Hockey fans in Atlanta have known nothing but losing and front office incompetence since the Thrashers joined the NHL a decade ago. Even the best season in franchise history, the 2006-07 campaign that saw the Thrashers qualify for their first and only playoff appearance, ended in disappointment as they were quickly swept under the rug in four games by the New York Rangers.
In the two seasons following that trip to the postseason, the Thrashers have returned to their sub-80-point ways, toiling at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. Thanks to a couple of shrewd moves at the start of the offseason, and some returning young talent, this year's version of the Thrashers looks like it has a chance to make some noise.
Late last week, Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke made it clear that his team would not be pushed around this upcoming season. Based on his first moves this offseason, he wasn't kidding. After signing tough-guy Colton Orr to a four-year, $4 million deal earlier on Wednesday, the Leafs sent defenseman Pavel Kubina, and the rights to Tim Stapleton, to the Atlanta Thrashers for Garnet Exelby and Colin Stuart.
On the surface, it's a woefully lopsided trade in favor of Atlanta, and nothing more than a salary dump for Toronto.
The plus side? Just moments after the deal was made, word surfaced that defenseman Mike Komisarek had signed with the Maple Leafs.
It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Southeast Division.
The Southeast is probably going to be the most boring division in hockey this offseason. Three of the teams don't have the financial capability to make the sort of splash they need, and the other two were good enough to mostly maintain the status quo.
Still, we've got two top-5 draft picks to look forward to, as well as the ongoing sagas surrounding the stars for both Florida franchises.
The NHL Lottery is a serious exercise in television programming. It takes an event that could be completed in less than five minutes and stretches it out into a 30 minute program that makes the jitters that much worse for the fanbases and teams involved.
That doesn't mean the Draft Lottery live on TSN Tuesday night was a bad thing, though. TSN did a nice job filling the other 25 minutes with interviews, prospect analysis and John Tavares vs. Victor Hedman hype tonight. But, at the end of the day, all we came to find out is the answer to the question "who will pick No. 1?"
Long gone from the playoff race, the Atlanta Thrashers are busy playing out the proverbial string. While they did lose Thursday, 3-2 to Florida, there's no denying the Thrashers have been playing some pretty good hockey as of late. They're also feisty. In Thursday's game, captain Ilya Kovalchuk decided it was time to throw some punches, as he got into it with Florida defenseman Bryan McCabe. It was just the fifth fight of Kovalchuk's NHL career (second this season), but there's no doubt he more than held his own.
Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.
Bruins 5, Canadiens 4: The Montreal Canadiens may have lost on Thursday night, but because they did so in overtime, earning a "Bettman point," they managed to secure a playoff spot, avoiding what would have been a spectacular disappointment in a season of celebrations and championship expectations. Montreal overcame a 3-1 deficit in the second period with a four-goal outburst, including a tally from defenseman Mathieu Schneider who suited up despite earlier reports that his season was over.
Aside from Montreal, the New York Rangers also punched their playoff tickets with a 2-1 win over the Flyers, which means the Florida Panthers, despite their 3-2 win in Atlanta, are mathematically eliminated from contention.
Most NHL teams have to get creative to entertain fans during long television timeouts. If you go to games, you'll see goofy animations on the scoreboard, activities where fans are encouraged to behave like they've been drinking even when they haven't, and advertisements for future home games and promotions, among other things. In Atlanta, the Thrashers produced a mock PSA for Tuesday's game against Washington, which pokes fun at Alexander Ovechkin'sspot for Eastern Motors. Enjoy.
Each Friday throughout the season, I'll provide you with my predictions on whose stock is on the rise and whose is failing miserably like the American job market pretty much everything these days. It's a neat little segment entitled Buys and Sells. There are a few teams/players/issues to buy and a few to sell.
It's that time of the year again, the time when everyone is fixated on playoff races, who's going to make it in and who isn't. That's all well and good, but for a few teams in the league, there's another race going on which their fans are preoccupied with -- the race for the first pick in the draft.
Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.
Thrashers 5, Rangers 4: When you're fighting for playoff position, blowing 4-1 leads to the Atlanta Thrashers probably isn't the best thing for a team to do. That's exactly what the New York Rangers did on Thursday night, as they watched a 4-1 lead late in the second period turn into a 5-4 shootout loss in Atlanta. The come-from-ahead loss prompted goalie Steve Valiquette to ask the question: "Where is our killer instinct when we're playing someone lower in the standings?"
Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead. Canadiens 6, Thrashers 3: For one night, all is well in Montreal as the Canadiens managed to put their epic collapse on hold, pulling out a convincing 6-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers. Montreal received a five-point effort from Alex Tanguay and a two-goal performance from Alexei Kovalev, while Carey Price picked up the win in net.
With the win, Montreal claims sole possession of the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference, taking a two-point lead over idle Florida. Montreal bombarded Atlanta goalie Kari Lehtonen with a four-goal onslaught in the second period, while the Canadiens also went 3-for-6 on the power play.
NHL 
Hockey fans in Atlanta have known nothing but losing and front office incompetence since the Thrashers joined the NHL a decade ago. Even the best season in franchise history, the 2006-07 campaign that saw the Thrashers qualify for their first and only playoff appearance, ended in disappointment as they were quickly swept under the rug in four games by the New York Rangers.
Late last week, Maple Leafs general manager 
It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Southeast Division.
The NHL Lottery is a serious exercise in television programming. It takes an event that could be completed in less than five minutes and stretches it out into a 30 minute program that makes the jitters that much worse for the fanbases and teams involved. 
Each Friday throughout the season, I'll provide you with my predictions on whose stock is on the rise and whose is failing miserably like 
Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.
