SKY IS FALLING?

Let's look at this first, all courtesy of the NHL.com stats section.

Points: 0 (30th in NHL, and only winless, and pointless, team in the league)
Goals per game: 1.8 (Tied for 19th in the league with Chicago, last)
Goals against per game: 4.6 (Tied for 18th in the league with Los Angeles, last)
Power play %: 9.5 (third worst in the league, with only Minnesota and Edmonton trailing)
Penalty kill %: 68.8 (second worst in the league, with only Calgary trailing)
Shots per game: 22.0 (last in league)
Shots against per game: 34.6 (third worst in the league, with only Toronto and Washington trailing)

Well then. Actually, there's no need for these stats and other numbers; just look at the results on the season up to this point.

Is this team as hopeless as they appear on the ice? Absolutely not. In the Thrashers lineup resides premier NHL forwards like Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa. While he isn't exactly premier material, Slava Kozlov definitely has the ability to put up some serious offensive numbers, as noticed last season throughout his 80-point campaign.

After that, however, we kinda drop off the cliff. It was mentioned during the off-season that Coach Hartley, General Manager Don Waddell, and Bobby Holik all expect Mr. Captain (i.e. Holik) to become more offensive this season. Has that happened? One goal and one assist have been added to his career stats, and that means he's played a role in two of the Thrashers' nine goals. Yeah, you don't expect this guy to put up monster numbers, or even rival Kovalchuk, but you do plan on him setting up some guys for the goals. His best offensive season was ten years ago with the Devils (29g, 36a). Granted, he's 10 years older now, but you'd think that with help from some of either the more marquee guys (i.e. Kovy, Hossa, Kozy) or some of the younger fellas (i.e. Little, Sterling, Enstrom, etc.), he'd be able to have more of a say in the point production and set more plays up, especially with his experience.

Then we have players like Todd White, Eric Perrin, Pascal Dupuis, and a few other players who have been around the block for a bit. Now I don't expect massive numbers from any of those guys, but I'm most surprised by the play of White. Considering he was our first signing in the off-season, signaling that he was a priority from the get-go, and the fact that he's locked up for a few more years in Atlanta, I'm not excited about him AT ALL. I know that he has tallied two assists in the 0-5 place that Atlanta is in, but he's been unnoticeable in the games that I've watched. When I think of Todd White, I think of soft and invisible. You don't plan on your "priority" signing during off-season as either one of these two descriptors. He was initially put with Kovy and rookie Brett Sterling to center that line and be the center that Kovy hasn't had since Marc Savard departed before last season. In the five games that we've played (and I've watched most of 'em), I haven't noticed Todd White at all. This is a problem. If he's already this far off the map, I can't dare to imagine how it'll be throughout the rest of the season... forget about the upcoming years he's with us.

And what can be said about the mouth-dropping numbers of grinders like Jim Slater and Brad Larsen? Looking at their offensive numbers is pointless (punnery!), but just glance at their plus/minus rating for five games into the season. I said glance because if you actually look at them for too long, they'll burn into your eyes and you'll never see the same again. Minus six and -5, respectively. Weren't these guys supposed to be the next great penalty killers that the Thrashers had? Well, not exactly that, but that's kinda what they were billed as during the summer and throughout training camp. Larsen's fair at killing penalties, but I'd rather have him out there than Slater. As far as I'm concerned, he's no better than Bambi on the rink, please note:



Now this is turning into pessimism central. I don't want it to be that way, I really don't. I could go on and on - about how the defensive corps looks tiny, frail, and immovable, how the rookies are surprisingly holding their own rather well despite the fact that they certainly didn't want to start out their NHL careers with a team that's oh-and-five. There are other blogs for that (look to the right!).

I'm just saying that I, as well as everyone else who has a share in Blueland, am completely baffled at how poorly the team is playing right now.

My parents suggested to me that, after reading about last nite's score, the Thrashers "look like they're turning this around." Sure, getting five goals looks nice, considering they've only scored four in four games prior to last nite's tilt, but compare that to five goals on 17 shots... one goal in threeshots. I don't care how good of a team you have, you cannot anticipate a winning result with opportunities like those. That third period (the one I did not witness, BTW) must've been a screaming fest between yourself and the team/TV.

There's a practice tomorrow morning at 1030AM. I'm gonna see if I can make it. We'll see how things turn out during and after that. Hockey Buzz' Stan Hauseman brought up a nice point about the Thrashers' next game in Philly:

If you remember last year, a stronger Thrashers team lost to Philly in the shootout. You remember the game. It was the one where the Thrashers switched goalies for the shootout. Philly was 1-6-1 entering that game. The Thrashers were 7-1-2 landing in Philly for their first time that season. The Flyers are a strong 3-1 entering this game. So maybe revenge will be a dish best served cold for the Thrashers.

I clearly remember sitting in a parking lot in Tyrone, trying to break through the poor signals of AM radio and listening to the game and the outcome of it and wondering why Hartley was basically "subbing" Kari in for Hedberg, who played a wonderful game (at least that's what came across over the airwaves), for the shootout. Kari's record during the shootout was actually pretty good at the time, so the game was for him to "come in relief" of the Moose and close out the game (i.e. the Yankees' Mariano Rivera, who Hartley actually compared Kari to after the loss). It ended up (as I just mentioned) that the Thrashers blew it and I think that was Philly's only shootout win all of last season.

Something's gotta give. I never knew it would be like this, but it just felt weird and creepy to have a lead last nite, especially when it blew up to a two-goal lead during that second period. Sure, it was awesome, but I felt pretty uneasy about it, basically because of the play of the previous four games, because the team never played with a lead in the previous four games, because who could know how the play would've turned for the worst during that third period that only yielded three shots.

Could a win really kick-start the season for this team that appears to be free-falling? Most definitely! It would be awesome to finally get some points and something to show for in the wins column. I'm tired of every other analyst in the hockey world speaking the truth about the current state of the Thrashers. I'm exhausted from the misery that I constantly put myself through by reading the various Thrashers blogs and media reports from the losing games. I hate to think that I'm going to turn off the TV or question about going to a game because the team is playing so poorly. I don't want it to have to come to that point... ever. But this losing business must stop immediately.

LET'S GO THRASHERS!