Atlanta Thrashers Dynasty (BAGM NHL10)

[kingalexander]

I've decided to go with the Thrashers, i'll start posting soon!

[bthomp05]

Look forward to it.

[Axeshun]

I will definitely check it out.

[BlueLineBomber]

Right on

[kingalexander]

NHL.com Insider

Thrashers Prepare for Draft


GM Don Waddell will hope to strike gold with the no. 4 draft choice



The Atlanta Thrashers have had quite a week on the road to the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

The front office has been in a whirlwind to finalize all scouting reports and decisions involving the club ahead of general manager Don Waddell heading out to Montreal for the draft.

Having the fourth overall draft pick this year, the Thrashers will hope to add a new player to the team

Early reports are saying the Thrashers will have the choice of forwards Trevor Pollock or Michael Phillips. Regardless of their choice, both players will more than likely fit in with the rest of the squad.

But before the Thrashers can welcome a new player to their system, Don Waddell will have to make his way to Montreal along with second year head coach John Anderson to participate in the draft, which already has become a noteworthy event for the media, especially after Waddell’s comments before heading on the plane.


During a brief interview in a conference room located in the Phillips Arena, home of the Thrashers, Waddell spoke about the opportunity his team will have to add new talent through the draft.

Quote:

“Right now, we will be heading off to Montreal for the draft where we will definitely look to get some new players in the system(...)I think anyone that joins our team has to know that we are fighting this year for a playoff spot. It’s something that we owe to our fans in Atlanta and it’s something that I want to see this club achieve. We’ve only had one appearance in the post-season and that is not enough for a hockey club like this.”

With high speculation surrounding the Thrashers in a possible trade which would see star winger Ilya Kovalchuk leave the club, focus will surely be around the Atlanta table on the draft floor.

This will also mark the sixth time Atlanta will have a draft pick in the top five overall choices. The last of which came in 2008 when they drafted defenseman Zach Bogosian as the number three overall pick.

by Dan McCready

[kingalexander]

2009 NHL Entry Draft




NHL.com reporter Sean Green spent the NHL Draft following the big name trades and draft selections along with the movements the Atlanta Thrashers made during the 2-day event in Montreal, Quebec.

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[Montreal] - The Atlanta Thrashers have selected center Michael Phillips as the fourth overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.


The 20-year-old Canadian center from Hamilton, Ontario played his junior hockey with the London Knights, where he made a big impact as their number one middleman where he racked up assists and led the Knights in that category.

During his stint in the OHL club, he was more known for making flashy and pinpoint accurate passes to his line mates rather than scoring goals himself, but he did manage to hit the back of the net 20 times during his final season with the Knights to lead them to a Holody Trophy capture for Midwest Division Champions.

Quote:

“We are very pleased with the way things came out, definitely excited to have Michael with the Thrashers along with the rest of the draftees, but right now we’re going to focus on training camp and see where that takes us to start the new season.”

– Don Waddell.

But along with the draft taking place, some big trades were made during the first round, the main two that were the most surprising involved the San Jose Sharks sending defensemen Rob Blake, Jason Callahan and a 3^rd round pick to the Minnesota Wild in return for winger Derek Boogaard and defenseman Greg Zanon.

Anaheim was also on the minds of many as they managed to pick up Wade Redden from the New York Rangers for Scott Niedermayer, a player who was speculated as retiring before the start of the season but looks to start the 09/10 season in the Big Apple.

2^ND ROUND:

The second round started off with another blockbuster trade with defenseman John-Michael Liles heading to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for center Michal Handzus.

The Kings hope to bolster their blue-line with this acquisition and the Avalanche believe Handzus can add some veteran leadership to the squad which is now suffering after losing key players over the last few years.

But the Thrashers added some more talent as they chose 17 year old Swedish youngster Jan-Axel Kronwall from Modo Hockey of the Elitserien who has been able to learn a bit more of the game while playing with former NHL-er Peter Forsberg.

Quote:

“Jan is still very young and has a lot to learn but I believe we made a strong choice with him for the future of the team and he’s already shown he can play at a top level in Europe”

– Thrashers head coach John Anderson.

3^rd ROUND:

The Tampa Bay Lightning made the biggest impact of the weekend, not with who they drafted, rather whom they traded.

The Boston Bruins shocked the league when they confirmed a trade sending Shawn Thornton and Zdeno Chara to the Lightning in return for Alex Tanguay and Martin St. Louis.

The Bruins seem to have gotten the better side of the deal, adding proven goal scorers in St. Louis and Tanguay, which will definitely make an impact on the team that hope to make a playoff appearance.

Although the talk of this trade continued for some time, there were still choices to be made in the third round of the draft, with the Thrashers selecting 19-year-old Kenneth Card from the Guelph Storm.

The American born defenseman made heads turn during his three seasons with the Storm but many were surprised it took up to the third round for the player to be selected. Although he was given a higher draft position during predictions, he is still excited for the chance to play.

Quote:

“You know, I never listen or see those types of things. I was just anxious to see if I would be chosen or not, but I’m really relieved and excited now that it’s all over. Now I can focus all my attention on what I need to accomplish and do during training camp so I can keep this dream of mine going.”

– Kenneth Card.

4^th ROUND:


Atlanta added another American player, this time with center Nick Evans from Boston College. The 19 year old center played for B.C. for three seasons before deciding to enter the draft, and he made a realistic expectation of the draft, not expecting to be drafted at all.

Quote:

“I knew it was going to be a tough time entering the draft compared to other players, but I was confident something good would come of it(…)I told myself before it started that if I didn’t get drafted I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it, I was just going to focus on whatever I needed to do to reach my goal playing pro hockey.”

– Nick Evans.

The Avalanche made another trade during the fourth round, sending Scott Hannan and Brian Willsie to the Florida Panthers for Stephen Weiss and Clay Wilson. Both Weiss and Wilson will hopefully add some more scoring talent to the team, along with Michal Handzus, who was acquired a few rounds earlier.

5^th ROUND:

Atlanta finally made an announcement of a trade, many were excited to hear the result, but weren’t sure if it was the trade they were hoping for. Before the start of the draft, rumors have been going around that Ilya Kovalchuk would be placed on the trading block and a trade would occur on the draft floor. But for the time being, Kovalchuk will stay with the Thrashers and will be joined by defenseman Matt Smaby as the Thrashers acquired him from the Tampa Bay Lightning in return for prospect Riley Holzapfel.

Along with the trade, Atlanta hit the podium once again to select right winger Jacob Eaton from the Quebec Remparts.

The 20 year old from Ann Arbor, Michigan will most likely begin his career in the minor league before making the big jump to the NHL, but the Thrashers are expecting good things from this player who has a lot of potential, as seen during the past season in Quebec.

The Atlanta Thrashers will now look forward to the rest of the draft weekend, followed by the free agent period where they will hope to snag up some key players to help them achieve their goals this year of a better position at the end of the season and a playoff spot.

[kingalexander]

Free Agency Period

7/1/09
St. Louis acquire LW Alexander Semin from Washington for D Eric Brewer

7/3/09
Montreal acquire LW Ruslan Fedotenko from Pittsburgh for D Paul Mara

7/4/09
Colorado sign D Alexei Semenov to 2 year contract

Ottawa sign D Francois Bouillon to 2 year contract

Los Angeles sign D Bryan Berard to 2 year contract

7/5/09
Edmonton sign D Christian Backman to a 3 year contract

7/6/09
Atlanta sign RW Mark Parrish to 2 year contract

Coloroado acquire G Scott Munroe, C Kyle Brodziak, and D Brendan Witt from NYI for RW Milan Hejduk and RW Marek Svatos

Toronto sign G Marc Denis to 2 year contract

Ottawa sign D Marc-Andre Bergeron to 4 year contract

San Jose sign D Ossi Vaananen to 1 year contract

7/7/09
Boston acquire D Andrei Markov and D Shawn Belle from Montreal for RW Martin St. Louis and LW Josef Hrdina

7/15/09
Boston sign D Mark Popovic to 2 year contract

7/19/09
Toronto sign G Manny Fernandez to 3 year contract

7/22/09
Washington sign G Manny Legace to 3 year contract

7/30/09
Los Angeles sign G Karri Ramo to 2 year contract

Carolina sign G Jason Bacashuhua to 2 year contract

8/2/09
Edmonton sign G Philippe Sauve to 2 year contract

8/11/09
Toronto acquire D Brian Campbell and D Aaron Rome from Chicago for D Mike Komisarek and D Jeff Finger

8/24/09
NYI acquire D Matt Greene from Los Angeles for LW Sean Bergenheim

[kingalexander]

Training Camp

Week 1:


Mark Parrish looks to return to the USA team in the Olympics.


(Duluth, GA) - Mark Parrish is one of a handful of new players that have signed contracts with the Thrashers and are ready to make an impact. Rich Peverly, Nik Antropov, and Pavel Kubina are the other players looking for a spot on the Thrashers 20 man roster and the first step towards that is getting through the first week of training camp.

Some current and former players have given this week a special name: Hell.

Parrish is now one of those players. But he isn’t saying anything bad about the current week in training camp. Rather, he is looking forward to the remaining time in camp before the start of the Thrashers season.

Quote:

“This is really one of the toughest training camps I’ve been in, but it’s all to the same goal of getting ready for the season and going out there and making the team a better core group”

– Mark Parrish.

But the training camp isn’t just to those that have earned contracts with the Thrashers, it’s also for those minor league players and invited players to try out for a chance to wear the blue at the start of October.

Leading the training camp is none other than captain Ilya Kovalchuk and alternate Slava Kozlov. For the time being, head coach John Anderson hasn’t announced who the second alternate captain will be, but has said he will look to the blueline for that empty spot.

But for now, the Thrashers will have to continue the hard work and conditioning required to reach their physical peak ahead of the strenuous 2009-2010 NHL season ahead of them.

Quote:

"Like I've told everyone earlier today, we come in here and we start working hard now. We don't lay off and we work until we can't give any more. That's the philosophy of the team this year, 'never give up."

-Head coach John Anderson

There will definitely be smiles and confidence right next to disappointment and fatigue. Some players will earn the opportunity to make their childhood dreams come true, others will unfortunately have to look to different places to make that same dream come true.

But at the end of it all, what matters is that the Atlanta Thrashers have the best possible squad at the start of the season and are ready to play 82 tough and grueling games.