New Thrashers radio affiliates (9/22/99)
Atlanta, Ga: WQXI-AM (790) and WLKQ-FM (102.3)
LaGrange, Ga: WMAX-FM (98.1)
Rome, Ga: WATG-FM
Andrea Karlsson assigned to Orlando (9/22/99)
One of the most physical player on the team was sent to the minor. The team said that he needs more
playing time. He should be back when the team's centers get roughed up once too many, around October 3!
Buchberger signs 3 year deal (8/18/99)
According to 790 the Zone, Buchberger has signed a 3 year deal. He was taken from the Edmonton Oilers
in the expansion draft. Rumors had it that he wasn't very interested in coming to Atlanta. Probably will be named 1st captain.
Buchberger signs 3 year deal (8/18/99)
According to 790 the Zone, Buchberger has signed a 3 year deal. He was taken from the Edmonton Oilers
in the expansion draft. Rumors had it that he wasn't very interested in coming to Atlanta. Probably will be named 1st captain.
Robitaille traded for
Lambert (8/16/99)
We traded probable starter Randy
Robitaille to the Nashville Predators for left wing Denny Lambert.
The scientific Lambert had 5 goals and 218 penality minutes last
year. I guess he will be Stefan's Semenko (for those too young to
remember, Dave Semenko was Gretzky protector in Edmonton). Bottom
line: we traded a prospect for a goon (or, as Waddell said: hard-nose
player exciting for the fans) with NHL experience.
Alexei Yegorov
decides to stay (8/12/99)
Yegorov decided to try the NHL
instead of going back to Russia. Maybe he was afraid to be fired by
Boris... He has a 2 way contract ($375,000 if he makes the team,
$75,000 in the minors).
Schwabb avoids
arbitration (8/9/99)
Corey Schwabb signed with the
Thrashers over the week-end. in the nHL only beacause of the huge
number of teams, he will play next season with a minor league team or
be traded for a dozen of jockstraps and a barrel of pucks.
Kingston and leach
named assistants (8/4/99)
George Kinston was the 1st coach
of the San Jose sharks; ran the Canadian, German and Norwegian
national teams. Speaks a bunch of european languages. Jay Leach
worked last year under the offensive minded(!) Larry Robinson. Claim
to fame: tried to recruit Tom Glavine as a hockey player at Maine.
Glavine refused when he learned that the goal's width could not be
extented at will.
Thrashers welcome Ray
Ferraro (8/2/99)
The Thrashers signed 15 seasons
veteran Ray Ferraro on Monday. He played the last 3.5 seasons with
the LA Kings. He scored 20 goals 10 times during his carreer with
Hartford, Islanders and LA. Even if his production has been down the
last couple years due to injuries, he will offer great support for
Stefan at center.
10 games packages on
sale (8/2/99)
24$ and 35$ seats go on sale today
in 4 different10 games packages at 404-584-PUCK.
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10/31 OTT 11/17 TAM 11/28 DAL 12/6 NAS 12/15 WAS 1/6 WAS 1/24 NYR 2/11 SAN 3/22 MTL |
11/3 TAM 11/22 VAN 12/3 FLO 12/15 WAS 1/1 CAR 1/12 WAS 1/31 PIT 3/26 LOS 4/4 PHI |
10/26 CAL 11/25 OTT 12/6 NAS 12/17 BOS 12/26 TAM 1/1 CAR 2/12 CHI 3/10 NJ 4/2 NYI |
A 4th package will include games in the second half of the season. The 2 pre-season games (Rangers and Devils) at Phillips Arena are also on sale at ticketmaster. I took the Detroit package.
TheZone gets radio
rights (7/29/99)
790 the zone got radio
rights to the Thrashers. The station has a sports talk format and
Scott Ferrel (the voice of the Thrashers) worked there for a while
and had a national syndication show until last spring. It will offer
a fresh take compared to the AJC-WSB GM/coach/players lovefest
monopoly.
Nelson Emerson signed
(7/20/99)
After playing for three teams
last year, Emerson signed Tuesday with the team. Emerson, 32, played
for the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators
last season. He notched 13 goals and 24 assists in 65 games.
Nicknamed Nellie...
Pushor traded,
Karlsson signed (7/15/99)
We acquired left wing Jason
Botterill from the Dallas Stars in exchange for defenseman Jamie
Pushor. In another deal, the Thrashers acquired right wing Martin
Prochazka from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a sixth-round
draft pick in the 2001 NHL entry draft. Prochazka, 27, played in the
Czech Republic last season and was a member of its 1998 gold
medal-winning Olympic team. The club also signed Karlsson, whose
rights were acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames following
this year's NHL expansion draft.
Curt Fraser named
Thrashers first coach (7/13/99)
Curt Fraser of the IHL Orlando
Solar Bears. He was originally hired by and worked two years with
current Thrashers general manager Don Waddell. Fraser was drafted in
the second round by Vancouver in 1978. The left-winger scored 193
goals and racked up 1,306 penalty minutes during a career that also
included stints with Chicago and Minnesota. Curt Fraser, who led
Orlando to the International Hockey League finals twice in the last
four years, will be named the first head coach for the expansion
Atlanta Thrashers at a 2 p.m. ET news conference on Wednesday July
14, sources told ESPN on Tuesday. (see: ESPN
for more)
Bob Lachance new free
agent signing (7/13/99)
The 5-11, 180-pound forward for
the Indianapolis Ice (IHL) scored 63 points last season. A product of
Boston University, he was originally selected by the St. Louis Blues
in the fifth round, 134th overall, in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. He is
not to be confused with former Islanders Scott Lachance, now with the
Canadiens!
Rumors
(7/1/99)
A chance meeting with a top
Thrashers executive at a local package store allows me to share with
you some under the covers info. First, Ted is not planning to attend
the inaugural game, due to prior commitments at a sustainable
development conference in Botswana. You may remember that Ted missed
the celebration of Hank Aaron 715th homerun earlier in April. The
first choice Patrik Stefan was escorted out of the GoldClub by
Atlanta police. After a brief stay at the county jail, he was
released with all charges droped.
Where's the coach? (6/12/99)
- Don Hay, former
Phoenix Coyotes now GM/coach in the junior league (Tri-Cities). My
take: Used to control all the pieces, so probably looks for the
same in NHL, thus not a good fit. If Wadell wanted help, he would
have hired a coach before that. Met Wadell 6/8/99 in ATL.
Ron Low, former Edmonton Oilers coach. My take: Probably a good fit. Cheap (not that's important) everybody seem to like him. Can you say Lenny Wilkens? Met Wadell 6/8/99 in ATL.
Ted Nolan, former Buffalo Sabres coach. My take: Why hasn't he coach last year? A lot of teams are looking for fresh blood behind the bench and he is still on the market. He is probably looking for a more esthablished team. You never know. Can he coach a team that has no Dominator?
Don Lever, assistant coach w/ Buffalo. My take: A lot of things go right for Buffalo right now. Maybe subject to the Larry Robinson syndrome...
Bryan Trottier, assistant coach w/ Colorado. My take: No experience. Maybe in a couple of years (3.5 if the current trend continues!)
Bill Barber, former Flyers and current Philly Phanthoms (AHL) coach. My take: Will meet with Wadell 6/22/99. I will go out on a limb and say he is a good fit. Served as the Flyers Director of Pro Scouting for eight seasons (1988-89 to 1995-96), Was inducting into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990, Was a member of the Flyers 1973-74 and 1974-75 Stanley Cup Championship teams. Good enough for me!!!
Predictions (2/1/99):
Now, unless Ted decides to buy Canada and transform it in a big bison farm, we will have a big pay roll full of clean-cut good old boys. Just like the Braves and the Hawks. Which means that we will make the playoffs every year but will lack the balls and the grits (now that’s irony!) to make it all the way. The fans will have their butts on their hands. Not a good position to untie a tie... Maybe I am wrong. There would be nothing like 25 drunken hockey players to put a little life in Buckhead!
Colors (2/1/99):
Well. First, let just say that it could have been a lot worse (like the Georgia Peaches or the Atlanta Moonlight-through-the-Pines...). I personally like it very much. My electric guitar now wears a nice car window thingy and I must have been one of the firsts to wear a Thrashers T-shirt. The bad thing about it though is that there is no way somebody can draw the logo on their school supplies (or anywhere else for that matter). Take a look here for a little natural history about the actual bird and let me know if that has anything to do with a NHL team.
