We’ve partnered with On Goal Analysis to bring you a team-by-team preview of the upcoming NHL season. (Just scroll down on the OGA website and hit the calendar.) Here is the preview for the Atlanta Thrashers…
Last Season versus the Playoff Qualifying Curve (PQC): Called at Tee Time – out of the Playoffs – at Game 30 /12 December 2008 and completed the season a 4.1 for the No. 13 slot in the East. This was their third worst attempt since the Lockout and only about a 6% improvement over the last two years. Playing below their post-Lockout average PQC all year, they nevertheless showed some improvement over the last 22 games of the season. OGA stated in last season’s preview report that the tale of Atlanta will be told by Christmas and this was indeed the case. The wheels started coming off the cart after Game 20 where they had a lone OTL to their credit in their next five games and then only averaged 4.83 wins in every 10 games throughout the rest of the season. What they needed was closer to six wins in every 10…
Post-Lockout average PQC and what to expect this season: Atlanta averaged 4.33 against the PQC over the last four seasons with their only trip to the Playoffs in club history ending in a four-game sweep at the hands of the NYR. How do we stack them up against the PQC and know they are on the right path toward the Playoffs this season? During the 2006/7 season – their best one since the Lockout – we knew at game 10 they were going to be in the Playoffs. We think they are an improved team this year, most especially on the blueline, and might just make a run for the No. 8 seed in the East. It will come down to one or two games overall, which your defense must be spot on for or you go home on 12 April. Either way we should know again by Christmas, if not earlier, whether or not the Thrashers are improved enough to make a run Chasing Stanley.
What can you expect from this team going into the 2009/10 season?
