This is the tenth anniversary season of the Atlanta Thrashers. For most of the history of the franchise the team has ranked near the bottom in Goals Allowed. If you take a look at the men who have suited up at defense you will not spot too many Hall of Fame talents patroling the Atlanta blueline. However, it does appear to me that the current crop of defensemen is the strongest in team history.
I thought it would be interesting to trace out the shifts over time on the blueline. So I created seven columns which are roughly intended to list off the individuals who held the #1 through #7 blueline positions (using ice time to rank them). You can see the evolution of each defense slot and the minutes each player received. When a new player breaks into the history I have put it in bold.
| Season | D#1 | min | D#2 | min | D##3 | min | D#4 | min | D#5 | min | D#6 | min | D#7 | min |
| 2000 | Shannon | 1046 | Buzek | 1159 | Tremblay | 1459 | Tamer | 1275 | Murphy | 1315 | Galanov | 861 | Harlock | 865 |
| 2001 | Kaberle | 1136 | Staios | 1522 | Tremblay | 940 | Tamer | 1614 | Murphy | 559 | Slegr | 711 | Harlock | 1109 |
| 2002 | Kaberle | 1316 | Tjarnqvist | 1614 | Tremblay | 1440 | Tamer | 1442 | Reirdan | 1172 | Slegr | 811 | Pothier | 715 |
| 2003 | Kaberle | 1733 | Tjarnqvist | 1641 | Tremblay | 1631 | Tamer | 1129 | Sutton | 954 | Smehlik | 847 | Weaver | 745 |
| 2004 | Kaberle | 1562 | Tjarnqvist | 1514 | Tremblay | 820 | Exelby | 1386 | Sutton | 1517 | Tamer | 682 | Majesky | 910 |
| 2005 | ||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Havelid | 2002 | DeVries | 1805 | Modry | 1643 | Exelby | 1176 | Sutton | 1602 | McCarthy | 267 | Hnidy | 675 |
| 2007 | Havelid | 1945 | DeVries | 1823 | Vishnevski | 1003 | Exelby | 1043 | Sutton | 1070 | McCarthy | 703 | Hnidy | 1125 |
| 2008 | Havelid | 1661 | Enstrom | 2006 | Klee | 1443 | Exelby | 1492 | Zhitnik | 1236 | McCarthy | 868 | Popovic | 477 |
| 2009 | Havelid | 1316 | Enstrom | 1929 | Hainsey | 1812 | Exelby | 986 | Bogosian | 851 | Schneider | 925 | Oystrick | 834 |
| 2010 | Kubina | 1348 | Enstrom | 1346 | Hainsey | 1260 | Schubert | 694 | Bogosian | 1333 | Oduya | 105 | Salmela | 381 |
| 2011 | ???? | Enstrom | Hainsey | Valabik | Bogosian | Oduya | Kulda |
There are a few things I simply can not explain. For example, why did Tamer and Tremblay each get a 5 season try out while Mike Weaver (who is still playing in the NHL today) only get a brief trial (my guess is that Bob Hartley hates small defensemen). Who recommended that the team acquire Ivan Majesky, Steve McCarthy, Todd Reirdan,
| Season | D1 | +/- | D2 | +/- | D3 | +/- | D4 | +/- | D5 | +/- | D6 | +/- | D7 | +/- |
| 2000 | Shannon | -14 | Buzek | -22 | Tremblay | -42 | Tamer | -32 | Murphy | -26 | Galanov | -12 | Harlock | -8 |
| 2001 | Kaberle | 11 | Staios | -23 | Tremblay | -6 | Tamer | -1 | Murphy | -11 | Slegr | -1 | Harlock | -28 |
| 2002 | Kaberle | -11 | Tjarnqvist | -22 | Tremblay | -15 | Tamer | -11 | Reirdan | -25 | Slegr | -21 | Pothier | -19 |
| 2003 | Kaberle | -19 | Tjarnqvist | -20 | Tremblay | -27 | Tamer | -10 | Sutton | -8 | Smehlik | -4 | Weaver | -5 |
| 2004 | Kaberle | 2 | Tjarnqvist | -4 | Tremblay | -13 | Exelby | -10 | Sutton | 0 | Tamer | -9 | Majesky | -7 |
| 2005 | ||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Havelid | 9 | DeVries | 1 | Modry | -9 | Exelby | 11 | Sutton | 13 | McCarthy | 0 | Hnidy | 1 |
| 2007 | Havelid | -2 | DeVries | -3 | Vishnevski | -5 | Exelby | 2 | Sutton | 6 | McCarthy | 4 | Hnidy | 15 |
| 2008 | Havelid | 2 | Enstrom | -5 | Klee | -5 | Exelby | -21 | Zhitnik | -8 | McCarthy | -23 | Popovic | -4 |
| 2009 | Havelid | 4 | Enstrom | 14 | Hainsey | -16 | Exelby | -2 | Bogosian | 11 | Schneider | -10 | Oystrick | -2 |
| 2010 | Kubina | 6 | Enstrom | 7 | Hainsey | -10 | Schubert | -7 | Bogosian | -13 | Oduya | 0 | Salmela | 4 |
| 2011 | ???? | Enstrom | Hainsey | Valabik | Bogosian | Oduya | Kulda | |||||||
Here are some patterns that stand out when I look at this chart. The role of the #1 and #2 D men have been held by Europeans for most of the team's history. The #3 slot has historically been occupied by a soft defender with offensive skills, Ron Hainsey is keeping that tradition alive. The #4 column lists physical defesemen who tended to pile up the penalty minutes, Schubert and Valabik fill that slot quite well. The guys in column #6 usually had a reputation for offensive skill but while wearing a Thrashers jersey Slegr, Galanov, McCarthy, and Schneider never lived up to the hype. The guys in column #5 were experiments that didn't really work out well for Atlanta, hopefully Bogosian will break that streak.
| Season | D1 | Pts | D2 | Pts | D3 | Pts | D4 | Pts | D5 | Pts | D6 | Pts | D7 | Pts |
| 2000 | Shannon | 18 | Buzek | 19 | Tremblay | 31 | Tamer | 10 | Murphy | 11 | Galanov | 7 | Harlock | 6 |
| 2001 | Kaberle | 15 | Staios | 22 | Tremblay | 12 | Tamer | 17 | Murphy | 14 | Slegr | 19 | Harlock | 1 |
| 2002 | Kaberle | 25 | Tjarnqvist | 18 | Tremblay | 24 | Tamer | 6 | Reirdan | 8 | Slegr | 8 | Pothier | 9 |
| 2003 | Kaberle | 26 | Tjarnqvist | 15 | Tremblay | 30 | Tamer | 10 | Sutton | 21 | Smehlik | 11 | Weaver | 5 |
| 2004 | Kaberle | 29 | Tjarnqvist | 20 | Tremblay | 10 | Exelby | 10 | Sutton | 21 | Tamer | 7 | Majesky | 10 |
| 2005 | ||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Havelid | 32 | DeVries | 35 | Modry | 38 | Exelby | 10 | Sutton | 25 | McCarthy | 10 | Hnidy | 3 |
| 2007 | Havelid | 21 | DeVries | 24 | Vishnevski | 12 | Exelby | 10 | Sutton | 16 | McCarthy | 16 | Hnidy | 12 |
| 2008 | Havelid | 14 | Enstrom | 38 | Klee | 10 | Exelby | 7 | Zhitnik | 8 | McCarthy | 7 | Popovic | 2 |
| 2009 | Havelid | 15 | Enstrom | 32 | Hainsey | 39 | Exelby | 7 | Bogosian | 19 | Schneider | 15 | Oystrick | 12 |
| 2010 | Kubina | 30 | Enstrom | 41 | Hainsey | 14 | Schubert | 7 | Bogosian | 20 | Oduya | 0 | Salmela | 5 |
| 2011 | ???? | Enstrom | Hainsey | Valabik | Bogosian | Oduya | Kulda | |||||||
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