...for the rest of this bizarre season, which ends in 2 days. In Kubina's case, of course, it really could be Goodbye Forever.
In other news: Slava Kozlov will play at least one more game as a Thrasher. A good robust chant of "SLA-VA! SLA-VA!" on Saturday wouldn't be ungracious. Just saying.
P.S. Duh, just remembered Saturday could be Goodbye Forever for Moose as well. You know what to do.
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""I want to be one of those guys that plays 1,000 games for the same organization. That’s just the way I am."-- Jimmy Slater
http://www.sportssoutheast.com/index.php/red-light-report/59-nhl/201-slater-hopes-for-continuity
Why we have decided to put Slava in now that the games are totally meaningless is beyond me. You are trying to make the playoffs and you play Clark McArthur game after game over Slava! The Slava decision is without a doubt my biggest beef with Anderson. Made no sense to me. At all.
Ok, Shooter, now I know that the end of the season has clouded your judgment. I'm not in any way defending McArthur, but Slava was abyssmal all year long. Totally useless. At least putting McA in over him we weren't SURE that he would suck. He did, but we couldn't know for certain before hand that he would. With Slava there was no mystery involved.
And a guy that has 852 career points and won multiple Cups can't be given the benefit of the doubt that he could turn things around? Especially on a team that lacks leadership and their buttholes get tighter than my ex-wife's wallet at a cattle show when they have to play a big game.
Not to mention the fact that he is the best in shootouts that directly lead to a point. But no, we really didn't need those extra points after all, I guess...
Slava put himself on the bench with his idiotic statements and poor attitude.
I guarantee that Slava would have played after Kovalchuk got traded but his comments put him in the doghouse. You can't have players, regardless of who they are, questioning the coach's decisions. That sets a bad precident for the other members of the team. If Kozlov is questioning Anderson's style, what kind of leadership is that? It is a nice gesture by the Thrashers to get Kozlov in one last time at home so the fans can say their goodbyes.
At least Jimmy wants to be back for next season...
http://www.sportssoutheast.com/index.php/red-light-report/59-nhl/201-slater-hopes-for-continuity
My apologies to RCP. Completely missed him posting that link.
Oh, and Chipper Jones and Kari Lehtonen may be the same person.
Agreed that perhaps Slava's comments didn't sit all that well with Coach Anderson. However, stuff like that happens all the time. At the end of the day we are all big boys and girls. I can understand a brief benching, but what he said in no way shape or form should have made him sit the rest of the season if that was indeed the reason he has been scratched all this time.
I find it interesting that someone who has been the utlimate professional for his entire NHL career is now labeled by some as someone who has a bad attitude and not a good teammate. Have any of you ever said something while you were upset that you regret later (keep in mind that most of us don't have microphones in our face every day)? I know I have. I don't think that makes me a bad person and someone who is not a team player.
It is also the Coach's job to ice the best possible team that he can. Especially when you are fighting for a playoff spot.
My point is, I think fans (myself included, at times) overreact to what we read in the paper.
GPY-
They might be. I was there last night and I'm still not sure what exactly happened. I have, however, always had a soft spot for Omar Infante.
Fun game, very pleasant evening though. We were on our feet at the bottom of the 9th, totally convinced something was going to happen.
First off, Shooter, your ex wife never had anything tight about her. HEYO!
Second, what made Slava the consumate professional his whole career? The fact that he never said anything about anything. Those comments were the first time he ever strung more than three words together. It's like the old joke about the monk who was allowed to say two words a year. After his first year at the monostary he said "room cold" so they gave him blankets. At the end of the second year he said "more food" so they fed him more. At the end of the third year he said "I'm leaving." The Abbott said "good, all you've ever done is complain!"
Are you honestly saying he isn't a professional because he doesn't talk much or are you joking? I can't tell.
If that's what you really believe it's a bit baffling. The fact that he showed up for work every day, worked hard, and was extremely successful all make him a consumate professional.
Even after he has been scratched the last half of this season and we couldn't trade him he still showed up for practice everyday and worked hard (even taking a puck in the face) when he knew there was little benefit in it for him.
Lay off Slava people.
His comments put him on the bench, his style of play kept him there. Slava is not a good fit for this team. Wasn't last year, wasn't this year. The coaches new what they were going to get out of him and therefore there was no point in playing him over the untested players. The only reason to play Slava this year was to have him available in the shootouts, and he wasn't excelling at that either. It would have been nice if he would have waived his no movement clause.
My point wasn't that he was unprofessional because he didn't speak. My point was that we don't know how his attitude has been with what comments he may have made in private. He said himself that he and Kovy had complained to John Anderson about the way he rolls four lines instead of just putting the top two lines out again and again.
You're right about his conduct pointing to him being a respectable professional. I'm just saying that we don't know what has transpired behind the scenes.
But it's all a moot point now. Slava is going to either retire or go on for a final season somewhere else. Either way we can cheer him on Saturday as thanks for his years with the team.
Taylor, did you and The Slavsterino have a star-cross'd steamy liaison of sorts? ;-) I kid. Slava was sucking big time and then spouted off, but I still agree he would have been a better choice over Clarke MacFoops based on career experience. Who knows? At least Slazlov's playing Sat and we can all bid him a fond adieu.
Fist bump to RCP for the ex-wife comment rebuttal!
At some point Anderson and Kozlov should have ironed out their differences, perhaps over wine (yes, that's right, they should have physically used a wine bottle as an iron, for their differences).
This trade deadline was the dullest of all time. Clark MacArthur, of the MacArthurs, hahaha.
Re: Andrew's comment, I don't think I'm brave enough to say whether any player truly "fits" this team. What precisely IS this team? I can't really tell.
>>What precisely IS this team?
It's a team that is supposed to move it's feet, chase the puck up and down the ice and catch the opponent in odd man rushes. Slavas game is all about matchups in the opponents zone. He doesn't play in the open ice. Partly because of his age, partly because that's not him
That's also why JA likes to roll four lines. When a line comes off the bench it should be physically drained. So Slava making a statement that he and Kovy complained about how the lines were rolled, is basically admitting his on ice performance wasn't up to JA's standards.
The teams that have success rolling 4 lines are the teams that actually have 4 NHL lines to roll. Teams that roll 4 lines when they might have 2 NHL ready lines miss the playoffs. What, again happened to us this year?
And for the record, he was willing to waive the no movement clause. Perhaps you missed that.
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