Brent's Atlanta Thrashers Franchise

[BrentZ10]

I've started this franchise as a result of EHM deciding it wanted to mess up the save file for my Pens franchise I spent the last 6 or so months on. Oh well, I was starting to get frustrated with that one and I think building up the Thrashers will be fun.

The first thing I did was sign a veteran free agent who will be filling in for Dany Heatley until he recovers from his injury. I offered Adam Graves, who has always been a favorite of mine, a trial for a week during preseason and I was impressed enough by the end of the preseason to offer him a one year contract worth 2 million with a team option for a second year.

I also wanted to trade Bill Lindsay for a younger player, so I traded him along with Andy Sutton, a player who I've found takes a lot of penalties in past EHM experiences, for Alexei Ponikarovsky, another favorite of mine. He's a hard worker who can scores goals and he will be starting on the 3rd line when the season begins. Lindsay is a good guy, but I think he would have ended up just taking roster space and I likely would have ended up placing him on waivers later in the season.

I then made my biggest move so far, trading for Sergei Gonchar for two prospects and 3 1st round draft picks. It might be a gamble trading away so much of my future, but I think that Gonchar is a guy who will help us to have one of the best powerplays in the league.

Four days later I traded for a little more experience, trading for Geoff Sanderson. I have up Garnet Exelby along with a 4th and 5th round pick in 2005 and 2006 respectively. I'm hoping Sanderson will be a guy I can count on for about ten goals throughout the season and will be a depth player.

My last move before the season was bringing in Richard Smehlik, who was a UFA. He's a depth guy who I wanted to have because I didn't want my younger guys losing ice time. He signed a contract for 1.6 million the first year and 1.7 the next two, along with bonuses and a team option for a 4th year.

Other news that wasn't quite as big is the resigning of Kovalchuk and Heatley to long term contracts that will keep them with the Thrashers for a long time.

Here is what the opening day roster is going to look like:
Kovalchuk-Savard-McEachern
Kozlov-Stefan-Graves
Sanderson-Robitaille-Ponikarovsky
Petrovicky-Aubin-Corso

Gonchar-Tremblay
Smehlik-Tjaernqvist
Kaberle-Tamer

S: Nurminen
B: Dafoe
Captain:Shawn McEachern
Alternates:Slava Kozlov and Yannick Tremblay
I think I will be basically rotating Dafoe and Nurminen until Jani Hurme recovers from a spinal injury and then will eventually have to make a big decision when I fill Kari Lehtonen is ready to come up full time as our starter. My strategy for coaching is basically rolling four lines for the first period, then cut down to three for the second unless the fourth line is performing, and then if we are losing or it is a close game just rolling two lines for the third period. With the exception of our fourth line, I feel that I can basically count on any of the lines to produce goals for us and I'm expecting that.

I've set out a few goals for the season:
-Finish top 5 in PP%
-Finish top 10 in PK%
-Finish somewhere between 7th-9th in the Eastern Conference. The team board wants me to just improve the roster this season, but I really feel that with the depth of the team, especially when Heatley returns, we have a chance of making the playoffs.
-Maintain a team salary of 36 million or less. I don't think this will be a major problem as we are currently sitting at 32 million and I'm very happy with the team right now.
-I'd also like Kovalchuk to finish top 5 in player scoring, getting somewhere between 75-85 points, but that isn't as important as winning.

My season starts in thirteen days when we travel to Carolina to play the Hurricanes. I'm going to update after every ten or so games I think. I think this will make my franchise a lot more fun then just pushing advance day every 30 seconds.

[Teus]

Good luck!

BTW, is this NHL EHM?

[BrentZ10]

Originally Posted by Teus

Good luck!

BTW, is this NHL EHM?

[BrentZ10]

It has been a frustrating first 11 games. We are currently sitting at 3-8, 14th in the East. But I think I found some lines and a practice philosophy that is going to turn things around because we have won our last two quite easily.

My goaltending situation with Dafoe and Nurminen was solved, thanks to the Capitals who took Dafoe in the Waiver draft. This left me with yet another goaltending dilemna and that was if I wanted Lehtonen riding the bench at times or playing every game on the farm. I decided to give him another year to develop and signed veteran Tom Barrasso to a one year deal. The situation took a turn for the worse when both Barrasso and Nurminen struggled through the first nine games with GAA of 4.52 for Tommy and 3.92 for Pasi. I decided to take a chance on Lehtonen and called him up for a few games, figuring I couldn't lose anything. It turned out to be the right move as he won both games, allowing one goal against the Senators and 4 against Florida. I think I am going to let him play 3 more games and make a decision from there.

One of my D-Men went down with an injury and I didn't want to risk losing one of my guys playing on the farm to waivers when I had to send them back down, so I signed one more veteran, Sylvain Cote to a one year deal. He filled in for the time I needed him, but I haven't been impressed with his play. I think I am going to put him on waivers and see what happens from there.

As I said earlier, I had a preseason goal of being in the top 10 in PK& and top 5 in PP% and I am nowhere near those goals. I'm really disapointed in my Special Team units and think it may be team to shake them up. My PK unit is dead last in the league. I decided it was time for a change here and traded for one of the better PKers in the league, Stephan Yelle. I sent to Calgary Kurtis Foster, a guy I originally didn't want to let go but the Flames wouldn't trade Yelle any other way, and the rights to Jiri Kacir. It appears this trade is working out as we have been better on the PK in the last 4 games and Yelle has also been contributing offensively.

Here are what the lines have looked like for the last two wins and will continue to look like. McEachern is out with an injury he got in practice for a few more days.

Kozlov-Stefan-Kovalchuk
Ponikarovsky-Savard-Robitaille
Sanderson-Yelle-Graves
Petrovicky-Aubin-Corso

Kaberle-Gonchar
Tjaernqvist-Tremblay
Tamer-Smehlik

S: Lehtonen
B: Nurminen
Current NHL Point Leader:Owen Nolan 7G-12A-19P
Current Thrasher Point Leader: Sergei Gonchar 3G-7A-10P
Currently First in the League: Toronto 12GP 11W 1 L
Current Thrashers Record: 11GP 3W 8L

I think 10 or 11 games is a good amount for an update, so I will probably stick with that.

[Mizu]

Another Thrashers franchise Ha, that's not a problem. Good luck with your team.

BTW, your sig is over the 15,000bytes limit. Fix it.

[BrentZ10]

Well, I decided to ditch the post every 11 or so games because my internet died yesterday, so I am now at the midway point.

Kari Lehtonen has turned out to be my go to goalie and Jani Hurme is also solid. This left me with no chance but to trade Pasi Nurminen. I traded Serge Aubin and Nurminen to Buffalo for a guy who can't seem to find a home, Chris Drury. He's now centering my top line and is really fitting in well.

The only other move I made was a trade offered to me that was too good to reject, Sami Salo for Chris Tamer and a prospect who looked like he was never going to make it. My defence is really solid now and I have seen it in the past few games where we have only allowed 10-15 shots a game.

Anyways, here is the current lineup:
Kovalchuk-Drury-Savard
Kozlov-Stefan-McEachern
Ponikarovsky-Yelle-Graves
Pittis-Robitaille-Petrovicky

Gonchar-Tremblay
Tjaernqvist-Kaberle
Smehlik-Salo

S: Lehtonen
B: Hurme


Kovy has been on fire lately and he leads the league by a long shot.
League Leader In Points: Illya Kovalchuk 32 GP 31 G 26 A 57 P
2nd Best: Patrick Elias 42 GP 15 G 29 A 44 P
First Place In The League: Anaheim 41 GP 25 W 10 L 5 T 1 OTL
Atlanta's Record: 42 GP 19 W 21 L 2 T

We are currently one point out of a playoff spot and are really getting hot lately. It can only get better when Dany returns in a month or so.