Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Who is the Thrashers' Most Valuable Player?

It's that time of year again.

I'm a bit conflicted, to be honest. I mean, the obvious choice is Kovy because he's the Czar and all, but the decision is really more complicated than that. For instance, I shudder to imagine what this season would have been like without Kari Lehtonen or Toby Enstrom.

Kari literally saved our asses in several games and mitigated what should have been complete disasters in others. In some games he was the only player that actually, you know, PLAYED. It helps that he's a great goalie.

Toby has been a great addition; without him our defense would be a Maginot Line, and he performs very well (says I) under pressure.

Then there's Eric Perrin to consider. He's been fabulous all year-- a confidence-booster and an all-round damn good player. He looks for opportunities and takes advantage of them in just about any situation: penalty kills, shoot-outs, etc. etc...

Then there's Moose, who has never been anything less than reassuringly awesome (that Buffalo game where we lost 1000-1 non-withstanding); he's perfected the poke-check to the point where it should be re-named the Moose Check, and he brings a gravity and a maturity to the Thrashers that would be sorely lacking if he'd taken his Moose Dance elsewhere. The same could be said of Mark Recchi; he's not our best player, certainly, but he has a commanding presence on the ice and I'm convinced that he tries his absolute hardest and best every single game.

I have a hard time choosing between Kovy, Kari, Toby, and Perrin. Hedberg is my sentimental favorite, but I figure I should limit my choices to those four simply because they've played more games than the Moose One. What do you all think?

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