When I first read this report about one of those recently-captured Russian spies being a Kovalchuk fan, I became all giddy, and eager to write a "ha ha espionage and my favorite player" post.
Then I remembered that he doesn't play for us anymore. I grew wistful.
I know we're all supposed to pretend he's History's Greatest Monster now, but still. Wonder where he'll end up.
Also, on this suburban Russian spy ring business: is THIS what international espionage has become? McMansions and HGTV? I mean, just how "deep cover" do you have to go?
We are monitoring the Twitter, and all police blotters (hey, what do you get when you cross Twitter and a blotter? A Twotter!), for free agent news. News of both the Actual News and "I hear something about Dan Ellis going to the moon" varieties.
For the next few days, or for as long as this free agent period lasts, your Chronicle will bring you the Big Story as quickly as we can, while also serving as a filthy gossip column.
Well, by extending qualifying offers to the ones that are good or useful or might have a future in the NHL (7 of them), and allowing the others (4) to continue their minor league careers as UFAs. As has been mankind's custom since the infamous Hockey Rink Oath of 1789.
The Lucky Seven: Niclas Bergfors Bryan Little Ben Eager Clarke MacArthur Ondrej Pavelec Peter Mannino Anthony Stewart
The Four of Sadness: Chad Denny Rylan Kaip Scott Lehman Matt Siddall
And now we must pretend that all of this is surprising/interesting.
I've made it reasonably well known (well known if you read this blog or the occasional comment in the AJC blogs) that I'm no fan of Rick Dudley. Many 'round these parts think the man can do no wrong and couldn't be happier to have him at the wheel. Can't say I could blame you after what this franchise has been through over the last 10 seasons.
My problem is, I remember the other teams that he was in charge of. I'm not sure many of you are quite aware of what went on there. Many of you know him from the Rick Dudley is not Don Waddell fame. Let's take a stroll down memory lane and look primarily at the NHL Drafts Dudley was in charge of from Tampa to Florida. I will try and do this as fair and balanced as I can. Feel free to debate. We won't look at Ottawa in '98 as he took the GM spot one day after the draft. And we won't look at Chicago because, you know, he wasn't the GM. Dale Tallon was, of the Dale Tallon Florida Panthers fame.
Tampa Bay - 1999
Dudley traded down from the #1 spot to the #4 spot in this very weak draft class. He then traded the #4 pick out of the 1st round entirely. In the process he picked up Dan Cloutier, Shawn Burr, Andrei Zyuzin and a 1st in 2000. Four guys that he drafted in '99 played in the NHL totaling 261 games played and scoring 15 goals.
Tampa Bay - 2000
Dudley traded the #5 overall pick to the Islanders for Kevin Weekes, Kristian Kurdroc and the 31st overall pick (kind of hard to get screwed by Mike Milbury, but I think Duds pulled it off). He had the #8 overall pick from the trade the previous year and selected Nikita Alexeev. Wow, taking a skilled Russian at #8 overall, imagine that! Nikita played 107 games in the NHL scoring 14 goals and 15 assists. Other than Nikita, only two players picked by Dudley in this draft ever played in the NHL.
Tampa Bay - 2001
With the #3 overall pick in the draft Dudley chose Alexandr Svitov (hey, another skilled Russian!). Alex played in 179 NHL games scoring 13 goals and 24 assists. The only other player of note drafted by Dudley that year was some guy named EvgenyArtyukhin. Who, by the way, as of last year was the only player still playing in the NHL that Dudley drafted for the Lightning, making Artyukhin by far the best player Dudley drafted in his three years with Tampa Bay.
Now, in the effort to be fair Dudley did some nice things as GM that helped Tampa win a Cup after he left. He acquired Dan Boyle, traded for the Bulin Wall and I believe also picked up Marty St. Louis. Though the purpose of this post is to look at his drafting skills. Also it should be pointed out that Dudley left the Lightning after he tried to trade away some guy named Vinny Lecavalier, who keep in mind, also was kind of instrumental in the Bolts winning it all. Now then. On to the Panthers...
Florida - 2002
Dudley traded down from #1 to #3 and selected Jay Bouwmeester. All in all a pretty good pick I'd have to say. He did pass on Eric Staal at #2, but we won't be picky. He also had the #9 overall pick and selected Petr Taticek. Petr played a total of 3 NHL games. No one of note was selected the in the remaining rounds.
Florida - 2003
With the #3 pick Dudley selected Nathan Horton. A fine selection indeed. He also had another first rounder with the #25 pick and Anthony Stewart was chosen (46 NHL games played, 2 goals). No one panned out from the remaining rounds.
Clearly Dudley did much better drafting with the Panthers than with the Lightning. Unfortunately for them, he didn't do quite as well with the other moves like bringing in a Dan Boyle or anything like that.
By my count, Dudley traded three top 5 picks outright, and received very little in return. He also had five top 10 picks that he used, and totally whiffed on three of them.
I'm not trying to be over the top negative. I just wanted some of you that may not know where my criticism is coming from and why I wish we had chosen a different GM. You know after 10 years of losing when you finally make a change I would have thought that would be the perfect opportunity to see what was out there in the GM world of the NHL instead of letting the guy that put you in that spot for 10 years hand pick his replacement.
Dudley is hailed around these parts as the best talent evaluator in the NHL. Take a look at the draft history above. What do you think? Now, every ounce of me hopes I'm a complete fool and everything works out for the best and Dudley wins us a Cup. I just don't think so. I can't understand passing up on guys like Fowler, Gormley, or Campbell. I can't understand trading a 1st and 2nd rounder, Morin, and Reasoner and the main guy coming back has yet to top 40 points for the season. Clearly Byfuglien has talents and he should continue to improve. I just think we gave up way too much and got caught up in the playoff heroics, which can be a dangerous thing to do. I can't understand hiring another coach that has not been an NHL head coach for a full season.
Again, I'm not trying to dump on Dudley just for the sake of being negative. And I'm not trying to say the kid we drafted at #8 this year is going to be a bust. I've just read too many times about how everyone is saying Dudley is the man. He drafts the best talent. Nobody knows more about players than him. I had to say my piece.
Thoughts and comments are a welcome.
***Edit***
After thinking about it, I suppose you could say I believe Dudley's drafts have been barbaric:
Despite my wailing and teeth gnashing, I have nothing against Burmistrov. I was very concerned that any Russian would be a risky pick, but his comments about the KHL have quelled those fears.
My outrage with Dudley's choice of Burmistrov isn't a knock on him, it's a commentary on the fact that Fowler and Campbell were both available and would have been a gift. As The Falconer will tell you, franchise D-men and goalies just don't come along as UFA's or in trades but once in a blue moon. Goal scorers are much easier to come by, so you should use your draft picks on the guys who will keep the puck out of your net.
If you misuse your draft picks, you end up with a team like we had last year that was able to put a lot of rubber in the other team's net but can't keep your own twine clean. That is a recipe for 9th and 10th place finishes, just out of reach of a playoff spot. Much like this:
Now that it's done, let's welcome Burma and hope he turns into a dynamic little scoring machine.
Q. Congratulations on being drafted in the first round and making it to the NHL. Did you think you were going to get drafted so high?
BURMISTROV: Thank you for the congratulations. As for being drafted, yes, I was waiting for it. I was waiting for the Atlanta Thrashers to pick me.
Did you know that Atlanta was going to pick you?
I didn't know it, but I was waiting for it.
At this point in history, enthusiasm for the Thrashers is either heroic or ultra-naive. Probably both. Point is: we're in awe of this Ruskie youth's willingness to become a Thrasher.
Writing from Mr. Speaker's laptop, as we (Speaker, K-Belle, Monsieur, and myself) all just returned from the surreal and demure draft party. We met famous Chronicle operative "Jay" there, who is a swell guy in real life, so hooray!
Anyway. I see my comrade Razor Catch Prey isn't too keen on this Alexander Burmistrov fellow, and I understand his horror. I must admit I'm not excessively keen myself, but then again, I'm pretty ignorant of this Barrie Colt, except for this:
"I really hate the KHL," Burmistrov told NHL FanHouse. "I really, really hate it. It's for old guys. I don't want anything to do with the KHL for a long, long time ... maybe ever."
The young man hates the KHL and doesn't want to play there. This is a Good Thing. He's compared, hyperbolically, to Igor Larionov and Pavel Datsyuk. He will likely be nothing like either of those esteemed cerebral Russians, but he might be a fine player. The Big Point here is that no one who writes for your Chronicle knows much of anything about this poor bastard, so God help us.
Your TBC editor loves Cam Fowler and Jack Campbell, like he enjoys any Team America hero, but the Fact of the Matter is we know very little about anything to do with the Future of Earth's Hockey.
I would have taken Fowler, probably. But then again we have so many defensemen that we probably don't need another.
This is probably some kind of ploy to entice Nabokov and re-entice Kovalchuk. It will fail.
Nonethless, Alexander Burmistrov will be known now and forever as "Johnny Burma." Hooray for Life.
Must admit---now that we've had a few days to digest it---we're feeling ambivalent about this week's big trade.
No question Byfuglien is a nifty guy, but was he worth Jeremy Morin? Of course Morin might come to nothing, but I'm having nightmares about him scoring goals in a Blackhawks jersey. Essentially, we've become seriously grittier and more physical, which is good, but I worry about our stock of players who can put the puck in the net.
It seems we've built up something resembling the supporting cast of the Chicago Blackhawks (which now includes actual Chicago Blackhawks) without ATL equivalents to Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews. Who, after all, were the biggest factors in turning around Chicago's misery. I'm willing to learn, though: if I'm mistaken, just who are our equivalents to Toews and (P.) Kane? Or Hossa, for that matter....
BUT I'm willing to suspend serious judgement until this team actually starts playing. And of course the team isn't even completely assembled yet; who knows what might happen during free agency?
So, draft day. My own opinion is that we have no choice but to trade our #8 pick for a decent top-six forward, but that probably won't happen. I'm a bit wary of this #8 position, but who knows? We might get a Devin Setoguchi.
We could have gotten the ACTUAL Devin Setoguchi at #8 in 2005, but we traded down and picked up Alex Bourret instead. An argument against my "trade the 8th thing" argument? Perhaps, but I say WRONG LESSON TO LEARN TRADE IT DUDLEY, etc.
Now. If I could choose any player within range of this #8 pick, I'd take Swiss hero Nino Niederreiter and greet him with chiming cow bells and Roger Federer statuettes.
He'll be gone by #8, though, so....who's left?
Why not his Portland Winterhawks teammate Ryan Johansen? Uh, yeah, let's go with Ryan Johansen. Playing on the same team as Niederreiter makes him close enough, and he's probably related to Scarlet Johansson, despite the varied spellings (that's Hollywood for you).
Anyway, yeah, um...so it looks like Chronicle operative "Krisabee" and her inconvenient boyfriend Mr. Speaker are dragging Monsieur Catalogues and me to the Official Draft Party at Philip's tonight, which could be interesting. Never been to one of these official Thrashers draft parties before.
Happy Draft Friday, comrades. Drive carefully if not safely.
I believe one of our esteemed posters here stated the day that Dudley was promoted and Anderson was fired that "this is not a time for old friendships and repaying old debts" regarding choosing a new coach. It sounds as though Ramsay is very well respected, but I am worried about the fact that his path through the NHL assistant coaching ranks reads a lot like Rick Dudley's path through front offices. Tampa, Florida, Ottawa... Is he really good and loyal to Dudley, or is he just adequate and Dudley keeps extending him patronage?
So, anybody hear the news yesterday? It seems as though the internets believe the Thrashers made some kind of player swap with the Blackhawks. I know it's true because I read it on the twitter machine.
This move is quite a big trade in many ways. I really needed to sleep on it and see what I thought about it... in the Morin, if you will. Everyone seems to be all giddy with school girlish excitement over the move. Me, I'm not so sure. Clearly the key to this deal for us is Buf. Amazing what a good playoff run will do for you. I expect he will be a pretty good 2nd line player for us and hopefully he will continue to grow and be the playoff Buf we saw, and not have times where he disappeared like he did during the regular season. We also got Eager and Sopel, but those two guys are throw ins and depending on who they end up replacing on our roster are either at the same talent level, or slightly less than what we had before. Can't comment on the prospect we got in the deal as I've never seen him play.
What did we give up? A 1st, 2nd, Reasoner, Morin, Crabb, and essentially Sterling, Vernace, and a 7th. Now then, some of these guys are spare parts, for sure. I would have expected CHI to not get fair value with teams knowing they HAD to make a move. Looking at it very simply, I have a little heartburn basically giving up a 1st, 2nd, and Morin for Buf and a prospect. I think that is way too much to give when a team has it's back against the wall. Eager and Marty Party could be considered a wash, if it weren't for Marty's leadership (we will miss that the most, I say). Sopel < Kubina, so hopefully something else will happen there before it's all said and done.
We shall see, won't we. I've said many times I have strong reservations about Dudley as our GM. I really hope I'm wrong and will gladly admit it if the time comes. One thing is for sure, this is the biggest trade this franchise has ever made when we weren't actually forced to make a move (Heatley, Hossa, Kovy). Dudley has never been afraid to make silly video game type trades. Hope this one works out. I think we still have work to be done to be considered a better team for next year. While we added some pieces, don't forget about the pieces that were not a direct part of this trade but won't be back because of it.
***EDIT***
Seeing as how everyone (professional and non-professional bloggers alike) but me seems to be confused about this let me clear it up: WE DID NOT GET AN EXTRA 2ND ROUND PICK FROM NJ FOR KOVALCHUK. WE SWAPPED 2ND ROUNDERS WITH THEM THUS WE GAVE UP OUR 2ND ROUNDER (VIA NJ) IN THE CHI TRADE.
Byfuglien, Sopel, Eager, and Aliu for Morin, Reasoner, 24th overall pick, 54th overall pick.
Byfuglien had an outstanding run in the playoffs but has struggled to put up points in the regular season so far in his career. He's a huge power forward with a lot of his career ahead of him at 25 years of age. He is making 3 mil this year and is an RFA after this season.
Sopel is 33 years old, registers on TSN at a 63.66 rating, and is a solid stay at home defenseman. Not Kubina solid, but he's cheaper at 2 million this year. He'll be a UFA after the season.
Ben Eager is roughly a straight up pound for pound even trade for Marty Reasoner. They're both grinders who can move the puck and put it in the net on occasion. Ben Eager is younger (26 to Reasoner's 33) and needs to be signed to an RFA contract. He'll likely make the same kind of money as Marty and will play a very similar game.
Akim Aliu was listed by Hockeysfuture.com as the Hawks' #4 prospect back in February of this year. He's got good size (6'2" 202 lbs) and plays on the right wing. Apparently he was the victim of a bad hazing incident in Windsor and has bounced around to several junior teams since, but has the right tools to be an NHL power forward someday.
Dudley sent Jeremy Morin back the other way. We here at TBC are big fans of Morin and wish him the best. He showed a lot of promise as a natural goal scorer, but you have to give something up to get something back. Like I said above, Reasoner for Eager is a wash with the slight edge going to Atlanta for gaining youth. It remains to be seen how valuable the two draft picks going Chicago's way turn out to be and how they balance the trade.
As Morty said, Dustin Byfuglien is your new and improved Colby Armstrong. Ben Eager is your new, younger Marty Reasoner. It looks like Brent Sopel is your economy version of Pavel Kubina.
Today we are all pawns in Rick Dudley's war of attrition.
INSTANT IMPORTANT ANALYSIS: Dustin Byfuglien is better than Colby Armstrong. Brent Sopel is the new Pavel Kubina. Ben Eager is better than many players. Hate to see Jeremy Morin go, but there it is. Give and take.
So the NHL Awards are tonight, and we should probably list our picks for things like the Norris, the Vezina, the Hart, and the Jack Adams.
We can't think straight right now, though, as we're still awfully excited about the USA making it through to the terrifying next round of the World Cup. Hooray!
Also: if Duncan Keith doesn't win the Norris then crack isn't whack.
Also also: if the modern day Atlanta Thrashers are truly the Chicago Blackhawks 2.0, as many would like to believe and some ACTUALLY DO believe, then who is our Duncan Keith? Zach Bogosian?
Now that I think of it, I will make my picks.
Vezina ought to go to Ryan Miller. Hart ought to go to Ilya Bryzgalov (Henrik Sedin's achievement this past season was huge, but he had a great supporting cast; without Bryzgalov I doubt the Coyotes would've done much of anything)*. Jack Adams to Dave Tippett, the end.
P.S. Oh yeah, ahahahahaha, Snoop Dogg's going to be playing the thing tonight, right? In honor of tha Doggfather (soundtrack of my childhood), here is my personal favorite Snoop performance, which he'll surely play tonight alongside a parachuted-in Dr. Dre:
"Call him Snoop Eastwood..."
"Tonight's the night like Betty White..."
A classic.
P.P.S. The Selke belongs to Ryan Kesler, now and forever.
*Not nominated? What do you mean "not nominated?" This is worse than live-blogging a non-existent game.
Looks like we're renewing the timeless tradition of opening at home against the Washington Capitals. And then the team plays in Tampa Bay. Then they jet off for a three-city (well, two, really) voyage of discovery in California.
"Oh, awesome," you might think, "an opportunity to go on my long-planned, forever-postponed hockey road trip in California, with detours into Venice Beach bookshops and Paso Robles wineries and visits with regal elephant seals at Monterey!"
It seems that way at first, but then you notice the confoundedest thing: the Thrashers play the Kings on October 12th and the Ducks on October 15. "More time to spend in the L.A. area," one thinks.
But wait. The Thrashers then play the Sharks on October 16. Hardly any time for a leisurely drive up Highway 1!
Unless, of course, you skip the Ducks game. Go see them play the Kings, hang out in L.A. for a bit, then head up the coast to San Jose. Four days is enough time to see some elephant seals.
Thank you for reading this week's edition of TBC Travel Planner, and you're welcome.
Main Entry: sat·ire Pronunciation: \ˈsa-ˌtī(-ə)r\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin satura, satira, perhaps from (lanx) satura dish of mixed ingredients, from feminine of satur well-fed; akin to Latin satis enough — more at sad Date: 1501 1 : a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn 2 : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly
Jeezus, you people.
Not all of you, of course. All of US. This hyper-touchiness and lack of humor about our comical team (and it is comical) condemns us all. May Space Jebus and the ghost of Jonathan Swift have mercy on us.
So here's the thing: Rumors are flying about the Atlanta Spirit trying to sell the Thrashers, the Hawks, and Philips Arena. The newest rumor claims that the Thrashers are being offered separately. The Spirit kind of/sort of deny this and say they're simply looking for minority investors.
They do admit they're working with a firm to find some suitors, though. Thanks to yesterday's NY Post report, we know that the firm is called the Raine Group, and is based in New York.
Are they trying to sell it all or are they just trying to find other investors? How do we know what's true?
There's been some talk in recent weeks about the journalistic viability of the blogosphere, bloggers as proper reporters and journalists, etc. Everyone wants those press passes, understandably.
Well, fellow Thrash-bloggers, here's your chance to scoop the regular media. Because the AJC sure as hell isn't going to try to discover what's actually going on. Most journalists aren't willing to do the extra work that getting to the bottom of this mystery entails.
You want to be a journalist, or at least a reporter who offers something more substantive than "The Thrashers were nice enough to invite us to talk to Chris Thorburn today?" Chase this story down. Send the Raine Group an email. Tell them you write for a well-known weblog that covers the Thrashers, and you want to know if there's any truth to the rumors about the Atlanta Spirit---their client---trying to sell the package they own.
Now, we, the Blueland Chronicle, can't do this. A "boutique merchant bank" like the Raine Group wouldn't engage a blog filled with Ten Gallon Dick's and accounts of drinking, and rightly so. I'm talking to the two or three Thrash-blogs that actually resemble journalism.
Hell, pick up a phone and CALL the Raine Group. Tell them you write for an imaginary Atlanta-area newspaper or magazine. I don't know, call it the Atlanta Business Jihad, or the Gwinnett Spy and Telegraph. Offer some low-level employee anonymity. Have a fake business card made and head up to their office on the Avenue of the Americas. You may not get particularly far, but at least try. Come to think of it, you'd be surprised at how far you can get. I once got Jason Smith's agent on the phone. This is an actual fact!
There's more to journalism than asking players questions, and certainly more to it than waiting to re-print whatever the Thrashers press people say. Ben Wright is rightly praised for his dutifulness in keeping fans up to date with the latest team information, but it's good to remember that he's not a neutral or independent source. No one who works for the Thrashers can be an independent source, by definition.
(very very importantly updated again, this time with very telling details)
A-ha! So the provenance of that 680 report is famed Murdoch tabloid the New York Post. They sez:
Today the National Basketball Association has a 2009-10 champion, but for the Atlanta Hawks the real battle has just begun.
The Atlanta Spirit, the group that controls the team, has put it on the block and, in recent days has started to solicit buyers for the franchise in a package with the Philips Arena where the team plays, according to sources with direct knowledge of the process.
The Spirit is also selling its Atlanta Thrashers franchise of the National Hockey League.
The only new thing the New York Post brought to the table this morning was its report that both teams and Philips Arena are all for sale in their entirety. Similar stories have surfaced before. Each time the Spirit ownership has issued denials (once all could finally sign off on a statement, which took hours to days).
Um, no, dude. We've known for some time now that the ATL Spirit are "looking for investors," but that's a far cry from a report claiming that the comical sports package they own is now up for sale "in [its] entirety." The detail about the Thrashers being sold separately is also more concrete than things we've heard in the past.
Meanwhile, the Spirit send out this email:
ATLANTA – (June 18, 2010) – Bruce Levenson and Michael Gearon, two of the principal partners of Atlanta Spirit LLC, the parent company that owns the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers and Philips Arena operating rights, have released the following statement regarding the rumored sale of the teams and arena:
“As has been shared publicly for more than a year, we are interested in finding minority investors and have engaged a firm to assist us in that effort. We have no plans to move either team, and remain committed to the Hawks, the Thrashers, Philips Arena and the city of Atlanta.”
Oh hey look, standard foam-rubber PR speak that tells us nothing! I've heard of such things, in stories.
Guys, they are simply looking for minority investors to make up for Belkin's share of the pie. Radio has distorted truth.
IS THAT SO? The Spirit's claim--that they're merely looking for minority investors---could well be true, but the gist of the 680 report (as opposed to the New York Post report) was that "sources close" to the Spirit say that everything is for sale.
So who, really, is the distorting the Troof: the Spirit or News Corp. or 680? We report, you decide.
UPDATE: Over on the Twitter, Mr. Speaker makes the point that 1) the Post is hardly known for its accuracy and scooping, and 2) anyone can piece together a report that bases its reliability on certain unnamed sources.
I shan't argue with point 1, but on point 2: over the course of this blog's life I've written several times about my hatred of anonymous sourcing, but it seems to be de rigueur for hockey journalism (no less than every other form of journalism today outside of a few intrepid/crazy war correspondents), so whatcanyoudo?
Additionally: it's worth remembering that 680 the Fan did break the story of Kovalchuk's imminent departure before anyone else did. It too was based on nameless but reputedly reliable sources.
UPDATE II: Ben Wright has posted the Spirit statement to his Blueland Blog. Otherwise, he's mostly silent. Nary a debunking Tweet. Perhaps he's...EERILY silent?
I also wonder why this came out on a Friday. You know what they say about Fridays, right?
UPDATE III: Something interesting about the NY Post article I thought I'd point out. The author of the article is Josh Kosman, who is not a sports journalist but a financial journalist. He writes about equity, credit, mergers & acquisitions and so on. Basically he's closer to the financial world than to the sports world, but that division is probably arbitrary, as the sports world is only an offshoot of the financial world.
Anyway, point is: Kosman and the New York Post know about this, and the AJC doesn't, because Kosman and the Post have contacts in the New York financial world. The Spirit have apparently hired the Raine Group, an NYC investment bank, to sell the teams. According to their LinkedIn profile, they are "A boutique merchant bank focused on advisory and investing in the global media, entertainment and sports industries. Specific sector focus: online gaming, digital media, sports, live entertainment, and content (music, film, television, education, etc.). Offices in New York, Los Angeles and Beijing."
Just spoke with Morty on the cellular mechanism, and he tells me that 680 The Fan told him that the Atlanta Spirit folk told them they are selling the Hawks, Philips Arena, and---wait for it---the Thrashers!
What does this mean?
Who knows. I couldn't find anything on the internets about it. But Morty swears the radio wouldn't lie to him. They have too good a relationship.
Gotta step out. More to come. Peacock will update.
Be safe.
Mortimer Peacock adds: What the radio machine told me is that the ATL Spirit have hired a group to help them find buyers for Philips Arena, the Hawks, and the Thrashers. The Hawks and Philips Arena are being packaged together, the Thrashers are being sold separately. Never forget.
It's oppressively hot outside, comrades. The sun beats down, oil-waves smother the beach, the vuvuzelas haunt your dreams, and so do the World Cup lady fans of various nationalities.
What better way to stave off the heat than a mojito and this, the Thrashers' pre-season schedule for 2010? It's almost like the Internet can help us see into the future. Now tell me, Web-box, is the Swedish New Wave going to be our salvation or is it not? HMMM?
Another important question: if Dudley brings Torchetti here, will we see a reincarnation of the Blackhawks build-up, or perhaps even the heady days of the early 00's Florida Panthers? We shall all find out, together.
...is the name of Tobias Enstrom's new line of cologne.
Wait, no. Actually it's a phrase that every human must think of when they hear the name "Fredrik Pettersson." I mean, what gives here, amiritepeople?
The short version: the Falconer, and also a Swedish hockey zine called Hockey Expressen, are saying our Atlanta Thrashers are very close to signing a deal with this svelte ruffian. The Thrashers organization is denying this, but they deny most leaked news, and besides, everyone hates the Thrashers organization anyway so SEND THEM TO THE GULF, ETC.
Anyway, if Google's translation robots can be trusted (and your editor uses them all the time, so he can catch up with Mario Vargas Llosa's latest in Letras Libres) the Thrashers are contradicting their new player's own horse's word-mouth.
Atlanta Trashers is one of the NHL's worst teams. Have just gone to the playoffs once in the 2000s (0-4 in matches against the New York Rangers in the first round in 2007).
Why was it Atlanta? - Atlanta has always been the first election, interest already existed before the World Cup, "says Frederick. They are building up an interesting team, and when I got the offer was not much hesitation on. You have signed a two-year contract. How certain are you to take a seat?
- I think I have a good chance, but sure, I can not be. However, I intend to train hard, both with Frölunda and on their own, to get prepared for awesome.
Get prepared for awesome. Anyway, I'm sure the Thrashers are near a deal with this fellow and just don't want to talk about it. Either that or they've led this young man on in a most cruel way.
Also: even the Google robots call us the "Trashers."
UPDATE: Oh yeah the Thrashers finally went and signed the guy, the end.
