Lord Byron, conquering hero

Thrashers need Dafoe to be better than advertised

Don Waddell is trying to fix one hole at a time.

Adding Byron Dafoe plugged a big gap, but there were, and still are, quite a few holes to worry about.

Trading prospect Ruslan Zainullin to Calgary for Marc Savard was step one, signing Dafoe was step two, and beefing up the blue line is likely step three.

"When you have players of his caliber it is going to be an upgrade for our hockey club, not only in goal, but for the entire team," Waddell said. "His leadership qualities are going to be very important in our locker room. He is going to be a leader on the ice by stopping the puck."

A defensive defenseman is next on the Thrashers' Christmas wish list, and Waddell now has enough depth in the forward ranks that he can swap one of his top-six forwards -- likely Slava Kozlov, scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2003 -- for a defensive stopper.

But getting Dafoe was the crown jewel of Atlanta's in-season makeover. It just puzzles me why the Thrashers didn't make this move over the summer.

Milan Hnilicka went 11-23-5 in 2001-02 with a 3.25 goals-against average and a respectable .908 save percentage. Though the record and GAA were poor, the save percentage was surprisingly high considering the poor quality of defense in front of him. It also didn't help that Hnilicka faced an average of 34.2 shots in 41 games last season. The Thrashers had to make a move when Hnilicka started this year with nine straight losses. His GAA is an abysmal 4.17, and his save percentage is less than stellar, too, at .882.

Pasi Nurminen has posted a 4-4-1 record, but his small stature and jumpy style aren't suited to being a No. 1 over the long haul. And with 2002 No. 2 overall pick Kari Lehtonen dominating the Finnish leagues at age 19, the long-term futures of Hnilicka and Nurminen didn't look so hot in Atlanta, anyway.

Even though Nurminen had emerged as the team's clear No. 1 backstop before the signing of Dafoe, it is likely that he, and not Hnilicka will be sent to AHL Chicago because of their contract situations. Nurminen was on a two-way deal that would've paid him just $82,500 in the minors, but it became a one-way deal worth $630,000 after he played in 10 games this season. Hnilicka is making $1.25 million this season after signing a two-year, $2.7 million contract on the eve of training camp.

Dafoe is a significant upgrade over the status quo, and should the collective bargaining agreement be settled before a work stoppage in fall of 2004, Dafoe and Lehtonen would give the Thrashers an excellent goaltending tandem.

"It's a great day in Thrasherville," Fraser said, beaming. "We get a great win and add a player of that caliber. I don't know what [general manager Don Waddell] did up there tonight, but the boss really did a great thing for our hockey club tonight."

Fraser wasn't kidding about not knowing what Waddell was up to in the press box during the game. Waddell met Fraser as the team was making its way off the ice after the game and told him he had some news for him. To a coach who has been in a tenuous fight for his job over the first six weeks of the season, that may not have been the best way to break the news to him. But Fraser's job security is looking decidedly better thanks to Waddell's moves of the past 96 hours.

While Atlanta's goaltending woes have been evident for weeks, talks didn't get serious with Bryant McBride, Dafoe's agent, until Monday. And most of the two-year, $4.75 million deal was negotiated late Tuesday afternoon. Dafoe will be in Atlanta on Wednesday to work out some minutiae in the language of the contract and officially sign it.

It can't come soon enough for the Thrashers. The former Bruins netminder has maintained all along that he could be ready to play within two days of signing a contract. Atlanta might be wise not to test Dafoe's claim of his ability to be ready within 48 hours -- and according to Waddell, Dafoe wants to practice Wednesday -- since the offensively gifted Penguins play the Thrashers on Friday. The shots of the boys at Merrimack College with whom Dafoe has been working look just a little bit different than those of Mario Lemieux and Alexei Kovalev.

"It was a long process," McBride told the NHL Network. "Byron was tremendous throughout. We were able to get a deal done that made sense.

"Byron is excited about one thing and that is playing hockey. We really wanted to find the right fit for him and his family and Atlanta is it."

Now that Dafoe is in the mix, Atlanta needs him to be even better than he was with the Bruins, with whom he went 132-104-40 in five seasons. Dafoe received his fair share of criticism after being outplayed by Jose Theodore in the Bruins' first-round loss to the Canadiens, but he won't have to worry about the postseason with the Thrashers anytime soon. That should allow him to settle in with his new team, reevaluate his things in the offseason and come back to Atlanta for a second season under the option year of his contract and be a part of what should be an improved Thrashers squad next year.

A "buyer beware" tag ought to be attached to this signing. Good luck hasn't exactly followed goalie signings by the Thrashers. Damian Rhodes turned out to be a collossal bust after signing a four-year, $10 million deal before the team's inaugural season. Waddell signed Norm Maracle due to his familiarity with him from the Wings organization, but Maracle battled weight and alcohol problems and cost himself a shot at being an NHL No. 1 netminder.

Other lackluster players to strap on the pads for the Thrashers include Scott Fankhouser, Scott Langkow, Rick Tabaracci and Frederic Cassivi.

Not exactly a storied octet of goalies, is it? Heck, that's not even the stuff of former Atlanta Flames goalies Phil Myre and Dan Bouchard.

But now Dafoe is back on the ice and the Thrashers no longer have to cringe every time a shot is taken. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Jon A. Dolezar covers the NHL for CNNSI.com.

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