Where Is Our Scoring Line?

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Scoring, scoring, and more scoring.

That is what the Thrashers need.

Following another year of no playoffs, the Atlanta Thrashers need to bring in firepower on the offensive side of the stick.

The Thrashers reconstruction began with the draft in June.

With the fourth overall pick, Atlanta chose 17-year old Evander Kane. Kane totaled 33 points 18 games into the season with Vancouver of the WHL. Kane is not just a one-way player; he has a quick burst to his speed to help initiate the offense and the ability to get back on defense, giving him full reign over the entire ice.

The current front displayed by the Thrashers Bryan Little, IIya Kovalchuk, and Vyacheslav Kozlov, helped Atlanta finish in the top ten in goals per game. But, after those three, the Thrashers have no other scoring line. Here is where Kane and Atlanta’s following two draft picks fit the puzzle.

In the second round, the Thrashers took two left wing players. First was Carl Klingberg as the 34^th overall pick.

Klingberg is an 18-year old that was playing in the World Junior Championships U18 division in Sweden. He scored four points in six games. In the regular season the 18-year old got 26 points and 34 penalty minutes.

He is the second piece of the Thrashers’ future scoring line puzzle.

Later in the second round, with the 45^th overall selection, another 18-year old left wing player was named an Atlanta Thrasher, Jeremy Morin, from Auburn, New York.

Morin played in 46 games in the US Development Program, putting up numbers worth mentioning. In those 46 games, he got 48 points, 26 goals and 22 assists. He also had 94 penalty minutes.

These three picks together complete the Thrashers objective of bringing the team’s future scoring line.

The current prospects that Atlanta has at the forward position (Angelo Esposito, Daulton Leveille, Spencer Machacek, and Riley Holzapfel) are all solid two-way prospects, but Esposito is the only true scorer.

The 20-year old Esposito had 69 points in 56 games played with the Quebec Remparts. The 20^th overall pick in the 2007 draft is ready to play and should get an opportunity to compete for the top-6 forward roles next season.

Once free agency starts, Atlanta should hurry up and resign third line player, Marty Reasoner. The 32-year old scored career-high 14 goals this season and 16 assists in 79 games. 

Even after resigning Reasoner, the Thrashers still need a player that can get to the net and also have enough size to play a two-way game.

The Thrashers have $20 million available in their salary cap, giving them an opportunity to add another star to join Ilya Kovalchuk.

The signing of Nik Antropov, who played with Kovalchuk in the Russian league, makes for a pretty good pairing.

On the defensive side, the signing of Pavel Kubina to the defensive line add his experience and size to an already decent defensive line.

But, the scoring line is the key, and the Thrashers still have plenty of options in the free agent market.

With Antropov and Kovalchuk, the Thrashers need another game changer. Alexi Kovalev, Maxim Afinogenove, and Miroslav Satan. Adding any one of these three players, would give the Thrashers a first line with three play makers instead of just Kovalchuk.

Also, bringing in a quality player could convince Kovalchuk to resign with Atlanta.

If the Thrashers were not able to sign Kovalev, Afinogenov, and Satan, there are still a couple more options for them to consider in Brian Gionta, Erik Cole, and Bill Guerin.

Gionta is a center with play-making ability, something that the Thrashers desperately need. Cole and Guerin could both bring size and experience to a youthful Thrashers team.

Bottom line, you can’t win if you don’t have firepower, something that the Thrashers are lacking. They have a chance to get some, if they don’t, they will continue to miss the playoffs.

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