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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 21, 2009

John Anderson

DAVID KEON: Good afternoon, I'm David Keon with the National Hockey League's Public Relations Department, and I'd like to welcome you to today's call. With us we have Atlanta Thrashers head coach John Anderson. Thanks to John for taking the time to join us and answer your questions, and thanks to Ron Koch of the Thrashers public relations department for arranging the call.
John brings with him 30 years of experience in professional hockey as he embarks on his second season behind the Thrashers' bench. In a 12?year National Hockey League playing career playing in Toronto, Quebec, and Hartford, he recorded 282 goals and 349 assists for 631 points, 814 games played. He has coached teams to four Championships, two Turner Cups in the International Hockey League, and two Calder Cups in the American Hockey League.
Following last night's 2?1 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens, the Thrashers have posted a 4?1?1 record in six starts, posting nine points, good for second in the Southeast Division behind Washington with two games in hand.
Coming off a five?game road swing, the Thrashers host Washington tomorrow night and San Jose on Saturday.
We'll open it up now.

Q. The other day I was talking to Evander Kane. He's off to a good start himself. He was pretty confident he would be sticking with the Thrashers. Has the team made a decision yet? When did you expect to tell Evander if he's going be staying with you for the season?
COACH ANDERSON: Well, you know, we've only played six games, and it's probably the fewest in the NHL. We don't have to make that decision for a couple games. There's nothing that indicates we want to send him back. He's been a pleasure to coach, and he's been doing everything we've asked, especially defensively. He's been very good defensively.
We're excited about having him. I don't see that he's gonna get sent back.

Q. Is he having any trouble physically? I know he just turned 18 in August. Do you find he's handling himself in the corners and on the boards all right?
COACH ANDERSON: I think he's doing a great job. A couple things, he probably gives more than he receives. He's taken a couple hard hits, but he's gotten right up and right back into play. I don't think size is a problem for him.

Q. He also said he hasn't really had any power play time yet, but he hopes to earn it. Do you see that down the road for him, or you're pretty happy with your power play guys right now?
COACH ANDERSON: Well, up until last night we were No. 1 in the NHL, so the good thing about having a good team is you have a lot of depth. Certainly Evander will get some. It's just a matter of time. I know he scored 48 goals last year and has been a real help offensively this year also.
But it's gonna take him a little time to figure everything out. He does do penalty kill for us, so we're trying to get him to be an all?round player. I'm sure he'll get on the power play at some point.

Q. Just another quick question on Evander actually. Wondering what you like about him with Peverley and Armstrong, why does that work?
COACH ANDERSON: Well, certainly speed. You know, Evander can fly and so can Peverley. Army is not quite as fleet of foot, but he's pretty smart and pretty strong defensively. He knocks people over. They were actually our best line last night in Montreal.

Q. Provided Evander stays and whatnot, I know coaches like to change up lines, but because of the combination you got there, can that be one that sticks for a while?
COACH ANDERSON: You know, as a coach you don't like to change lines unless you have to. But, you know, sometimes things get stale. That's why I always say that lines aren't set in stone.
As much as possible I like to keep them together early on so that they get a good feel for each other and Evander gets more and more comfortable as the year goes along.

Q. What's been the most impressive thing about Evander in your mind?
COACH ANDERSON: His defensive play. He leads with his stick, finishes his checks all over the ice, and has been very well?schooled coming out of junior.

Q. You guys have gotten seven goals out of Kovalchuk and four out of Peverley. It's been spread out there. Is there any concern in your mind about the other guys providing some goal scoring as well?
COACH ANDERSON: Yeah, absolutely. Up until last night, our power play was the No. 1 in the league, mostly due to Kovy. But, you know, it's hard to exactly point fingers after five or six games. You have to understand too, our games have been few and far between, also. It's hard to get on a roll for these guys.
As we play a few more games, I think it'll all sort itself out and make the whole scenario a lot clearer on which direction we should go if they're not scoring.

Q. How has that been on you having those games spread out? You said you're six games in. Having those games spread out, is it good in the beginning, or has it been kind of a challenge as a result of a lot of off days?
COACH ANDERSON: I think it's been a challenge for us. The Ottawa game we had a horrible first period. We were off for four days played and then we had five days off and we were horrible in the New Jersey game. One we rallied to get back into; the other one we didn't. I don't think it's that good. I think it's good in the sense you can practice and get some of your systems down a little better.
You don't do it at NHL game speed, but you get better and better the more you play. I didn't like the way it started, but, again, I'm sure everybody has these things on their schedule. It is what it is at the time.

Q. I got one more on Peverley. He just got his new contract. He's come to you guys and really had a lot of life, life that he didn't have in Nashville necessarily. I'm curious as to why you think that is? Is it just opportunity?
COACH ANDERSON: Well, you know, I saw Rich when he was in the American League, and against the Wolves he was lighting us up. I think he's a tremendous offensive player. I know what I liked about him. Certainly there was a great opportunity for him on our team. I don't think we had a real good second scoring line at the time last year.
Right away he was getting ice time. As a matter of fact, I had to pull him back because he wasn't used to playing that much early on. When you're only playing like six or seven minutes and all of a sudden now you're playing 16, 17, I had to watch it on him. He was getting a little tired.
He's started off really well for us, and we couldn't be happier that he signed a longer term contract.

Q. You knew a lot about him, so there was a familiarity there when he came even though you didn't coach him before.
COACH ANDERSON: Well, absolutely. When Donny came to me and said, Would you trade for him, and I said sure. I guess the trade fell through. Things happen on the team where you've got to send somebody down. Whoever has the two?way contract has to go down just for money reasons or just contract space.
So he was the one getting sent down. We were actually having dinner or lunch in Florida and Donny said, Rich Peverley came back up on waivers. I said, Jeez, we should get him. We should put a claim in for him. Unfortunately, I know there's probably five or six other claims.
Fortunately or not fortunately, we were the lowest on the totem pole at the time and did acquire him.

Q. Chris Chelios signed with the Wolves in the AHL. How much longer do you think Vyacheslav Kozlov can keep it up with your team with what he's been able to do?
COACH ANDERSON: Well, you know, I think he rated No. 1 in our pull?ups or something this year, one of the few tests that we had. So if he's in the top five percent in conditioning on our team, who knows.
The only thing is, I knew when I retired at 37 it wasn't so much about conditioning as more mental thought process, like getting ready for every game. That's when I knew I had to retire. I don't think Kozy is anywhere near that. Conditioning wise, he'll probably play until he's 50.

Q. What about Pavel Kubina?
COACH ANDERSON: Well, you know, Pavel is not just a great defense player, but he's a real good person. I think he brings a lot to our dressing room. He's big and strong down low and doesn't get pushed around. I don't know if you've ever seen him shoot a puck, but it's about 100 miles an hour. He has that little extra element, too.

Q. Is there anything that he's done that has surprised you?
COACH ANDERSON: You know, quite honestly, I didn't know he was such ?? kind of like a community guy. He's a funny guy and everybody loves him. I had no idea he was like that when he came here.

End of FastScripts

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