NHL Regular Season Review

The 82 game, 6 month ordeal is finally finished. Now the "real" season begins. However, before I put up my playoff predictions I want to review some of my predictions from way back in October.

Detroit Red Wings
Much of what I expected came true. The Wings were dominant offensively and Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Hossa and Franzen led the way. Datsyuk may be the most underrated player in the game but his performance is hard to ignore. While the MVP will likely go to Ovechkin, I expect Datsyuk will be one of the finalists. He may well be the best overall player in the game.

What I didn't expect was the inconsistency of the Detroit defense. Part of it was the poor goaltending of Osgood but he wasn't alone in blame. I think some of it was the "cup hangover" but the fact that it persisted through late March is a bit disturbing. Maybe once the playoff start they'll find there groove again. There is simply too much talent for them to struggle that much.

If the defense and goaltending hadn't struggled I suspect they would have run away with the President's trophy and maybe set some league records. Instead, another 50 win season and a #2 seed is their reward. There are about 2 dozen teams who wish they had such a "bad" season.

Atlanta Thrashers
I had a ton of questions heading into the season but none may have been more appropriate than "Overall, I can't see how this won't be a better team. The question is really how long will it take to see that as Ws in the standings." My goodness it took a long time. It wasn't until late February until things turned around.

There are now signs they are headed in the right direction. This time with young players and a young coach who can grow together and create identity for the franchise. It took trading away Williams, Schneider and Havelid to turn the corner. It took finally stitching the captain's "C" on Kovy's chest to send the signal. It took claiming a reject, Peverly, off waivers, to make the pieces fit. Know everyone seems to have a distinct role and is accepting their role within the team.

Bogosian started slow as one would expect a 18 year old rookie defenseman to do. Just when he got confident a broken leg set him back. But on his return he clearly showed why he was picked so high and has what I think are the makings of an All Star defenseman. Little emerged in his second season as a bonafide scoring threat, someone other teams must respect. Reasoner and Armstrong filled vital roles both on and off the ice.

Less than a season after taking so much heat for not retaining Hossa, Waddell must be commended for the moves he didn't make as as well as the ones he did. Many teams came calling for Armstrong but Waddell knew just how valuable he'll be going forward. He moved Havelid and Schneider knowing he'd have to fill their roles with youngsters and the youngsters flourished.

There is as much hope for the Thrashers future as there has ever been.

Eastern Conference

Surprise Team - Boston - I just didn't think they were ready to play so consistently well. They obviously found the secondary scoring I was concerned about and have one of the best defenses in the East.

Team Disappointment - Montreal Canadiens. Ottawa might have got this nod but they played really well the second half. Montreal never regained the magic they had last year and most of the blame must fall on Carey Price.

Surprise Player - Jeff Carter - Emerged as a dominant scoring threat and a real catalyst for the Flyers.

Disappointing Player - Wade Redden - Huge contract with so little in return. Rangers are going to have a hard time dealing with him over the next few years.

Western Conference

Surprise Team - St. Louis Blues - I initially wanted to pick them as a playoff team but I thought they'd never be able to overcome the loss of Jackman. The overcame his loss plus many others.

Disappointing Team - Dallas Stars - First the Avery experiment goes haywire. A nasty losing streak to start the season and another to finish the season. How did this team make the conference finals last year?

Surprise Player - Khabibulin - Put on waivers once and available to any team willing to pay half his salary. He comes back and leads the Blackhawks to 100pts and their first home ice advantage in 16 years.

Disappointing Player - Osgood - Off a playoff performance where he was worthy of MVP consideration, he has the worse year of his career behind one of the best defense in NHL history. Dishonerable mention must go to Sean Avery for his ridiculous choice of words.

Thrashers Game Report - 04/11/09

Atlanta 6 - Tampa Bay 2

The final report from the 2008-09 season is a good one. A strong performance from beginning to end in front of an unusually large crowd. It certainly was nice to end the season on a positive note after having to suffer through some enormous growing pains.

Just about all the Thrashers' offensive firepower was on display as the Thrashers controlled the game from the opening puck drop. Great puck movement, hard forecheck and sound defense led to numerous scoring opportunities. While the power play was less than stellar during a 5 on 3 they were able to capitalize shorthanded once again. Scoring came from all over the ice with even Perrin, Stuart and Hainsey getting in on the action.

There were numerous early fights bringing the crowd to their feet. For a game with so little at stake there was quite a bit of energy in the building. The Thrashers responded to this energy with energy of their own. They easily could have put up another handful of goals with beautiful plays that resulted in near misses.

It was nice to see Kari back in goal for the final game after being out for over a week with an injury. He played a good game coming up big on several occasions.

On this fan appreciation night I noticed there were fewer giveaways than seasons past. Only the "jerseys off our backs" was significant. A simple video montage was presented to the fans at the end of night to cap off the season.

The season certainly tried my patience but I do see signs of life. Once again the Thrashers face a critical offseason as they try to build on the success of the final quarter by retaining critical players (Lehtonen, Reasoner) and adding a few more. Tuesday night they'll have a 10.7% chance of landing the top overall pick. Landing one of the top 2 picks would be a great way to begin the offseason.