This is all pretty funny. I remember a couple years back I was thinking, “Well, the team needs some work, but with Lehtonen and that Pavelec kid, at least we’ve got goaltending taken care of for awhile.”

That said, I’m not convinced that Manny Legace is the difference between the Thrashers as a bottom-dweller and the Thrashers as a playoff team.

You hit the nail on the head with the reference to the contracts for Hedberg and Boulton. They completely hamstrung this team. Lehtonen and Pavelec really should have started last season as the goalie tandem and this season Legace and Pavelec should have the slots. I think DW has a problem with sticking with “his” guys for too long just because he likes them. He’s allowed “unskilled, good lockerroom guys” to hang around this team time and time again. He’s simply too nice of a guy and not cut-throat enough to be a consistently good GM.

“Hamstrung” is a bit strong for two, relatively small contracts. The 12-ye Hossa contact? That’s gonna be the definition of “hamstrung” by 2015. Without hindsight, signing what was then the most reliable (and relatively decent) goaltender this team had ever seen to a two-year contract was, if nothing else, comforting. Boulton is another issue, but his contract is not so large that it is detrimental to the team’s roster decisions.

The funny thing about player movements is that you never know what happened. Maybe Legace wanted too much or wanted a clause that would prevent sending him to the AHL. Maybe Anderson didn’t like the way he handled himself in camp. Maybe Waddell doesn’t like his smell. Maybe Dudley had seen enough of Legace to know that his skills have really deterioated to the point where it’s a toss-up between him and Hedberg. No one knows.

Truth is, Pavelec has played some good games at the NHL level, and he’s played some miserable games. What’s more important is that the team in front of him controls the ice and wins some games when Pavelec can’t win for them.

I also was puzzled by the Boulton and Hedberg contracts at the time, just as I am similarly puzzled by the decision to lock up the oh-so-valuable Thorburn to a 2 year deal. The Hedberg contract led to the Pavelic theatrics of a year ago, something I think everyone wants to forget.

With 1 pre-season game played, for whatever reason it does seem that Legace wasn’t really and truly given a shot at making the team. And with limited resources, I think it came down to a choice of Afinogenov or Legace, but not both, and the organization has (I think) decided to keep Afinogenov.

Actually, Hossa’s contract isn’t that bad. Because of his age at the time of signing, the current rule is that if he retires at any point prior to the expiration of the contract, all that remaining money comes off the books immediately. So if Hossa retires at, say, age 40, the final 2 years are wiped away. This is a loophole that other teams may explore and consider exploiting. Luongo’s current deal is similar – if he retires prior to the end of the deal, the remaining money is wiped off the books. Pronger’s deal is different because of his age at signing and 100% of that money counts against the cap until the contract ends. Pronger could retire next summer and the Flyers are on the hook for it. All 3 contracts are back loaded with cheaper years at the end to drive down the avg. cost against the cap for now. I suspect that the NHL will insist on new rules regarding contracts. One might be that if a contract extends past a player’s 40th birthday that the years after 40 count against the cap regardless of injury or retirement. They could also stop this averaging idea and make each contract count for its exact value per season. Or they could guarantee all contracts regardless of age of the player signing it.

Damian Rhodes and Byron Dafoe.

As of now, I don’t see any impediment to me going back to New Orleans this Spring. Teflon Don has never known what to do with the goalie situation so this should come as no surprise to anybody that has followed the team.

I’ve never understood why they have stood behind Kari so much. When the kid is good, he’s fantastic. When he’s bad he’s bad. So he’s an average goalie. But for a few years he’s struggled with not committing to off-season conditioning, which have caused him injuries, and some injuires were just injuires. In a year when there were plenty of goalies that were free agents. Hedberg, although not the greatest goalie, but you know what you’re getting each game, and it’s not costing 3 million a year on a year to year basis. My complain isn’t really that they should have signed Legace (However when I heard he was at training camp I ran around the room shouting ‘they finally figured it out’), but should have addresses this sooner. Now looking at this season, I can see Kari struggling and Hedberg and Pavelic to try and keep the Thrashers in this thing. I have been a fan of this team since it got here, and I really hope that I am wrong this year. But I would have addressed the Goalie situation last year. Instead it looks more like they are trying to sign enough scorers to make up for the weakness in goal.