After a rousing first half of the season where stubborn hockey pundits and scribes were reluctant to acknowledge that the Atlanta Thrashers were for real several finally started to come around. Then a funny thing happened at the beginning of the second half. The Thrashers went into an all too familiar nosedive taking the team from contention for a second place spot in their division to struggling for a playoff spot.
A closer examination of the team points out some of the issues Coach Craig Ramsay and General Manager Rick Dudley will have to address to reverse the disastrous trend facing the Atlanta squad.
Balanced Scoring Needed
The competition has reviewed the Thrashers previous game tapes and personnel. It becomes clear that Atlanta’s game plan unrealistically relies too much on Dustin Byfuglien and Toby Enstrom as the catalysts for their offense and defense.
No slight to the contributions of both men, but hall of famers Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Denis Potvin and even the great Bobby Orr could not lead their team offensively without some help from forwards.
It is also worth noting that no team ha ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Warren Shaw
Atlanta Thrashers: Can They Reverse Course Before It’s Too Late?
January 26th, 2011 by Warren Shaw Leave a reply »
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