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Old 04-13-2009, 07:36 PM   #1
Hanna Sniper
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Icon23 Thrashers vs Hurricanes Preview



Thrashers Look To Silence The 'Canes Big guns



For the Atlanta Thrashers, the 2008-09 season has been one to savour, pretty much the class of the Shore Division from the start of the season to the finish, and the second best franchise point record with a 104 points.


This is promising stuff with rookie sensations like Robert Nilsson and Andrew Cogliano, and the thousands who once again have been packing the Chantelle Barnes Memorial Arena in hopes of a glimpse of the 2005-06 Stanley Cup run.

In Carolina, the Hurricanes also are reminiscing of the past, trying to erase the history of a fallen season that produced a 37-35-14 record, another All-Star appearance for Jarome Iginla after that very little of anything encouraging came out of Carolina.

In this matchup, the thunderous Thrashers will run right into a depleted Carolina lineup anchored by Jarome Iginla, Joe Thornton, Henrik Zetterberg and Jeff Carter, who, ironically, are the only forwards making over $750,000.




With Pavel Datsyuk, Robert Nilsson, Andy McDonald, Jason Pominville and Markuss Naslund, there is enough high end up front for Thrashers to make the Hurricanes scouting staff weep. And that's without taking into account rookie Andrew Cogliano 29 goals.

It's the Thrashers depth, or more precisely the ‘Canes lack thereof, that will dictate the flow of this series. Added to that, GM Sutaria’s astute managing in acquiring even more depth with waiver wire steals of Bryan Smolinski and Niko Kapanen.

The Thrashers ice a lineup that proudly cast four 30 goals scorers with Cogliano and Naslund falling shy with 29 and 28 goals apiece.

Jay Pandolfo, Jason Pominville and Eric Belanger will draw the defensive duities of finding a way to shutdown the ‘Canes one scoring line.


The Hurricanes own the most feared line in the CPHL with Jarome Iginla, Joe Thornton, Henrik Zetterberg, but who takes the ice after that wouldn’t strike fear in a QMJHL team. Outside of Jeff Carter the Canes forward squad is filled with a bunch of 500k pylons.

Once a four line squad and sitting outside of the playoff picture the Hurricanes GM made a series of trades and waiver moves that sent Marchant, Arnason, Rolston, Donovan, Walker, Yelle, Roberts, Neil and the demotion of Latendresse with only one roster player lacing up the skates in replacement has left the Hurricanes faithful wondering what the hell just blew through Raleigh.

Amazingly, in it’s mysterious ways that the Sim works… the subtraction of these forwards was enough to propel the Hurricanes into a 7-3-0 stretch and taking them from 10th in the division and locking up the 7th playoffs spot. Go figure.




The Thrashers have a very deceiving group of defenceman. Not bleased with a elite showpiece defender but what the thrashers do have is very solid top end depth, good enough to allow the second least goals against in the Howe Conference

The core is lead by veteran Lubomir Visnovsky who’s 16 goals and 54 points lead the Thrashers rearguards. Steve Staios brings 19 goals from the point and also leading the way with five by way of the PP.

Roman Hamrlik not only brings a veteran presense but also brings a defensive calm to the Thrashers blueline as he lead all Thrashers with a plus +19. Filling out the remaining D is Brett Clark, Jan Hejda and ex longtime Hurricane Hall Gill.


The Hurricanes will be icing what could be registered as the worst defensive core to ever qualify for the post season in CPHL history. Jason Smith and Andreas Lilja will be leading the way and teaching the young kids as they gain experience. Bruno Gervais and Andy Greene with provide a young energy type presence. Gordie Baldwin and Derek Joslin will provide many highlight reel opportunities for opposition forwards throughout the series



Nikolai Khabibulin recorded the 8th best goals against average in the league this years holding an average of 2.93. Khabibulin will look to see most of the action this series as backup Dan Ellis failed to gain much confidence in his GM throughout the year.

Pascal Leclaire also was one of the leagues top netminders again this year, and nudging ahead of Khabibulin with a 2.92 GAA. Although Leclaire will see the majority of the key games in the series, his lack of conditioning has been a problem all season long and backup Craig Anderson will most likely start two games in the series if it goes long enough… with the Canes lack of forward and defensive depth, if the Hurricanes go to Anderson too much, their GM will be going to the well way too many times




There hasn't been anything particularly special about the power play this season, but it hasn't been terrible. The Thrashers finished 17th with a 15.8% PP. Datsyuk and Naslund will provide the offensive presence netting 11 and 10 goals. The PK has struggled this season falling 21st with a 83.5%


Surprisingly the Canes have the 9th best PP in the league with a 17.6%. Iginla leads the way with 14 PP goals and with the addition of Zetterberg the Canes PP might have improved . The penalty kill has been dreadful, with an 83.8-percent success rate, with much of the players responsible for this have been replaced by lesser skilled fill-ins.



Robert Nilsson, Thrashers – If the Thrashers can continue to get the young rookie to produce at the rate he did during the regular season then the Thrasher should have very little trouble putting away the ‘Canes and earning some much valuable rest for the next round. While the SIM has always favoured veterans, it’s possible that Nilsson has the chance to step up and prove to be an exception as he faces a much less experienced squad.



Thrashers will win if – They can keep the Hurricanes No.1 unit from recording insane numbers, other then that all the Thrashers really have to do is make sure that they draw the series out long enough that conditioning will be a factor and the downfall for the Canes. minimize their mistakes and allow the Hurricanes to hang themselves with their own noose

Hurricanes will win if – If the SIM holds true and whips out one hell of a head scratching bad beat to GM Sutaria. The Hurricanes will need Iginla Thornton and Zetterberg to play out of this world and cover their roster short comings. Jeff Carter will also need to make a presence early and escape the funk he’s been dogged with all season long
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Last edited by Hanna Sniper; 04-13-2009 at 07:48 PM.
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Old 04-13-2009, 07:45 PM   #2
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Awesome write-up as usual! Looks great to boot. Honestly the 'Canes have no business winning this one, but as we all know the sim is crazy!!
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Old 04-13-2009, 07:51 PM   #3
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Fantastic writeup Doug. You are right in that the key for us is to shut down Zetterberg, Thornton, Iginla and Carter. It should be a challenging series and one that we are looking forward to.
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Old 04-13-2009, 09:47 PM   #4
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Really well done, nice work Doug
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Old 04-13-2009, 10:36 PM   #5
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Fantastic write-up and presentation! I was going to do one too but now I don't want to as I know it will never look as nice as yours.

Ah heck, I'll still make one but will probably steal your layout.

The Canes are in tough in this series but we all saw what they did last year. Making it to the Cup Finals with one superstar and a 75ov starting goalie. Now they have 3 superstars and a legit starter! Anything can happen.
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Old 04-13-2009, 11:08 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RT14 View Post
Ah heck, I'll still make one but will probably steal your layout.
Sounds like a great plan, it worked for me
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=417658

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