Atlanta Thrashers

The Atlanta Thrashers are a professional ice hockey team based at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. They play in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Facts

Founded: 1999-2000 (awarded June 25, 1997)

Arena: Philips Arena (capacity 19,008)

Uniform colors: light blue, navy blue, crimson red, gold, brown, white

Logo design: a stylized bird's head wrapped around a hockey-stick

Mascot: Thrash

Rivals: Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes

Franchise history

The Atlanta Thrashers are one of the NHL's newest teams. Atlanta was awarded a NHL franchise in 1997 to replace the Atlanta Flames, which departed for Calgary in 1980 and became the Calgary Flames.

The nickname "Thrashers", after Georgia's state bird, the brown thrasher, was selected from a fan poll. "Thrashers" had actually been runner-up to "Flames" for Atlanta's first NHL team, and Philips Arena, the Thrashers' new home, was built on the site of the former Omni, which had been home to the Atlanta Flames.

The newly-formed Thrashers selected Patrik Stefan with their first number-one draft pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. They played their first game on October 2, 1999, losing 4-1 to the New Jersey Devils.

In September 2003 the team was sold to a group of executives by Time Warner, along with the Atlanta Hawks professional basketball team, with which the Thrashers share the arena. That same month brought tragedy as star forward Dany Heatley crashed his Ferrari in a one-car accident that seriously injured Heatley and killed Thrashers center Dan Snyder, who was a passenger in the car. The Thrashers dedicated their 2003-04 NHL season to Snyder's memory. Thrashers players wore black patches with Snyder's number, 37, on their jerseys during the season to honour his memory. It greatly diminished the popularity of Heatley among Atlanta in general, and helped to bring about his off-season trade to Ottawa. The Thrashers have never made the playoffs in their short history. Their best season was this past year 2005-06, where they missed the playoffs by 2 games.

The Thrashers play in the Southeast Division of NHL's Eastern Conference. They are currently coached by Bob Hartley.

2003-2004 Season Recap

The 2003-04 NHL season was the Thrashers most successful season to date. Led by captain Shawn McEachern, and with the memory of Dan Snyder on their mind, the Thrashers jumped quickly out of the gates with some notable highlights. Ilya Kovalchuk scored 8 goals in the first 7 games, including two hat tricks, one in a 7-2 rout of the Chicago Blackhawks, and another in a come from behind victory against the Nashville Predators. Come from behind victories became a standard sight throughout the season, including shocking upsets against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Bruins, and the Ottawa Senators, as well as wins from games against the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Islanders, among others.

Eleven games into the season, the Thrashers were alone in first place atop the NHL. Although they continued to play well, they could not keep up with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the eventual Stanley Cup champions, or other teams in the league. The lack of Dany Heatley and depth in general started showing. December 26, 2003 marked both a bright and dark day for the Thrashers. On that day, Dany Heatley skated for the first time since his car accident with Dan Snyder, but it also marked the last win for the Thrashers before an extended losing streak. From December 28th to February 11th the Thrashers had a dismal 17 losses and 3 ties, with only 1 win. During that time Kovalchuk became only the second Thrashers' player to score in the NHL All-Star Game, an exciting overtime loss to the Red Wings occurred on New Year's Eve, Randy Robitaille broke Brian Boucher's shutout streak, Dany Heatley returned to the ice, and an all-out brawl against the Edmonton Oilers took place. The streak finally ended with a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks.

While clearly the Thrashers playoffs hopes were done for that year, they still played on and ended up finishing 2nd in the Southeast Division and 10th in the Eastern Conference, only a handful of wins away from the playoffs. Ilya Kovalchuk ended up tying for the league lead in goals with 41 with Jarome Iginla and Rick Nash. Interestingly, the three tiers in that season - Iginla, Kovalchuk, Nash - all are wingers. The tie for the NHL lead in goals that year wasn't the only tie in scores; the New Jersey Devils' Scott Gomez tied for first in assists with 56 with the Tampa Bay Lightning's Art Ross Trophy winner, Martin St. Louis. Kari Lehtonen started his NHL career with 4 wins and 4 starts, including one shutout. Despite the tragedy of Dan Snyder, the Thrashers pushed on and ended up doing relatively well, and their future certainly looks bright.

Before the start of the 2005-2006 season, the Thrashers picked up many veteran players in the hopes of making the playoffs for the first time. They traded Dany Heatley on August 23, 2005 in a block-buster trade for Marian Hossa, and Greg de Vries. They also signed such players as Mike Dunham, Peter Bondra, Bobby Holik, Jaroslav Modry, and Scott Mellanby.

2005-2006 Season Recap

The 2005-06 NHL season was the Thrashers most successful season to date, barely missing the playoffs by only a few points. A crucial factor to the Thrashers' success was the strong play of rookie goaltender, Kari Lehtonen, a former 2nd overall draft selection. Unfortunately, only a few minutes into the first game of the season, Lehtonen pulled his groin; an injury that would keep him out for a good portion of the season. Veteran backup Mike Dunham stepped in, but also promptly injured himself only a few games later; this left only prospects Michael Garnett and Adam Berkhoel to mind the net. To add to the Thrasher's early season woes, star Ilya Kovalchuk missed the first games of the season due to a contract dispute. Due to the above problems, the Thrashers were only 4-10 over their first 14 games; including an embarrassing 9-1 loss to Toronto. Journeyman goalie Steve Shields was signed, but he too was injured within 10 games. The Thrashers hopes were fading fast, but rookie Garnett had other plans; over the next few weeks of November, Garnett strung together a series of good performances in net (becoming a fan favorite), and the power play clicked. The team ended the month with seven wins; again including a blowout, but this time in their favor, a 9-0 thrashing of the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. After a very poor road trip against teams from the Western Conference, the Thrasher's offensive lead by Ilya Kovalchuk, Marian Hossa, Peter Bondra, Marc Savard, and sniper Slava Kozlov willed the team to a good string of wins. On December 30, budding star Lehtonen returned to the lineup in a 4-1 loss the Buffalo Sabres. The first half of January brought quality play all around and the Thrashers' won seven of eight games, but the second half of the month brought an eight game losing streak. The Thrashers rallied themselves just before the Olympic break in February.

With the second half of the season came a brilliant stretch of wins to the Thrashers which nearly earned them a playoff spot. In March, the Thrash won nine of 14 games and started April hot. The Thrashers fate was in their hands and they briefly held the last playoff spot after a win over the Boston Bruins. A setback arose when on April 6 when Chris Dingman, then of the Tampa Bay Lightning, ran into goaltender Kari Lehtonen injuring him yet again. The remainder of the season was left to veteran Mike Dunham. The team then proceeded to go on a four game winning streak and to win their last two games to make the playoffs. On April 17, the Thrashers faced the lowly Washington Capitals; the game ended in 6-4 loss. Many fans blamed Dunham for the loss when in reality, the team just didn't play well.

Although the team did not make the playoffs the season should be considered a success due the improvements made by the team that was, in the past, very lowly. Over the off-season, GM Don Waddell has continued to make important singings, such as, goalies Johan Hedberg and Fred Brathwaite, forwards Glen Metropolit, Darren Haydar, Jon Sim, and Steve Rucchin, and resigning key defenseman such as Niclas Havelid, Steve McCarthy, and Mark Popovic. He also traded for Finn Niko Kapanen.

Third Jersey

The Third Jersey of the Atlanta Thrashers was first seen in the 2004 NHL season. It is a carolina blue in colour and features the same bottom strip pattern seen on its home and away jerseys. One of the most obvious parts of the jersey is the name "Atlanta" scrolled down the left sleeve of the jersey in a navy blue strip. The Thrashers logo is in the center of the jersey.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	PTS	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
1999-00	82	14	57	7	4	39	170	313	1422	5th in Southeast	Out of playoffs
2000-01	82	23	45	12	2	60	211	289	1500	4th in Southeast	Out of playoffs
2001-02	82	19	47	11	5	54	187	288	1290	5th in Southeast	Out of playoffs
2002-03	82	31	39	7	5	74	226	284	1253	3rd in Southeast	Out of playoffs
2003-04	82	33	37	8	4	78	214	243	1505	2nd in Southeast	Out of playoffs
2004-05¹	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
2005-06	82	41	33	--	8	90	281	275	1318	3rd in Southeast	Out of playoffs

¹ Season was cancelled due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

Current squad

As of July 15, 2006 ^*

Goaltenders
Number	Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
-	Fred Brathwaite	L	2006	Ottawa, Ontario
-	Johan Hedberg	L	2006	Leksand, Sweden
32	Kari Lehtonen	L	2002	Helsinki, Finland
35	Michael Garnett	L	2001	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Defensemen
Number	Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
2	Garnet Exelby	L	1999	Craik, Saskatchewan
5	Steve McCarthy	L	2006	Trail, British Columbia
7	Greg de Vries	L	2005	Sundridge, Ontario
25	Andy Sutton	L	2002	Kingston, Ontario
28	Niclas Havelid	L	2004	Stockholm, Sweden
34	Shane Hnidy	R	2005	Neepawa, Manitoba
39	Mark Popovic	L	2005	Stoney Creek, Ontario

Forwards
Number	Player	Shoots	Position	Acquired	Place of Birth
-	Darren Haydar	R	LW	2006	Milton, Ontario
-	Niko Kapanen	L	C	2006	Hameenlinna, Finland
-	Jason Krog	R	C	2006	Fernie, British Columbia
-	Glen Metropolit	R	LW/RW	2006	Toronto, Ontario
-	Steve Rucchin	L	C	2006	Thunder Bay, Ontario
13	Vyacheslav Kozlov - A	L	LW	2002	Voskresensk, U.S.S.R.
16	Bobby Holik - A	R	C	2005	Jihlava, Czechoslovakia
17	Ilya Kovalchuk	R	LW	2001	Tver, U.S.S.R.
18	Marian Hossa	L	RW	2005	Stara Lubovna, Czechoslovakia
19	Scott Mellanby - C	R	RW	2004	Montreal, Quebec
21	Derek MacKenzie	L	C	1999	Sudbury, Ontario
23	Jim Slater	L	C/LW	2002	Petoskey, Michigan
29	Brad Larsen	L	LW	2004	Nakusp, British Columbia
36	Eric Boulton	L	LW	2005	Halifax, Nova Scotia

Team captains

Kelly Buchberger 1999-2000
Steve Staios 2000-01
Ray Ferraro 2001-02
Shawn McEachern 2002-05
Scott Mellanby 2005-present

Hall of Famers

none

Retired numbers

99 Wayne Gretzky (retired league-wide by the NHL)

1st round draft picks

1999: Patrik Stefan (1st overall)
2000: Dany Heatley (2nd overall)
2001: Ilya Kovalchuk (1st overall)
2002: Kari Lehtonen (2nd overall) & Jim Slater (30th overall)
2003: Braydon Coburn (8th overall)
2004: Boris Valabik (10th overall)
2005: Alex Bourret (16th overall)
2006: Bryan Little (12th overall)

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in the history of the Thrashers. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, * = Still on team

Player	POS	GP	G	A	Pts
*Ilya Kovalchuk	LW	305	160	143	303
Marc Savard	C	184	63	133	196
*Slava Kozlov	RW	237	66	127	193
Dany Heatley	LW	190	80	101	181
Patrik Stefan	C	413	59	118	177
Ray Ferraro	C	223	56	91	147
Andrew Brunette	LW	158	38	71	109
Yannick Tremblay	D	300	33	74	107
Frantisek Kaberle	D	272	20	82	102
*Marian Hossa	RW	80	39	53	92

NHL Awards and Trophies

Calder Memorial Trophy

Dany Heatley: 2001-02

Rocket Richard Trophy

Ilya Kovalchuk: 2003-04 (shared with Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames and Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets)