NHL Odds: Offseason Update: Atlanta Thrashers

Nik Antropov shouldn't be a team's best potential player. (AP Images)

With 80/1 odds to win the Stanley Cup, the Atlanta Thrashers aren’t just long shots – they’re trying to avoid the cellar this year. Can the Thrashers surprise on Bodog’s NHL odds or will 2010-11 be a lost season? This is Atlanta’s offseason update.

The Thrashers finished 35-34-13 last season – not good enough to qualify for the playoffs. The team finished a respectable 12th in goal scoring but that number is sure to drop without talented winger Ilya Kovalchuk, who was traded to New Jersey partway through the season. Maxim Afinogenov is gone, too, after signing in Russia. That leaves Nik Antropov as the team’s current leading scorer and, while he’s a serviceable player, he shouldn’t be leading the top line. A significant step back in goal scoring should be expected.

Atlanta was mostly quiet in free agency but, then again, who would want to sign with such a middling club? The Thrashers signed former Blues goalie Chris Mason to a reported two-year, $3.7 million deal, and he could steal some wins for Atlanta – something it could desperately use after finishing 25th in goals against last year. Keep an eye on youngster Ondrej Pavelec, who could also earn significant playing time after playing 42 games in 2009-10.

Atlanta at least added some bodies that know how to win, raiding the cap-challenged Chicago Blackhawks for three Stanley Cup champion players – Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien and Brent Sopel. All three are valuable role players on a contending team; unfortunately, in Atlanta, they’ll be asked to play starring roles.

Over the past few years when discussing the Thrashers, fans could say, “Well, at least they have Kovalchuk.” Not anymore. There are fewer reasons than ever to be excited about hockey in Atlanta. The best-case scenario might, after all, be finishing dead last and acquiring the top pick in the draft.

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