs.
* Zybenk Michalek to Pittsburgh. (Five years, 20 mil.)
* COME ON THRASHERS GET SOMEONE GOOD!!!
* Colby Armstrong to Toronto — three years, $9 million. That’s a lot, I think.
* Dan Ellis goes to Atlanta rival Tampa Bay. On the plus side, no more Niitty in Tampa (for those who don’t know, Atlanta has never beaten Niittymaki). On the minus, oh Dan Ellis would have been a fabulous bit of marketing for the Thrashers.
* Olie Jokinen back to the Flames — really? Is that possible? Hard to believe that rumor.
* Jody Shelley to Flyers. Gosh. Excitement today. The Flyers are going wacky today?! No?
* Tough guy-o-rama: Derek Boogaard to New York. Yowza!
* I guess it’s OK to mention here that deep in my heart I still wish for Kovy back in Atlanta.
* Where will Slava Kozlov end up? I am afraid it might be the KHL.
* Surprisingly unsurprising or unsurprisingly surprising. Colby leaving ATL. No surprise. Everyone, myself included, figured he’d go rejoin the Penguins and his bromance-worthy pal Crosby. I wish him all the best in Toronto. He’ll be entertaining to the media if nothing else, because of, you know, who he is. ;-)
* Not all that surprising that Kovy is still unsigned. I am sure he has a million and one options to go through. But, wondering, if at some point he doesn’t start getting into a pickle in which teams keep spending and have less room for him. Therefore, he ends up with fewer choices?
* Chris Viv (@ajcthrashers on Twitter) reports that the Thrashers are “working” on their goaltender situation. Oooooh. I wonder if that just means re-signing The Moose. Or bringing back Michael Garnett?!?! (Whose hockey cards I still collect incidentally, and who has really done well in the KHL.)
* I like the Tampa Bay Lightning re-signing Martin St. Louis. He’s solid. He’s a Thrasher killer, but he just works there. Way to go Tampa on Marty and getting Dan Ellis, whom I coveted for the Thrashers.
* Where will Goddess Sasha fave Paul Kariya go?!?
* So Dan Hamhuis (great last name) to the Canucks. Interesting. I never thought Dan Hamhuis would be an edge-of-your-seat, where-will-he-go?!? kind of guy. No offense to him, but it’s wacky.
* So Thrashers free agents: Maxim Afinogenov, Pavel Kubina, Eric Boulton, Evgeny Artyukin, (my dear and beloved) Vyacheslav Kozlov, Chrisoph Schubert, Chris Chelios (LOL), Marc Popovic and Johan Hedberg. NONE of these guys is signed. Yowza! Maybe Goddess Thorkhild has some scoop from Russia about Afinogenov, Kozlov or Artyukin (??).
* D-Men in hot demand today.
* Some of these deals just don’t thrill: Jeff Tambellini to Vancouver. Maybe if it was my team. Hmph.
* Chris Mason signs with Thrash — wow. I am going to need a few seconds/minutes/days to think about this, particularly the loss of fan-fave Hedberg, which this certainly means.
* Yowza — Chicago South for the Thrashers with Andrew Ladd coming to the ATL for a pick. Go Dudley??
* I haven’t mentioned Volchenkov. I guess I am lazy. Volchenkov to New Jersey. Blah, blah, blah.
* So from the Bizarro World Olie Jokinen goes back to the Calgary Flames. Interesting. Anyone have any thoughts?!
* As an aside, the Bizarro World is a place in DC comic book land where the inhabitants do the opposite. Of course anyone who watched “Seinfeld” is somewhat familiar with this world.
* Ivan Vishnevskiy we hardly knew thee. He goes back to Chicago in the Andrew Ladd deal. Weird.
* The dismantling of the Blackhawks begins. The Blackhawks do stock up in so doing. Goddess Savvy foresaw this in a wonderful post just days after the big victory.
* I am a bit sad that Thrashers pretty much ended up with nada for Kari Lehtonen, a former first-round draft choice, going second overall (after Rick Nash!!!).
* Two-year deal for Chris Mason from Atlanta Thrashers. I am not as excited about this as I might have been about Dan Ellis, though, it might turn out better? Thoughts anyone?
* If Olie Jokinen can go back to Calgary, how ’bout the Thrashers bring back Marc Savard! (Just kidding, Goddess Savvy.)
* @benthrashers tweets: “Chris Mason was 13th in the NHL in wins and GAA and finished all 61 games he started.” NICE!
* @craigcustance reports Johan Hedberg is likely headed to New Jersey. I feel a bit sad, despite the post above.
* If you made it this far in the post, thank you for reading. How about giving me a shout out? Leave a comment and say, “I read this post and I didn’t even get a stinking T-shirt.”
* Hey! The Sabres are going to sign brave, brave Jordan Leopold. And there was much rejoicing. (Later, they will eat Sir Robin’s minstrels.)
* Curious about Garnet Exelby — a former Thrasher and huge fan favorite in Atlanta. Also wondering about Manny Legace and Jose Theodore.
* We need some more bloggers — are you reading this? Interested? Message Goddess Kaatiya.
* If “frenzy” didn’t start with an “F” would it always be a “frenzy” on free agent day?
* Now that the Thrashers have raided the Blackhawks’ closet, when are they going to nab John Torchetti?!?
* It’s been uncannily quiet on the Kovalchuk front. KHL rumors — no? Any rumors? Only the tired LA one. Let’s hear something on Kovy!
* Selfishly, I want Kovy either back in ATL (not gonna happen, I know) or in the K. That way I can still cheer for him.
* Turco? Nabokov? Theodore? Toskala? What’s up boys?
* As a Thrasher fan I am thrilled that Thrasher killer Antero Niittymaki is OUT OF THE EASTERN CONFERENCE! Yes! (As I mentioned above, the Thrashers have never beaten Niitty.)
* Awww … the Ducks re-signed Saku Koivu. Now I can continue to never see him anymore (alas).
* Saw that people call Dustin Byfuglien “Buff Daddy.” Now this I love. Perfect for ATL, yo.
* A source is reporting that the Los Angeles Kings are now the only suitors left for Kovalchuk, New Jersey Devils are out — he’s too rich for their blood. I still have an inkling that the KHL could be calling. But maybe Kovalchuk’s wife wants to renew (?), rejuvenate (?), or in the eyes of some start a career in L.A. Hmmm…
* Where might a personal favorite of mine — Darcy Tucker — go?
* Gotta give props to @TSNBobMcKenzie — that dude’s got sources and sources and more sources.
* Well, that about wraps this up for me. What are you thoughts on the NHL’s free agent day? Share ‘em with us!
]]>Ilya Kovalchuk, who has been amazing recently, still needs to take a lesson from his countryman. I think he needs to pretend he has five guys chasing him — it seems like he’s better when he’s got people hot on his heels.
Kari Lehtonen was stellar tonight. I still don’t dig his new mask, but lately he’s shown far more flashes of the brilliance we know he possesses.
]]>On a different note, I swear Blackhawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin was drinking grape Pedialyte on the bench during a timeout. The label was ripped off the bottle, but it was definitely a Pedialyte bottle. This information has no real value.
It is hard to be a Thrashers fan. You have to find amusement where you can.
]]>Two members of the Vancouver Canucks fought each other in practice yesterday.
I can’t help but wonder if the Atlanta Thrashers could use some teammate-on-teammate butt kickings after the way they’ve been playing lately. They’ve shown little heart and determination (Kari Lehtonen’s outstanding play in Dallas being pretty much the one exception).
Speaking of the Atlanta-Dallas game, I was at the game and witnessed the bad and bobbled passes, lackadaisical play and general boredom of the Thrashers firsthand. Kari showed exactly what kind of goalie he can be when he is on — and when he is on, he is a wow-the-crowd, “who is this guy?!” kind of player. Unfortunately, you can’t win a game as a goalie unless the team in front of you scores.
Finally, there’s a “Top 10 Teammates Fighting Each Other” video that features three different sets of Canadiens players squaring off in practice (including one of my favorites, Richard Zednik). Take a look.
Could fighting help the Thrashers? Hmmm … I don’t know, but maybe it’s worth a shot. I kid … sort of.
]]>Earlier in the 2008 season he debuted a “Transformers”-themed mask, with Optimus Prime on the side. OK. How old are we, Kari? Rumor has it, he stopped wearing this mask after repeated razzings from the other team (and probably his own).
Now he’s on with a Batman theme. Only thing is, he’s using The Joker. I’m not some big moralist or anything, but The Joker was a bad, bad dude. And somehow it seems exploitative to have Heath Ledger’s face on your mask so soon after his death. But that’s just me.
Frankly, I’d like to see Kari play up his supposed family nickname “Kärppä” (I could be misspelling that. I’ve seen it with a “t” on the end. Oh well, I am sure I’ll be corrected). But the word means “weasel” in Finnish. He could have a nasty, mean-looking, yellow-toothed weasel on his mask. Hey! It’s just an idea. I could have suggested using the Hamburglar, which is what they used to call him when he played for the Chicago Wolves. Apparently he has had an affinity for the fast food.
Man up Kari! Come on!
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