Aug 15 2008
Hainsey’s presence on blueline has to help Thrashers get better
By Bud L. Ellis
thrashers.today.com
ATLANTA – When you have the worst defense in the NHL, you’ll take just about anybody.
Which makes the free-agent signing of Ron Hainsey all the more surprising.
No, this isn’t 37-year-old Ken Klee coming to town. This is Hainsey, who may not be a household name and probably isn’t among the elite defensemen in the league. Yet, it’s a guy who stands 6-foot-3, has played all but six games the past two seasons and has topped the 30-point plateau in both 2006-07 and 2007-08.
In other words, it’s not an aging veteran at the end of his career, or a marginal player on the downside slide toward a coaching job in the minors.
Hainsey is physical, can move the puck well and, at age 27, figures to be moving into the prime years of his career. The 13th overall pick in the 2000 NHL draft by Montreal, Hainsey has played with the Canadians and Columbus in his career, totaling 85 points in 245 NHL games.
Last season, Hainsey scored eight goals for the Blue Jackets, all coming on the power play. He finished with 24 assists and a minus-7 rating.
He might not be a Hall of Famer or even an All-Star, but he comes into a defensive corps that gave up more goals than any team in the NHL last season. It has to be an improvement.
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