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|  | Thrashers strong so far
« Thread Started on Nov 21, 2009, 2:56pm » | |
Atlanta, GA. - It may be only the pre-season, but the Thrashers are actually playing like a hockey team. With three wins, a loss, and an overtime loss, Atlanta's out of the gates quickly as they have three games to go before the real games start. Lee Stempniak's leading the charge with three goals and two assists so far. "Well let's remember, it is the pre-season and there's still 82 regular season games to determine where we go. But yeah, it feels good to win, and to contribute on the scoresheet. This is what coach [Mike Keenan] had in mind when he decided to try me on the top line with [Derek] Roy and Alfie [Daniel Alfredsson], and so far, so good."
Captain Derek Roy says the team is starting to gel together because there's not much pressure on the top young guys to lead by example with the many veterans now around. "You know, when I had my year end meeting with the club last year, GM Dave Cherniwchan asked me what I wanted to see for the coming season. I told him we wanted and needed some experience. Guys who've been in the trenches and thru the battles. And that's what he did with getting Alfie, Tomas Holmstrom, Darcy Tucker and Donald Brashear. These guys are warriors. They don't get rattled, and that's what us young guys especially up front needed. They're a real calming influence."
With three games to go, Coach Mike Keenan does see room for improvement. The perfectionist in him doesn't like the offense his team is creating. "We may have won three of the five games, but that can't and won't continue if we're generating three or less goals a game. We need to find a way to score more goals. We're doing fine defensively. Even our young guys, who'll likely start the season in Abbotsford have shown me something, but we need our hired guns to score some goals. So yes, I will be tinkering with the lines."
One thing that Keenan's not opposed to trying is moving Jeff Carter to Centre. Carter started his career on the wing, but with his size and speed, he can create a lot of room by winning a few faceoffs. That would mean Holmstrom would then move to the second line to help create two seperate scoring lines. The problem is still the left side where after Stempniak, there's a little bit of a drop off with Guillaume Latendresse and Milan Lucic battling for second and third line minutes. Both players are inexperienced and it shows at times, but Keenan knows sometimes you have to give young guys a chance to step up and make the most of the opportunity.
Les Nessman - Atlanta Hockey News
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