Thrashers Historic Depth Charts: Offensive Forwards

As part of the 10th Anniversary of the Thrashers I'm doing a series of posts which show the evolution of the roster over time. Yesterday, I looked at the defensemen and today it is top six (i.e. scoring) forwards. One thing that really jumps out is the stability the Thrashers have had at LW with Kovalchuk and Kozlov holding those two roster spots. Kovalchuk is already gone and Kozlov is next after being scratched numerous times this season. "The team, it is a-changing."

The next table shows the points scored by each of the top six forwards. Pre-lockout the Thrashers 2nd line was generally pathetic--posting scoring numbers that compare to a 3rd line on most other NHL teams. Another thing that jumps out is the rank inconsistency of most players. Kozlov swings from 80 to 41 points then back to 76 points. So often you see fans assume that a good year by a particular player will carry over to the next season, but most of the time a career year is followed by a return to average (warning: Nik Antropov is having a career season this year).

And now for the really ugly chart. Plus/minus is not a good measure of "defense" but it is a good measure of who is "dominating" whom at Even Strength. Ferraro got absolutely destroyed at ES in those early seasons, his big contribution came on the Power Play. For all his faults Kallio managed to limit the damage at ES. Hossa and Kozlov are the only two players to have back-to-back plus seasons for the Thrashers among the top six forwards. Kovalchuk didn't have a plus season until the very last year of his career with the Thrashers (he should thank Antropov for that too). He was a minus every year he played with Marc Savard. Kovalchuk was elite on the PP, but not a big difference maker at ES.

Conclusion: Next up checking forwards.