TSN.ca Staff
08/29/06
Trades, Free Agency and a Summer as a Champion!
GM Love sat casually in front of the summer clad journalists who looked more ready for a round of golf than a new hockey season. Love joked with reporters and also with team captain Dany Heatley at to his right and head coach Bob Hartley to his left. The trio were happy to be back in Atlanta and it seemed enthusiasm was oozing out of each. They were the first OTHL organization to “officially” open their offices for the 2006/07 season (3rd in OTHL history).
“It was a great summer and I loved every second of it. The best of my life, but I have a hunger now. I have tasted “the flesh”, if you will. I have hunted down the OTHL Championship, pounced on its back, and claimed it as mine”, explained a suddenly serious GM Love. “Once you win, you want to win again. We were a dark horse last season but this year will be different. The league’s eyes are all on Atlanta now, and they are going to be coming hard. So the only way to stay on top is to work the hardest once you’re there.”
It is reported that several Thrashers have already made their way back to the city they won a championship in. They are skating together, training together and awaiting the start of training camp in a few weeks time. The whole organization is taking the success very modestly, knowing that it will be extremely hard to re-peat and that most people would place the odds heavily against them.
The following are excerpts from the following press conference:
The Departed
Reporter: “Now that the team is once again open to business are there any players who have decided to hang’em up?”
GM Love: “Actually, sadly there are a few guys who have decided to go out on top and I offer them the best wishes from our entire organization. Marcus Ragnarsson, Roman Chechmanek have both officially retired. Dan McGillis and Valeri Bure are both waiting to make a decision, there might even be buyout’s in the works. Right now we are waiting on those two and we will see what happens.”
Reporter: “Also the only player that will be an UFA this off season will be Nikoli Khabibulin. He was instrumental in the win last season and was named playoff MVP. Can you afford not to bring this guy back?”
GM Love: “Well we definatley would love to bring Khabibulin back. He’s a great guy and the city loves him. I think if the money was reasonable we would like him but after his performance last playoffs I think his asking value might be much higher than we will be able to afford. If that happens we are extremely excited about the prospect of having Kari Lehtonen as our starter next season. We have been letting him grow as a player for two years as a very successful starting goaltender with our farm team. He is ready to step in and win games. Mark my words, in a few years this kid will be a top 5 goalie in the OTHL.”
The Returning
As of right now it look’s as if the Thrashers have 13 OTHL forwards under contract after the expected departure of Valeri Bure. That includes the return of team captain Dany Heatley and his newly signed line-mates Martin Havlat and Henrik Zetterberg. Zetterberg who is the undisputed #1 center on the team signed a 3 year contract worth $2.55 million per season. Havlat signed a 2 year deal worth $2.5 million per season. Together they make possibly the top three players on any team in the OTHL. Also returning is Brenden Morrow who was probably the best player in last seasons championship run, despite Khabibulin receiving the MVP. Morrow had 12 goals and 21 points in 18 games and instantly became in indispensable part of the team and the anchor of the 2nd line. The other players consist of Mike Ribiero, Dean McAmmond, Mike Richards, Kevyn Adams, Samuel Pahlsson, Nils Ekman, Josef Vasicek, Ronald Petrovicky and Tomas Holmstrom.
The defense is left thin with the retirement of Marcus Ragnarsson and imminent departure of Dan McGillis. Currently 5 players are under contract led by the 7 million dollar man Rob Blake, Andrew Ference, Ken Klee, Richard Matvichuk and Steve Eminger. While the goaltending situation currently consists of Kari Lehtonen and Mikael Tellqvist.
Free Agency
Reporter: “If your statements of players departures are true then that leaves you with 13 forwards, 5 defensemen and 2 goalies under contract for next season and my calculations are that you would be left with $29,306,148 in cap space used. That leaves you with some space to play with in free agency”.
GM Love: “We set ourselves up real nice before the trade deadline last season. We have some holes to fill. My #1 priority is to nab a top pairing d-man. We have good 3-6 and a great #1 so we really need someone to help close the gap. We have somein mind that we think would work and we are going to purse onece free agency opens. Also a 2nd line player would be nice. We are very strong up front but lack a punch to our 2nd line. A center or d-man would be great to play alongside Morrow. And if we have any money after leaving some open for season trades, then we might pick up a goalie to help Lehtonen through the long season.”
Trading
GM Love: “Another option we are looking at is filling our holes through trades. We have depth up front and might move a guy for a d-man. We are keeping all avenues in mind”.
Reporter: “But do you see yourself trading any of your top talent? Say a Zetterberg or Blake?”
GM Love: “I believe every strong organization that wants success over a long period has to have a core group of players that your team is built upon. We have that. Heatley, Zetterberg, Havlat, Morrow, Blake, Lehtonen. It would be extremely hard for any of those guys to ever get moved. But I did trade a guy named Kovalchuk once, so who knows”.