It was getting a little close to the deadline, but the Thrasers signed Chad Denny and Ondrej Pavelec along with two other players. I was getting a little worried considering the deadline to sign them was tomorrow, and I have only heard good things about Denny and Pavelec. The other two, Tomas Pospisil and Myles Stoesz, are young and I haven’t heard much about them, so I don’t know what to make of it. Here is the announcement:
Atlanta, GA (May 31, 2007) — The Atlanta Thrashers have signed four of their 2005 NHL Entry Draft selections; goaltender Ondrej Pavelec (2nd round, 41st overall- pictured above on right), defenseman Chad Denny (2nd round, 49th overall- pictured above on left) and forwards Tomas Pospisil (5th round, 135th overall) and Myles Stoesz (7th round, 207th overall), according to Executive Vice President and General Manager Don Waddell. (more…)
Also Ben did a very interesting interview with Dan Marr, the director of scouting which I probably should have posted earlier, but if you haven’t seen it yet, it takes a good look at some other prospects and this years draft. It can be found here.
“I know he’s a rookie in pro [hockey], but he never played like it,” Chicago teammate Mark Popovic said. “He’s poised, strong and he’s got a great shot. He’s got a bomb, his slap shot. He makes plays and doesn’t panic. He’s a player.” (Craig Custance AJC)
I haven’t posted in a while, but it took me a while to get over the anger and humiliation of a sweep in the first round of the playoffs. Either way the past week or so has been exciting for me because of all the press our prospects are getting. I like to keep track of the Wolves during the season, and I am glad that there are journalists in Atlanta who have started to do the same. Here are a few of the articles about our prospects:
“A reliable complementary hard drive on the Microsoft of AHL offenses, LaVallee contributed 16 goals and 18 assists this season. As a 6-foot-3 power forward on a second line with Cory Larose and Niko Dimitrakos, he’s added five goals in nine playoff games for a Wolves squad that has reached the Western Conference finals.” (Lindsay Kramer NHL.com)
“As a talented center used to playing top line minutes and accustomed to being the go-to guy on the power play Little could have grumbled about his diminished role. After all- it took him several games just to get in the lineup after he signed try-out contract with the Wolves so he could join them for the playoffs. Bigger egos would have been bruised. Not Little’s. He looks at his time with the Wolves (no matter how brief it might be) as a stepping stone and a chance to learn the pro game.” (Ben Wright Blueland Blog)
“He concedes that his aggressive play leads to too many roughing and boarding penalties. He’s working on controlling his physical play. Anderson said Valabik still needs to get better at positioning and improve his decisions with the puck.” (Craig Custance AJC)
“Of any Thrashers prospect, the 24-year-old Popovic is the closest to consistently contributing at the NHL level. There just hasn’t been room on the Thrashers’ crowded blueline.” (Craig Custance AJC)
“This season with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, Sterling won rookie of the year honors after leading the league with 55 goals. It was the first time since 1989 that a rookie led the AHL in goals.” (Craig Custance AJC)
I am looking forward to seeing who will make it on the team next year, and I definitely wouldn’t mind being a ‘young’ team next year. I think young teams make for more exciting hockey.
P.S. Go Ottawa!! (I never thought I would say that earlier this season)
Bryan Little made his pro debut tonight, as the Chicago Wolves beat the Iowa Stars 5-1 in Game 6 of the series. With the win, Chicago becomes the second team in the tournament to reach the conference finals.
In the game, Little registered 1 shot, and had a plus-minus rating of 0. The five goals for the Wolves came from Brett Sterling, Jason Krog, Darren Haydar, Mark Popovic, and Jordan LaVallee. All 5 players have had stellar postseasons so far.
Michael Garnett continued his great playoff play, bringing his record this postseason to 8-2.
If you happen to read this tonight, go turn on Versus now. Buffalo and Ottawa just finished the first overtime, and are still tied 3-3. Daniel Briere tied the game with 5 seconds left, and so far, it has been an incredibly entertaining 80 minutes of hockey.
Usually overtime in the playoffs is slow and played in the neutral zone (see: New Jersey’s regular strategy). Not true for this game. With the amount of talent and speed that both teams have, it has been a very memorale game so far.
Go turn it on, you’ll probably see something incredible.
UPDATE: Joe Corvo scored for Ottawa right off of a faceoff win in the second overtime, giving the Senators a 2-0 series lead.
Well, Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis continues to lead the expansion of internet bloggers and their interaction with the sport. From Off Wing:
If all goes according to plan in the next hour, two of the crew from over at On Frozen Blog will be boarding a plane out of JFK bound for Moscow. Their mission: Bring their blogging skills to bear on covering the 2007 IIHF World Championships.
The bloggers that the rest of the world knows as OrderedChaos and pucksandbooks are the two lucky winners of Washington Caps owner Ted Leonsis’ latest blog lottery. For the next two weeks, our buddies are going to get an opportunity few U.S.-based hockey writers could ever dream of — a chance to cover a real live international competition from one of the most exciting cities in the world. And they’ll do it as guests of the team.
Hey Atlanta Spirit – I know you are involved in the court fiasco, but if this sounds like a good idea to you, I’ve never been to Russia…
Marian Hossa is currently playing for his home country Slovakia in the World Championship. He has played in one game, and has tallied one assist. The goal was an absolute beauty, though. The goal scorer is Marian Gaborik, making this play Marian to Marian back to Marian. Hossa is number 81, the opposite of his number with the Thrashers.
