A Tale of Two Goalies, or Three

As previously mentioned, starting goalie Kari Lehtonen went down on October 18 with what was a muscle strain, somewhere near the groin area. Fire Wagon Hockey might as well be "Kari Central" and they have an informative post on the extent of the injury which has him out until probably mid-December.

In the time being, though, the goaltending situation has become very interesting. "Moose" Hedberg played the first few games after Kari went down and did an OK job - not game-saving, but just OK. Granted, Hedberg was facing probably somewhere around 35 shots per game (at least, put I'm just throwing numbers out there with zero research) and his defense didn't help him out that much in his little run of a few games that he started. With that said, Moose did just OK.

The first game of the road trip, Moose got pulled after letting in five-too-many goals and Mr. Ondrej Pavelec took over and performed just OK... but, considering he's pretty much a rookie without any real professional experience (only a couple of games with the Chicago Wolves doesn't cut it), I'd say that OND-REDGE did just fine, considering he was up against Gnat St. Louis, Lecavalier, Richards, and Prospal.

Then, after a couple of days off, Moose was chased out of the net (or given a rest) to sit against where it all started, Tampa Bay. OND-REDGE came in, let in a few goals, then was rock solid. Keep in mind that this guy is basically coming directly from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles to the Atlanta Thrashers. He collected his first NHL win on the road, in the division rivals' 'hood. He followed that performance with a great game on Tuesday, almost posting a shutout against another division rival, the Washington Caps. The ONE goal he let by wasn't even a softie or anything that would be considered as such. He kept bringing quality save after quality save and endured the ridiculous first period that yielded 16 Caps shots, compared to the six that the Thrash brought on.

Surely, as things are when hot, they are "ridded" (or is that "ridden"?) for a while. Case in point with OND-REDGE. He did a good job in his first stint against Tampa, certainly held his own the second time around against the 'ning, and was phenomenal versus the Caps. Odds are that he will get the start on Friday against the Panthers in a nice duel with Tomas Vokoun. It should be a pretty good matchup.

And now the "problem" stands as this: when Kari returns, and if Pavelec keeps up his current level of play, which goalie gets the shaft? We all know that Kari has some serious talent in him, but ever since the playoffs from last season, he's been off. Hedberg can play the role of starter, but he's definitely reliable enough to be a good backup. And then there's his whippersnapper in Pavelec. The easy move is to bring Pavelec back down to Chicago to develop a bit more, but what if he's going well enough to gain the NHL experience? Or with our lacking in defensemen (or quality defensemen, that is) or a true number one center, do we attempt to deal Kari out to someone who can fill our needs or Moose and someone else? It's certainly an odd predicament to be in if you're part of Blueland Nation. But, in reality, it's not that bad of a spot to be in.

On Waddell, the Rangers, and a Fresh Start!

Tonight is the last night that the Thrashers are in town until November 6th. That's 19 days away from Philips Arena, 19 days away from Blueland, and 19 days away from familiarity. Well, familiarity is kinda tossed aside because there's a new coach in town.

General Manager Don Waddell resumes the pose tonight for another shot at coaching. Don't even begin to think that this is a possible permanent position though. Jennifer at Southeast Shootout provides a list of candidates to take over once everything's been said and done. Waddell is apparently seizing the moment, too. While some might question whether this massive early-season road trip is a prime time to look for a new head honcho, Waddell said that the timing couldn't be better... and he might be right (for a change). During the 19-day absence from Philips Arena, the Thrashers stop in Tampa (one too many times), Nashville, Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa. Traveling to Canada will provide the team's think-tank time and a bunch of miles to come up with great ideas on how to get the team on the tracks for success and who's gonna provide direction from here on out.

As for this evening's tilt against the New York Rangers (remember them?), Blueland Blog's Micah posted Waddell's slotting of forwards to deal with Drury, Gomez, Shanahan, etc. Considering that the Rangers were picked by some to bust out of the gate early and be quick contenders, the Rangers have stumbled themselves (although they do have two more wins than Le Thrash) and are probably looking to come to Atlanta and do what they did best back in April - pwn the Thrash. Hopefully the Thrashers will be able to combat against the Rangers' depth as well as King Henrik and collect their first two points of the season.

I'm planning on going to the game, and hopefully I'll be able to get seats. For every Thursday home game this season, the AJC is offering 2-for-1 tickets in certain sections of the Arena. I'd like to take advantage of this, so please forget I just mentioned anything about it.

Speaking about tonight's game plan (again, here), Marian Hossa stated that the team plans on playing with the puck some more, as opposed to doing the trademark Bob Hartley dump-n-chase game that generated a bunch of criticism throughout his time here. Hopefully the players will respond to some kind of game plan (or create their own - Holik, you're the captain, come up with something!) or everyone will do whatever they want and zhit's gonna get disorganized and out of whack quick. Waddell assembled this squad, and now it's his turn to coach.

It's time to get something started in Blueland and what better time than now? Let's go Blue!

LET'S GO THRASHERS!