This is a very good signing for a few reasons:
1. Everyone else is saying it, I shall say it too: The dude's big. We've needed size up front for a long time now; well, sirs and misses, here's your size, and it matters.
2. He can play either center or wing. Obviously no one knows what the usual line combinations will be next season, but having Antropov gives us a TON of options as far as organizing lines.
3. We have a glut of scoring forwards! Antropov, if he stays healthy most of the season, is a guaranteed 20plus goal-scorer, and I don't think I'm too naive to think he could score 30 or more playing under John Anderson. Either way, the Thrashers now have 6 players who scored more than 20 goals last season. Peverley surely would have scored more than 20 if we'd had him all year; I think it's safe to assume he can score more than 20 this coming season. And that's not to mention our offensive defensemen, Bogo especially.
4. The money issue. Some are saying that Antropov has been overpaid, and that might be true to some extent, but the $4 million a year doesn't really bother me. It's less than he originally wanted and it's actually not that expensive for the Dude Who Plays with Kovalchuk.
5. The age issue. Antropov is 29. He's in his prime. Barring a trade, we'll have him for the rest of his "prime" years. I see nothing wrong with having him around until he's 33 or 34.
6. Kovy had a hand in it! What more do you want?!
Okay, just for the hell of it:
Kovalchuk-Pevs Dispenser-Antropov
Kozlov-White-Little
Machacek/Kane/Crabb-Reasoner-Armstrong
Boulton-Slater-Thorburn
Enstrom-Bogosian
Hainsey-Kubina
Salmela-Valabik/Kulda/whoever
woooooooo
...or perhaps Antropov should be Kovy's center. Oh hell I don't know, it's just so nice to have options!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Pevs is the center, Antro is RW. Antro isn't as good at face-offs, and we know Pevs is meant to center
my only concern: Kane's size on that third line. i don't know if he's gonna be able to play the game he wants to/is used to for another year or two. Reasoner & Army have a little more grit to them... I may be completely whacked on this one, tho - I haven't seen Kane play enough.
Aaron-
No, you're probably right. I figure Kane might need another year of preparation before he joins the NHL, but who knows? He says he wants to bulk up...
Give Kane a chance to bulk up and show that he belongs with the big club already, sure. Since he's in the juniors, he can actually play several games with the Thrashers in October and still be sent back to the Giants for another year.
I think we should bring in someone like Mike Grier if we can sign him for 3rd line money for a year or two.
Either having Antro at center where he can crash the net or putting him on the wing while Pevs dispenses the puck should work. The advantage of that is that Little gets a break not having to face top-line pressure and Reasoner gets to play center, which is his natural position.
We still just need to fill that third line wing slot. So far DW/RD get an A+ for bringing us Kane, Kubina, and Antropov without even giving up a goalie.
Another thing to note is that we can hold on to all three goalies until mid October when a team like Colorado starts to get wary of their gamble on someone like Craig Anderson.
isn't his uncle a trainer/nutrionist/professional healthyman? plus he looked like he was really intent on making the team this year... prospect camp should be interesting
Aaron- Kane's dad is a boxing instructor, so he certainly knows all there is to know about adding muscle bulk. If Kane can make the team this year and we can bring him along in a way that doesn't hurt his development, I'm all for it. I can't wait to cheer for the guy. I just want to make sure that we get to cheer for him for the next 15 years instead of just the next 6 or 7.
Post a Comment