Rebuilding paying off for young squad?

GEORGIA, Atlanta – The rebuilding taking place in Atlanta over the past few years appears to be paying off—for the baby Thrashers at least. While their pro team is mired in losing streak after losing streak (last season’s league high 22 losses in a row had to set some sort of record), the future is now for the Thrashers junior team. This was not expected to happen at all. Last season’s scoring leader for the baby Thrashers Anthony Aquino was called up to the pro team along with the league-wide leading defensive point getter of last year Matt Nickerson. Regardless of these key losses, the Thrashers sit second in the Wales Conference.

The reason for this mid-season boon has not been the rash of high draft picks the Thrashers have been receiving in the last three years (Barker’s been traded, Radulov already plays on the pro team, and Malkin is still developing in Russia for the year); it has been the solid play of David LeNeveu. While the Thrashers pro team experiences a log-jam of potential starting goaltenders in Ray Emery, Marc-Andre Fleury, Ilya Bryzgalov, and even last year’s starter turned farmer Michael Garnett, the reins of the junior team are firmly in LeNeveu’s possession for at least the next two seasons barring any unforeseen development. With the second best goaltending record in the league, LeNeveu doesn’t appear to be relinquishing them to new-comer and backup Julien Ellis, who was brought in to shore up the backup position.

In other news, we heard rumors that the Atlanta Thrashers dealt Brendan Bell for Danny Richmond and a prospect. This deal would add further depth to the young Thrasher junior team, but Christie wouldn’t likely impact the team for a season or two.