With the start of the season upon us it wouldnt be a BRHL2 season without the Thrashers making major changes less than a week into the season..
With that the team has made wholesale changes in goal.. Two deals were made one with the Flyers and one with the Ducks..
The first deal saw the Flyers and Thrashers hook up on a blockbuster.
To Phi- A.Edler, K.Beach, J.Deslauriers, T.Chorney, T.Wishart To Atl- R.Miller, C.Gillies, P.Cormier, M.Corrente, Mtl 5th
The teams G.M had this to say, "We were thrilled about this deal, its tough losing NHL Oilers but we know Rex in Philly pays full price for them. We think Chorney and JDD are solid players and it was tough to see them move.. Edler is a good young dman who is still being hampered by other d-men on his NHL team much similar to a N.Kronvall type asset in our minds a solid solid peice but not superstar either. Kyle he just took a pee in the water bottle's during our offseason camp as a prank, the vets didnt like it much and he had to be moved.. Wishart has fallen out of favour in our organization we really soured on him after he was given every chance to succeed in NHL for tampa and just didnt show any development... On the return we got we really feel like R.Miller has turned the corner in NHL and should be in the top 5-7 goalie conversation everytime. Gillies gives us a kid we really had high on our board during his draft year and feel longterm could be very good player, Cormier should have another strong campaign for Team Canada at the WJC this year,, Corrente is a kid who is on fire in the AHL this season for the Devils in the NHL and we really think he has turned the corner in his development as a former first rounder. And picking up a draft choice in a trade helps our teams prospect depth always"
In the second move in less than 48hours the Thrashers hooked up with the ducks on another blockbuster.
To Anahiem- King Henrik Lundqvist
To Atlanta- Erik Johnson, Jeff Tambellini, Justin Abdelkader, and Nashville's 3rd round pick.
The G.M's thoughts on the trade, "Well it says it all in his name losing the "king" i dont know if you ever win the trade. In return though we get a player in Erik Johnson that we feel will have a couple norris trophy's on his on his shelf by the end of his career and maybe a MVP aswell (hey ask CFP if MVP is possible as a d-man as a St.L Blue NHL) Also being able to fill some depth with a good young goal scorer like Tambellini who is playing with D.Weight and former top pick J.Bailey on a line in NYI NHL has shown nice progression this season NHL. his 3 yr ELC "like" contract is also a nice feature for our team in the next couple years possibly. In Justin Abdelkader we think we have a kid who is in a great situation NHL with the Red Wings banged up he should see some solid minutes with some top end players and hopefully produce, if not he's proven he is a decent checking forward who will hopefully pan out into a solid top 9 forward. and getting a pick we feel will be a quality one is a nice boost aswell."
The two trades the Thrashers made looks like this when joined together.
Coming to Atlanta- R.Miller, E.Johnson, J.Tambellini, J.Abdelkader, C.Gillies, P.Cormier, M.Corrente, Nashville 3rd, Montreal 5th
G.M's final thoughts, "All in all were happy we got rid of the 3 goalie stuck in pro situation we had, didnt pick up and bad contracts or expiring ones that will go up. Still feel great about our goaltending situation and think we added a franchise quality d-man compared to a top 4 pairing guy. and we like the prospects we added compared to the ones leaving and gained a couple picks. Its all preference though we know we lost some quality players aswell were not blind."
Definetely the easiest to read of ANY Thrasher articles we have seen throughout the years. Did you go back to school or something? Or who wrote it up for you?
