Nikolai Zherdev To Become a Thrasher?

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Apparently multiple sources are starting to get word that Zherdev is not going to the KHL after all. Instead, he might be coming to the Atlanta Thrashers.

This is interesting because he refused to sign with his former team, the New York Rangers. I wonder if this is going to make sparks fly in the NYR vs. ATL games we see this year.

This definitely makes some interesting new line combinations possible for the Thrashers:

Kovy-Antropov-Zherdev
Kozlov-White-Little
Peverly-Reasoner-Armstrong
Bouton-Slater-Thorburn

That is actually a rather competent looking team scoring-wise and defensively as well. There are two deep scoring lines, one true shutdown line, and another line that just hustles every time they are on the ice. Not to mention our defense looks vastly improved from last year.

We could really see a large 15-20 point jump for the boys in blue.

We have a legit top four defensive group finally, and now the only question is who wins the goalie starting job.

If everything is going well for Lehtonen, this could be a scary team when he comes back five games into the season.

Hopefully Zherdev will come to the Thrashers, because for the first time in the history of this team, we might have too many top six forwards to deal with...and a much brighter chance of signing that important man with the C—No. 17.

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