30 teams in 30 days: Atlanta Thrashers
Finished: 13th eastern conference
Leading scorers: Ilya Kovalchuk 91, Vyacheslav Kozlov 76, Todd White 73, Bryan Little 51
Who did they add?: Nik Antropov, Pavel Kubina
Who did they lose?: No key losses.
Overview: If you overlook the Thrashers’ 13th place finish last year, it is possible to see a few positives for this team going forward. Firstly, the emergence of Bryan Little. A relatively unknown center-man who quietly put up 51 points last year and who surprised a lot of people. The addition of Nik Antropov should give Atlanta a second line scoring threat to take some pressure off Russian sniper Ilya Kovalchuk and his top line mates. However, it seems as if the Thrashers are building from the back end, with a solid core of young D including Zach Bogosian, Boris Valabik, Tobias Enstrom and Pavel Kubina, who adds a powerplay presence and some experience to the dressing room. Their goaltending looks to be in good form, with solid young talent in the form of Kari Lehtonen and Ondrej Pavelec and seasoned vet Johan Hedberg still able between the pipes. Although there are a few positives for this team, look for them, in my opinion, to finish in the bottom 6 in the eastern conference this year. Some of the players still need some time to develop and I don’t think they did a good enough job in adding a proven top line scorer to play with Kovalchuk.
Winners or losers?: In the middle. The Thrashers added Antropov and Kubina to give themselves a little insurance, but there isn’t enough talent up front for them to be able to make a big push into the upper echelon of the eastern conference. In a few years though, Atlanta (if they stay in Atlanta) should be a top 8 team in the east.
