Season Review: Atlanta Thrashers

Well, now that people are talking playoffs, I will be reviewing the seasons of teams as they're either eliminated from the playoffs or eliminated from playoff contention before the end of the season. Obviously, the last team reviewed will be the one that wins the Cup.

Now the next team to be eliminated from playoff contention: The Atlanta Thrashers.

Season expectations: Everyone knew going into the season that this was Ilya Kovalchuk's walk-year. GM Don Waddell, the only constant since the Thrashers' inception into the league, did what he could to sign a group of players to compliment Kovalchuk and most those were of the Russian/Eastern European variety. Nevertheless, Rich Peverly was emerging as a great playmaker while Brian Little was emerging as a great scoring forward. The defense had some great production from younger players like Tobias Enstrom and the goaltending looked solid besides Kari Lehtonen's fat ass getting in the way. This was the season the Thrashers had to go for the gusto and win.

My prediction: I figured they would be third in their division and eighth in the Eastern Conference.

The truth: They were statistically eliminated from playoff contention following a 3-0 shutout loss to the New Jersey Devils this evening.

What went wrong?: You mean besides the fact that Waddell is still their GM and that their ownership situation is a joke?

Essentially, that's it. There's a great group of capable players on the team but now really superstar to fire it up. Sure, Waddell played it safe by getting a return on his investment but the team was doing far better with him in the lineup than they were once he was gone. Will the pieces he acquired really mean much for the future? None of it has yet, and that's why they've only been to the playoffs once.

I will say this though, there looks to be a lot of players on that club who are allergic to playing defense. I know that some players should play within their limitations but backchecking is essential if you wanna win games.

So what's next?: If Kovalchuk actually manages to come back next season, then it wasn't a complete and total loss. If not, then Atlanta Spirit LLC either needs to hire a new GM or do the city of Atlanta a favor and sell the team to someone who'll make the team successful but not relocate the team. Yes attendance there is at an all-time low but how can you attract fans in a non-traditional market when the team spends 10 of its 11 seasons in existence as a team that doesn't qualify for the playoffs?