A Few Thoughts on Thrashers Cuts

By foxsports
Published

By John Manasso
FoxSportsSouth.com
October 4, 2010

Just a few quick thoughts on the Thrashers' cuts today, as the team appears it essentially is down to the 23-man roster mandated by the NHL.

The Thrashers still have a few moves to make, one being that rookie Andrew Kozek is injured. The other is that the Thrashers most likely will have to do something with center Jim Slater, who has an injured wrist and did not play in the preseason. If both of those players are put on injured reserve, the Thrashers will be at 23.

Among those who did make it is 18-year-old Alexander Burmistrov, this year's first-round pick. Burmistrov is one of five centers (excluding Slater) who will be on the team, including Nik Antropov, Bryan Little, Rich Peverley and the newly converted Chris Thorburn.

Among the defensemen, Freddy Meyer -- arguably the team's best defenseman in camp with two goals, an assist and a plus-4 rating (no other player was better than plus-2) -- made it, as did Boris Valabik. The Thrashers would have lost Valabik had they placed him on waivers.

It's the view here that Arturs Kulda and possibly even Andrei Zubarev are better longterm prospects than Valabik and that's why Kulda and Zubarev were sent to Chicago to get games in. With eight defensemen, it's unlikely that Valabik will play much, if at all, in Atlanta and the Thrashers front office must have been OK with the fact that the 2004 first-round pick would not have more games to develop but did  not want to lose him as an asset to a waiver claim. (Valabik has, after all, played 80 games at the NHL level over three seasons, but not as much more than a No. 5 or No. 6 defenseman.)

To me, the biggest surprise was that winger Fredrik Pettersson was sent to Chicago (AHL). Pettersson had a goal and an assist in four preseason games and was minus-2. Initially, he was the talk of camp, but he had his two points in the first preseason game, meaning none in the final three.

It's entirely possible that if the team gives Burmistrov a try and decides he needs to go back to his junior team that Pettersson, who is older than Burmistrov by five years, would be called up. Another notable to make the team is right wing Anthony Stewart, a first-round pick of Thrashers general manager Rick Dudley when Dudley served in Florida. During camp, coach Craig Ramsay said the line of Ben Eager, Thorburn and Stewart was the team's best.