Thrashers Today: A Preview of Avs-Thrashers, and Some Links to Enjoy

To kick off the links portion of the blog, we will start with some trade rumors involving the Blueland Baddies. As you can see from my Twitter update from earlier today, the Atlanta Thrashers are rumored to be shopping a couple of their key defensemen.

According to the Ottawa Sun (not exactly the most reliable source of information) league sources are indicating that the Thrashers are looking to move Niclas Havelid and Ron Hainsey before the trade deadline. There isn't any more really listed on the site in terms of details, but if you want to check out some of the other rumors, feel free to check out the full article.

-The Thrashers are getting ready to play five games in their next six in the cozy confines of Phillips Arena. This should be good news for a team getting back from a long road trip right? Well, maybe not. A couple of good articles deal with this issue.

First, from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, we have Mike Knobler's take on the return of the Thrashers to Atlanta ice. He cites some scary stats and gives the players' perspective on the situation as well.

Second, from The Hockey Writers, we have, well, my take on the situation. This was inspired by the AJC article, and I included a lot of stats to back up the assertion that the Thrashers are better off away from Atlanta this season, and I also threw in a little of my sarcasm for effect.

-Finally, the Avalanche are coming a-calling to Phillips Arena to take on the Thrashers. According to the game preview on the Thrashers' website, Peter Budaj is expected to be in goal for the Avs, and he is a terrible 0-7-1 in his last 8 road starts. Hopefully Atlanta can get on him early.

For all the news regarding this game (including whether Paul Stastny will play), go right on ahead and click here.

Well, that's that for now. If any news breaks on the Thrashers, be sure to check back for my take, and a game recap will be up within an hour of the final horn at Phillips tonight, so stay tuned for that. Go Thrashers!

Thrashers-Sharks Preview Highlights

Was just checking out the Thrashers' website, and the preview for the game tonight against the Sharks has a lot of bad omens for the game tonight. I'd say that the Thrashers don't have much of a shot against San Jose, but if you had told me that the Thrashers would be on a five game points streak on the road, I wouldn't have believed you. Enough about me though. Let's get to the good stuff.

Note: If you want to read the entire game preview, you can visit the Thrashers' website.

-The Thrashers are 0-4-0 with a tie all-time at HP Pavillion. The Sharks are also ridiculously good at home this season, having only lost twice in regulation at home this season.

-Bryan Little has six points in his last three games, and Ilya Kovalchuk has scored goals in six straight contests coming in to this one.

-The Thrashers have only beaten the Sharks one time in their ten all-time meetings in an overtime game in 2002.

-In the last 22 games, Kovalchuk has 19 goals and eight assists. He's taking this "captain" thing really seriously.

The game starts at 4pm EST on Sports South, and is available on NHL Gamecenter. Go Thrashers!