Tkachuk Trade in Hindsight

From James Mirtle:

Here’s a question worth pondering now that seven (and, soon enough, eight) teams have bowed out of the postseason race: Did the Thrashers, Islanders and Predators seriously err in unloading picks and prospects for the Forsbergs, Tkachuks and Smyths of the world at the trade deadline?

With the benefit of hindsight, the short answer is unequivocally yes. All three teams would gladly reclaim their future building blocks instead of the big-ticket unrestricted free agents who are likely to move on, but the ‘go-for-it’ mentality made sense for some teams more than others — regardless of how it all turned out.

Atlanta Thrashers – It’s hard to hold this one against GM Don Waddell: With his team in prime position for its first-ever playoff berth, the wheels started falling off in February and the long-time manager dealt big to bring in veterans Keith Tkachuk and Alexei Zhitnik in the hopes of righting the ship. Their acquisitions had the desired effect — the Thrashers went 10-5-1 to close the year — but the birds laid an egg in the playoffs and were swept in what should have been an evenly matched series with the Rangers.

Waddell traded Glen Metropolit, a 2007 first- and third-round picks and a 2008 second-round pick for Tkachuk (and they’ll also forfeit a conditional 2008 first rounder if the big winger re-signs with the Thrashers). He also gave up top defensive prospect Braydon Coburn for Zhitnik, who is signed for two more years on a bloated, $3.5-million per year deal.

That’s an awful lot to unload for an extra two home dates, especially considered few Thrashers — save for perhaps netminder Kari Lehtonen — are poised to breakout next season. Waddell’s job, however, was likely on the line if the team missed the playoffs (and it still may be) and his team is due to shed six or seven key veterans as UFAs.

Fedoruk Knocked Out

Seriously, can the NHL not go one week without a cheap hit, an ugly act of violence, or a guy being taken straight to the hospital?

I understand fighting is major part of hockey, and a fan favorite, but come on. I personally am getting tired of seeing this kind of stuff. Colton Orr v. Todd Fedoruk, less than a minute into the game:

From James Mirtle:

It’s generally when I see incidents like this that I ponder just what the value of fighting in the NHL is. Given the way public sentiment has slowly started to move that way, I wouldn’t be surprised to see scraps become a 10-minute or game misconduct in the future.

Would that eliminate fights and the injuries they cause? Hardly. But it might, at the very least, give poor Fedoruk’s face a rest for a while.

Fortunately, the early returns from the hospital say that Fedoruk will be all right.

Don’t get me wrong, I am the first one standing and yelling when the gloves are dropped. But at some point the league needs to figure out how to get rid of the hits to the head, the cheap shots, the late hits, guys getting knocked unconscious every week, etc…

Tuesday’s News and Articles

Here are a few articles of interest (to me at least) from today. There are five, and all are worth a read.

First off, Craig Custance has started a discussion about possible first round opponents. Check it out and voice your opinion.

---

Pierre LeBrun took a look at a decline in scoring this season from last.

The new NHL is suffering a sophomore scoring mini-slump.

A year after sporting five 50-goal scorers, the most in a decade, only one player is currently on pace to top the magical barrier.

Scoring is down across the board. The NHL was averaging 5.8 goals per game this season through Monday night’s games, down from 6.1 through the same number of games last year, but still up from the 5.1 goals per game the league average through the same number of games in 2003-04 before the lockout.

James Mirtle finds out why scoring is down:

On average, teams are on pace to score 4.0 more even-strength goals in total than last season, but 13.7 fewer power-play goals and 1.1 fewer shorthanded goals.

Overall, that equals out to a 10.1 goal decrease per team, or a little more than a 4-per-cent drop in scoring. Even-strength scoring is on pace to rise by 2.7-per-cent while power-play goal production is down a whopping 16.3 per cent.

Here’s LeBrun again:

“Another theory is that players have adjusted to the new rules. They’re certainly taking less penalties. Through Monday night the NHL was averaging 9.8 power plays per game, down from 11.8 through the same number of games last season.”

Fewer penalties called, fewer power-play goals. We’ve found our culprit.

---

A USAToday piece by Kevin Allen about the Thrashers, the playoffs, and the deadline deals:

Atlanta Thrashers general manager Don Waddell understands the difference between managerial panic and managerial aggressiveness often comes down to which chair you are occupying.

“I’ve read (some critical) comments that were made after the deals we made,” Waddell says. “And granted we haven’t won a thing, but all I can say is at the deadline we were two points up for a playoff spot and now we are 10.”

---

The Forechecker reminds everyone that sportsmanship can still be shown amidst all of the fighting in hockey:

We’re approaching the 10th anniversary of perhaps the most intense and spectacular regular-season games in NHL history, the March 26, 1997 brawl-fest between the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena (more on that next week). Lost amidst the the furor of Darren McCarty vs. Claude Lemieux (among other battles) was an underreported gesture by Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy at the end of the game. McCarty scored the game winner in overtime, and as his teammates celebrated and headed off the ice, Roy fired the puck down to Red Wings goalie Mike Vernon, with whom Roy had fought just two periods earlier. This was in recognition of the fact that the game marked Vernon’s 300th career victory, a hallmark achievement in a goaltender’s NHL career.

Was Roy angry and disappointed at losing the game? Absolutely. But he knew that Vernon had reached a noteworthy milestone, and Roy made sure that Vernon got the game puck to mark the occasion. It was the professional thing to do, and Roy didn’t let the emotions of the moment get in the way.

Horrible Penalty Kill

James Mirtle took a look and did a lot of information compiling on the penalty killers in the league with a minimum of 120 shorthanded minutes. I knew the Thrashers’ penalty kill was horrible, but damn.

I scrolled through the the chart of the top killers, and thought I finally found a Thrasher when at number 132 I found a player listed next to ATL. Oops, that is Vishnevski. Keep going down, and the top Thrasher is number 136, Marian Hossa. Wow. Incredible. Terrible. I don’t know.

Out of the 242 players in the league with at least the 120 shorthanded minutes, Niclas Havelid comes in at 237, Bobby Holik at 235, and Brad Larsen at 230.

Of the top 100 penalty killers with less than 120 minutes, the Thrashers have 5 players. There’s Zhitnik at 22, Exelby at 46, Kozlov at 50, Belanger at 71, and Hnidy at 91.

So let me get this straight. The Atlanta Thrashers don’t have any penalty killers in the top 135 in the league, and have 3 in the bottom 13. Well, I guess this is obviously something that Uncle Don has to work on over the offseason. There are also five players in the top 100 with less than 120 minutes? That sounds like maybe there might be a few changes that need to be made, and now, to the PK squad.