Sunday, July 13, 2008

Are we Finnish-ed or just Pav-eling a long?




So what is the hold up with Kari Lehtonen signing with the Thrashers? Is he holding out for more money and more years? One would wonder why the two have not reached an agreement. Don Waddell has been quoted several times saying that Kari would be back, he would match the offers from any other clubs, and that his salary is being added into the cap totals. Kari has been quoted as to saying he wants to stay in Atlanta and doesn't want to go anywhere else. Heck he has a nice pad to live in, so why would he?




So I guess my question is, why hasn't he signed?



It seems that a guy who has the Calder Cup Championship goalie breathing down his neck, would want to go ahead and get this taken care of.



I know that it is a great debate on who should be the Thrashers "franchise" goalie or "future" of the team. It causes quite an uproar on message boards and possibly a few fists fights in person. You can't argue that Pavelec was pretty good in the AHL, but his numbers with the big club were not wonderful, but by far they didn't suck. He was right around .500 winning percentage just like Hedberg, and the team was for most of the year (until the fall into the pit started in Feb).



But the real question is, Is Pavelec ready for a full time gig with the big boys? Even if he is, would another tour of duty in the AHL really hurt? Nah, won't hurt at all. The pressure could be good for both the guys. Kari knows if he slips he has Pavs on his heals and Pavs knows that he has to continue to train hard and work on his game. So a win/win situation. Then we have Moose playing mentor role to which ever kid is on the roster with him. Good plan.



But another question is, do we trade an asset in order to get what the team needs? It is no question that the team needs defense and a good center and I say even another winger. Do we trade Pavs? Do we sign Kari and trade him? Or do we trade someone else, like say oh a Brett Sterling. Sterling didn't really wow anyone on the NHL level this season, so he could be bait or in a package. The problem is the Thrashers have a boat load of youthful talent, but for some unknown reason when they make the journey from Chicago to Atlanta they leave that talent on the plane. It is like NHL ice is kryptonite to them. Krog, Haydar, Sterling, just to name a few, never really made their splash when called up. Send them back down and they turn into awesome hockey playing machines. So, instead of letting them play out their contracts with the Wolves and then sign with other teams when they become free agents ( Krog and Haydar), trade the assets we have now for something we need now.



Oh the decisions Don has to make. Kari only has until July 15th, so hopefully we will hear something positive on that soon. I do believe a big trade with happen, one that will make or break our season.


Thanks for reading. Go Thrashers.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think we are in the win-win that you talked about. I thought DW was just holding out because if someone gave Kari an offer, he would let him walk and take the compensation. If he doesn't, then he forces Kari to sign for less. It sounds like a sound strategy. Kari is just holding out in hope that someone is going to offer him something more which they won't.

I wouldn't throw Krog and Haydar in the kryptonite plane category. They were career minor leaguers well before they were picked up by Atlanta. So I don't care that they walked for nothing. Sterling on the other hand I think needs to be given a chance in his regular position, not on the wrong side like he was last year. Andersen will do that for him.

Also, thank you for setting up this site. I can't stand reading the ajc but it's the only thing out there I thought. Now I am going to check out these other sites, not sure why that writer posted all his competition.