Fritsche stays. I think the final pre-season game drove home the point that the PK must improve and he’ll have a chance to do that. I predict Thorburn gets sent down to make room for Fritsche.

Kane sure didn’t earn a job, but he may be given one anyway.

Salmela, Oystrick and Popovic stay and Valabik is sent down. Maybe it’s time to pull the plug on Valbik.

Players without contracts – Popovic, Legace, Afinogenov are not listed on the roster.

My concern is – who is the 5th defenseman? If one of the top four is out, who steps up? Valabik has looked awful in that role. It doesn’t seem that any of Valabik, Oystrick, Salmela or Popovic can do that. Can we fast-forward Postma’s and Kulda’s development a year?

Max will never play the PK – while in theory Evander might be an effective PKer in a few months. Does that figure into the equation? Does that give Kane an edge in sticking?

The team better learn to stay out of the box if they still can’t kill penalties.

I have this gut feeling that we’re all gonna be a bit stunned by the next roster moves. My hunch(es):

Afinogenov will be signed, and start as 2nd line RW.

Kane will stay with the team, and start out on the fourth line, much like Stamos did last year with the Bolts. It allows him time to add muscle (and if he can continue to work hard and add weight as he did over the summer, he may be closing in on a much better weight by Christmas). As has been said before, he’s not going to gain much in juniors. If he begins to play up to the NHL level, he’ll see more ice time on special teams, and by the end of the year, he’ll likely be playing closer to 3rd or 2nd line minutes.

One of Bolton or Thorburn will be gone (my gut says Boulton, but I’m going to write Thorburn) and Gratton might make the opening roster as a healthy scratch.

Legace will be signed, and may in fact be the starter on opening night. It’s a big home game before the road trip. I think that the Thrashers might prefer to have a stable if not spectacular netminder in place, and after the Bolts just ripped Pavelec, Coach might want to let him wait for his first start to occur on the road.

Defensively, the only thing that will keep Boris here is if (and I don’t know the answer to this) he’d have to clear waivers if we sent him down. If he isn’t waiver eligible, he’ll be on a flight to Chicago by the end of the day today.

Starting lineup:

Kovalchuk-Antropov-Little
Kozlov-White-Afinogenov
Peverly-Reasoner-Armstrong
Kane-Slater-Boulton

Hainsey-Kubina
Enstrom-Bogosian
Popovic-Salmella

Legace
Pavelec

Scratches: Gratton, Hedberg, Oystrick

I think Thorburn is more versatile, and a better skater, and I think makes a better piece for the team. As I said above, my guy says Boulton might be gone, but I have a hard time believing that the team will pull that trigger.

Thorburn and Slater have been better on the PK except for last night. Gratton is still on the roster. I say Gratton makes it. Fritsche, although I would love to see him stay because we need help on the PK, may be gone. I just have that gut feeling that Don and Rick are going to make that decision.

I think Popovic will stay and Valabik and Oystrick will go down or see less play time. I see Salmela staying up too. I see Kane going back to Jr., and Afinogenov getting a contract too. I hate it because last night he could not convert a single opportunity even though he did a great job vs. Carolina. I just see him as too inconsistent.

I wonder if Rick Dudley and Don Waddell have kept an eye on Dandenault and Hinote; they are now available too. Hinote is supposed to be a good two way forward. As far as goalie goes, I would like to see Legace start as I think Pavelec is still not ready. But, I have a feeling that Moose is going to start if Pavelec does not. It will be out of loyalty. Legace should be given a contract though and be kept around. I have a feeling he is going to turn a corner a la Khabibulin last year. Just a hunch. We will regret it if we let him go. I don’t see Kari back for 4-6 weeks because as someone else mentioned, he will need conditioning assignments in Chicago before coming back. I say once Kari is healthy, trade him, and go after another #1, like Clemmensen who is now in Florida. I say we find a way to get another indisputable #1 goalie. Enough of this playing around!

Kevin Allen on Twitter:

Dan Fritsche was released by the #Atlanta Thrashers and they are trying to negotiate a deal to keep D Mark Popovic.

in reference to tim saying kane isn’t ready:
anybody see kane dump a nashville player AND a zebra into the thrashers bench during the 1st period against nashville wednesday? that. was. sweet.

We know, now, that Manny has not been signed, and it is a shame but probably a matter of financial decision making. Too bad.

Good luck with Let-em-in and Hed(case)berg.

I didn’t like this either. I knew they were going to cut Fritsche and Legace. I think that they will give Kane his 8-9 games to see if he can prove he can play well enough up here. As Waddell said at the STH breakfast on 9/16, “We are going to give Evander every chance to make this team.” To me, it sounds like they are not convinced that he has made the team, but they are going to keep him up as long as they can until he shows that he can make the team.

Ablebody,
he may have done that once, but I agree with Evilmilkshake, that he can’t do it against players who are older, more experienced, and bigger. If you saw the TB game, he just looked like he was getting schooled because he tried going through TB’s lines, and couldn’t. I give Evander props for having the guts to do it and try, but he just couldn’t do it. He has got to put on another 20-25 lbs. of muscle not fat. That or he has to be so fast that he can get around them or something. I know that sending him back to Vancouver may be too easy a situation for him, but he needs the conditioning.

I wonder if they will go after Stuart now that he is on waivers. I hope so as he was a great forechecker and he was a good PKer. We might be able to get him back for a good price. I would LOVE to have him back. I know Falconer likes him too.

I hope Popovic gets the contract; he has earned it! I say he plays 3rd line defense over Boris; put him with Salmela.

As far as the goalie situation goes, I hope that I am wrong; I hope that Pavelec gets it together long enough until Kari comes back. If not, then we have to rely on Moose, and McIntyre as a 3rd contingency. I hope that Kari gets his sh— together too! He needs to prove he was worth this $4 million he is getting paid. If he plays well, I will eat my words, admit I am wrong and apologize on this blog and on other blogs. If not, Waddell and Dudley need to let him walk, and they should go after another #1 goalie. I am tired of this deja vu with goalies every year!!