Outlook:
After making their first playoff appearance in 2007, the Atlanta Thrashers have not been able to sustain that momentum the last two seasons as they finished near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Head Coach John Anderson took over the franchise last year and went 35-41-6 in his first season.
The state of the franchise still revolves around their superstar Ilya Kovalchuk. The Russian forward has had 40-plus goals in each of his last five seasons. He posted a career high 52 goals in 2005-06 and he matched that total 2007-08.
To say that this team NEEDS Kovalchuk could be an understatement. His contract expires at the end of this year and even though the team has been struggling recently, they could still use Kovalchuk’s presence for years to come.
During the offseason, the Thrashers signed veteran forward Nik Antropov for more firepower on the offensive side. Vyacheslav Kozlov and Todd White return for another season, but both are over-30 years old, and perhaps could lose a step in their game. They are both still reliable nonetheless.
Bryan Little had a nice sophomore season in “Hotlanta” and should continue to flourish. First round pick Evander Kane (#4 overall) should be another bright spot for the teams future.
Switching to the other side of the ice, the defense looks a bit stronger for this upcoming season. Pavel Kubina was acquired during the offseason from the Toronto Maple Leafs to bolster the power play, which was 25th in the league last year, and should help improve the Thrashers penalty kill that was the second worst unit in the NHL in 2008-09.
Look for 19-year old Zach Bogosian to get more playing time on defense as well as Nathan Oystrick. Ron Hainsey – who signed with the Thrashers last year after spending the previous three seasons with Columbus – should benefit from the signings of Kubina and Noah Welch. Tobias Enstrom is also one to watch on defense in his third season.
The question mark for this club to this day remains the goaltending situation. Kari Lehtonen has been plagued by injury and inconsistency since he led them to their only playoff appearance. The native of Helsinki, Finland, needs overcome those plagues if he wants to keep his position as the #1 goaltender for the Thrashers.
Backup goaltender Johan Hedberg returns for his fourth season in “Hotlanta”, but he has to watch his back as Ondrej Pavelec, Peter Mannino and Drew MacIntyre will look to make the Thrashers as the #2 goaltender and perhaps one of them could become the starter by years end. My money would be on Pavelec to surpass at least Hedberg on the roster at some point this year.
So what does this say about the Thrashers upcoming season? Well, to answer that, it looks like they have the work cut out for them. The offense is good, the defense has improved, but the question mark is in between the pipes.
Washington and Carolina look like the elite teams in the Southeast Division and Florida looks like it will remain the third best team. The Thrashers have not taken the next step to get out of the cellar of the Southeast and for that matter the Eastern Conference, and will remain there for the 2009-10 season.
Prediction: 5th in Southeast Division, 15th in Eastern Conference
Projected Lines:
Ilya Kovalchuk – Todd White – Colby Armstron
Vyascheslav Kozlov – Bryan Little – Nik Antropov
Anthony Stewart – Marty Reasoner – Rich Peverley
Eric Boulton – Jim Slater – Chris Thoburn
Ron Hainsey – Pavel Kubina
Zach Bogosian – Tobias Enstrom
Nathan Oystrick – Noah Welch
Kari Lethonen
Johan Hedberg
Posted by Tim Rosenthal 
