2008–09 Atlanta Thrashers season

The 2008–09 Atlanta Thrashers season was the tenth season of the franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Thrashers attempted to make the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2006–07 season, but failed.

2008–09 Atlanta Thrashers
Division	4th Southeast
Conference	13th Eastern
2008–09 record	35–41–6
Home record	18–21–2
Road record	17–20–4
Goals for	257
Goals against	280
Team information
General manager	Don Waddell
Coach	John Anderson
Captain	Vacant (Oct.–Jan.) Ilya Kovalchuk (Jan.–Apr.)
Alternate captains	Colby Armstrong Niclas Havelid (Oct.–Mar.) Ilya Kovalchuk (Oct.–Jan.) Vyacheslav Kozlov Mathieu Schneider (Oct.–Feb.)
Arena	Philips Arena
Average attendance	Average: 14,535 Capacity: 78.4% Total: 276,166
Team leaders
Goals	Ilya Kovalchuk (43)
Assists	Todd White (51)
Points	Ilya Kovalchuk (91)
Penalty minutes	Eric Boulton (163)
Plus/minus	Rich Peverley (+14)
Wins	Kari Lehtonen (18)
Goals against average	Kari Lehtonen (3.09)

Regular season

Divisional standings

Southeast Division

		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	y – Washington Capitals	82	50	24	8	272	245	108
2	Carolina Hurricanes	82	45	30	7	239	226	97
3	Florida Panthers	82	41	30	11	234	231	93
4	Atlanta Thrashers	82	35	41	6	257	280	76
5	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	24	40	18	210	279	66

Conference standings

Eastern Conference

R		Div	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	z – Boston Bruins	NE	82	53	19	10	274	196	116
2	y – Washington Capitals	SE	82	50	24	8	272	245	108
3	y – New Jersey Devils	AT	82	51	27	4	244	209	106
4	Pittsburgh Penguins	AT	82	45	28	9	264	239	99
5	Philadelphia Flyers	AT	82	44	27	11	264	238	99
6	Carolina Hurricanes	SE	82	45	30	7	239	226	97
7	New York Rangers	AT	82	43	30	9	210	218	95
8	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	41	30	11	249	247	93
8.5
9	Florida Panthers	SE	82	41	30	11	234	231	93
10	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	41	32	9	250	234	91
11	Ottawa Senators	NE	82	36	35	11	217	237	83
12	Toronto Maple Leafs	NE	82	34	35	13	250	293	81
13	Atlanta Thrashers	SE	82	35	41	6	257	280	76
14	Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	82	24	40	18	210	279	66
15	New York Islanders	AT	82	26	47	9	201	279	61

bold – qualified for playoffs, y – division winner, z – placed first in conference (and division)

AT – Atlantic Division, NE – Northeast Division, SE – Southeast Division

Schedule and results

• Green background indicates win (2 points).
• Red background indicates regulation loss (0 points).
• White background indicates overtime/shootout loss (1 point).

Record vs. Opponents

Team	Points	Record
New Jersey*	106	1–3–0
NY Islanders	61	3–1–0
NY Rangers	95	2–1–1
Philadelphia	99	0–4–0
Pittsburgh	99	0–4–0
Boston*	116	0–4–0
Buffalo	91	4–0–0
Montreal	93	2–2–0
Ottawa	83	2–2–0
Toronto	81	2–1–1
Carolina	97	3–3–0
Florida	93	2–3–1
Tampa Bay	66	4–1–1
Washington*	108	2–4–0
Chicago	104	0–1–0
Columbus	92	0–1–0
Detroit*	112	0–2–0
Nashville	88	1–0–1
St. Louis	92	0–1–0
Calgary	98	1–0–0
Colorado	69	2–0–0
Edmonton	85	1–0–0
Minnesota	89	0–1–0
Vancouver*	100	1–0–0
Anaheim	91	1–0–0
Dallas	83	0–1–0
Los Angeles	79	1–0–0
Phoenix	79	0–0–1
San Jose*	117	0–1–0

Notes: * denotes division winner; teams in bold are in the Southeast Division; teams in italics qualified for the playoffs; points refer to the points achieved by the team whom the Thrashers played against

  = Member of the Atlantic Division
  = Member of the Northeast Division
  = Member of the Southeast Division
  = Member of the Central Division
  = Member of the Northeast Division
  = Member of the Pacific Division

Playoffs

The Atlanta Thrashers failed to qualify for the 2009 NHL Playoffs.

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular season

Player GP G A Pts +/− PIM Ilya Kovalchuk 79 43 48 91 -12 50 Vyacheslav Kozlov 82 26 50 76 -14 44 Todd White 82 22 51 73 -9 24 Bryan Little 79 31 20 51 -5 24 Colby Armstrong 82 22 18 40 +5 75 Ron Hainsey 81 6 33 39 -16 32 Rich Peverley† 39 13 22 35 +16 18 Tobias Enstrom 82 5 27 32 +14 52 Marty Reasoner 79 14 16 30 +11 36 Eric Perrin 78 7 16 23 -2 36 Erik Christensen‡ 47 5 14 19 -7 14 Zach Bogosian 47 9 10 19 +11 47 Jason Williams‡ 41 7 11 18 -9 8 Jim Slater 60 8 10 18 0 52 Niclas Havelid‡ 63 2 13 15 +4 42 Mathieu Schneider‡ 44 4 11 15 -10 50 Chris Thorburn 82 7 8 15 -10 104 Eric Boulton 76 3 10 13 -3 176 Nathan Oystrick 53 4 8 12 -2 50 Joey Crabb 29 4 5 9 -2 28 Colin Stuart 33 5 3 8 +3 18 Garnet Exelby 59 0 7 7 -2 120 Boris Valabik 50 0 5 5 -14 132 Anssi Salmela† 9 1 2 3 0 2 Joe Motzko 6 1 0 1 +1 0 Brett Sterling 6 1 0 1 -3 2 Scott Lehman 1 0 0 0 0 0 Clay Wilson† 2 0 0 0 -1 0 Jordan LaVallee 2 0 0 0 -1 0 Grant Lewis 1 0 0 0 0 0 Spencer Machacek 2 0 0 0 0 0

Goaltenders

Regular season
Player GP Min W L OT GA GAA SA SV Sv% SO Kari Lehtonen 46 2624 19 22 3 134 3.06 1498 1364 .911 3 Johan Hedberg 33 1716 13 12 3 100 3.49 875 775 .886 0 Ondrej Pavelec 12 599 3 7 0 36 3.60 301 265 .880 0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Thrashers. Stats reflect season totals.
^‡Traded mid-season
underline/italics denotes franchise record

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards and records

Milestones

Regular Season
Player	Milestone	Reached
Zach Bogosian	1st NHL Game	October 10, 2008
Colby Armstrong	200th NHL Game	October 10, 2008
Garnet Exelby	300th NHL Game	October 11, 2008
Nathan Oystrick	1st NHL Game	October 14, 2008
Mathieu Schneider	1,200th NHL Game	October 14, 2008
Jason Williams	300th NHL Game	October 16, 2008
Todd White	500th NHL Game	November 2, 2008
Bryan Little	1st NHL Hat Trick	December 26, 2008
Kari Lehtonen	200th NHL Game	March 16, 2009
Eric Perrin	100 NHL Point	March 24, 2009

Transactions

Trades

Date	Details
September 26, 2008	To Anaheim Ducks Ken Klee Brad Larsen Chad Painchaud	To Atlanta Thrashers Mathieu Schneider
January 13, 2009	To New York Islanders Junior Lessard	To Atlanta Thrashers Brett Skinner
January 14, 2009	To Columbus Blue Jackets Jason Williams	To Atlanta Thrashers Clay Wilson 6th-round pick in 2009 – David Pacan
February 16, 2009	To Montreal Canadiens Mathieu Schneider Conditional pick in 2009 (condition satisfied) – Joonas Nattinen	To Atlanta Thrashers 2nd-round pick in 2009 – Jeremy Morin 3rd-round pick in 2010 – Julian Melchiori
March 2, 2009	To New Jersey Devils Niclas Havelid Myles Stoesz	To Atlanta Thrashers Anssi Salmela

Free agents

Player Former team Contract Terms

Player New team Bobby Holik New Jersey Devils Mark Recchi Tampa Bay Lightning Jason Krog Vancouver Canucks

Claimed from waivers

Player Former team Date claimed off waivers Rich Peverley Nashville Predators January 10, 2009

Draft picks

Atlanta's picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa, Ontario.

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	3	Zach Bogosian	(D)	United States	Peterborough Petes (OHL)
1	29 (from Pittsburgh)	Daultan Leveille	(C)	Canada	St. Catharines Falcons (GOJHL)
3	64	Danick Paquette	(RW)	Canada	Lewiston Maineiacs (QMJHL)
4	94	Vinny Saponari	(RW)	United States	U.S. National Team Development Program (NAHL)
5	124	Nicklas Lasu	(LW)	Sweden	Frölunda HC (Sweden Jr.)
6	154	Chris Carrozzi	(G)	Canada	Mississauga St. Michael's Majors (OHL)
7	184	Zach Redmond	(D)	United States	Ferris State University (CCHA)

See also

• 2008–09 NHL season