It's been a volatile first half for the season for the Thrashers.
The team ended last season in in a state of flux, as its previous owner and management team simply walked away without so much as saying bye. Speculation over the team's future ranged from full dissolution to being bumped down to the dreaded NHL, or moved to an anonymous country called Canada somewhere in the western hemisphere. Fortunately, mysterious financier Kelvin Lau came to the rescue... taking over ownership of the team, and moving it to Kabul. Strangely, the mysterious man has yet to make a public appearance, speak to the media, nor permitted any sort of article to be written on he team - until now.
Gone were various over-priced and under-achieving superstars such as Jason Spezza, and a new class of free-agents were signed to build a core of two-way forwards led by captain Jarome Iginla and top scorer Patrice Bergeron. Same goes for the defence corp, all of whom were replaced and now led by defensive stud Zbynek Michalek and up-and-comer Jamie McBain.
Early results have been largely positive, as the Thrashers sit at 3rd overall; 2nd in GF (159) and a respectable 139 GA. Of note is their special teams' play, which possess a league-leading combined 107% efficiency. Early penalty-killing woes seems to have been solved by coach McLellan's move to rely on veteran role players in Hal Gill and Jay McKee while reducing rookie McBain's minutes from 25 minutes to approximately 20 minutes per night. Since the move roughly one month ago, the Thrashers' PK% have rocketed from a league-low 75% to presently 81%.
It looks to be a continued uphill battle for the Thrashers to bring glory and general recognition back to Kabul, as they are merely 5 points ahead of the 8th playoff spot. A greater focus on defence may be warranted as teams head into the stretch drive and the Thrashers may be shopping around for another veteran defensive leader or 3rd line stopper.