Thrashers and Big Buff Baffle the Masses with Move back to Defense

"I enjoy defence more than I enjoy forward" (an actual quote).

Some may call it a move made out of luxury, but it’s more so one of stupidity.

Blessed with the versatility of Dustin Byfuglien, who can play both the wing and defense, the Atlanta Thrashers finally lifted the curtain of secrecy to reveal their true idiotic nature after weeks of behind-the-scenes whispers. Indeed, in moving the power forward to the blue line on Monday the Thrashers are making a bid to negate a productive off-season by needlessly taking away one of their potential premier offensive weapons out of the picture.

One doesn’t need a PhD in hockey to get a decent handle on just how valuable Byfuglien was to the Chicago Blackhawks during their Stanley Cup run last spring. Even a trained monkey would know the significance of the term “game-winning” as it would pertain to goals scored in the sport. And one certainly doesn’t need to be Koko the ape to understand that scoring five of the 16 needed to win it all is a lot. Except in the case of Thrashers management, that is. 

Conversely, while playing as a defenseman in those same playoffs in the six-game first round against the Nashville Predators, Byfuglien was held pointless. Taking into account the fact that Byfuglien scored 16 points in 22 total playoff games, he actually scored a point per game as a forward. And still head coach Craig Ramsay wants to move him from forward. At this point, the team had better rename themselves the Birdbrains as a pre-emptive strike against all their naysayers for when the white stuff hits the fan. Reports indicate that Ramsay’s system is very offensive-minded and Byfuglien should have no problem finding the net as a blueliner, but to that argument I ask what kind of system were the Hawks, who scored over three goals per game, playing all of last year?

"Booyah! Yeah! Defence is so much more fun than forward!"

There’s little disputing that Byfuglien benefitted from playing with stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews over much of the course of those last 16 games, but to deny that his leviathan 6’5”, 265-pound physical presence in the crease and around the net didn’t in some way contribute to his point totals is akin to saying that known Hawks fan Vince Vaughn’s deadpan comedic skills did not at all add to the cult classic that is Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

Without Vaughn all you have are hilarious cameos from William Shatner, Chuck Norris, and David Hasselhoff... and that one scene where Justin Long confesses his love for cheerleader Amber only to get hit in the head with a ball for all his trouble. Undeniably laugh-out-loud material, but definitely not enough for a full-length movie. Not even as funny as this comedy of errors Atlanta started playing out in 1999 when it entered the league.

If you want a really true underdog story, look no further than the Thrashers who are trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006-2007. After acquiring the likes of Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Nigel Dawes, Fredrik Modin, and Ben Eager to boost their offensive depth (Patrick Rissmiller doesn’t count and Donald Brashear should really count as minus-one player) as well as defenseman Brent Sopel and goalie Chris Mason, the Thrashers seemed destined to at least compete for one of the final playoff spots in the Eastern Conference this year, especially taking into account how they finished a mere five points out last season. But they already have four capable offensive defensemen to man the point thanks to Tobias Enstrom, Zach Bogosian, Ron Hainsey, and Johnny Oduya, who more than proved himself capable of moving the puck with the New Jersey Devils of all teams in 2008-2009.

Stay-at-home specialists Sopel and Boris Valabik should complement those four very well, while Byfuglien would just take away one of their spots. Meanwhile, utilizing Byfuglien on one of the top two lines would allow the Thrashers to move a player like Ladd further down as a checking-line winger, a role in which he flourished in Chicago. Rich Peverley would also be one hoping for lower offensive expectations after putting up a career-high 55 points last season as the beneficiary of Ilya Kovalchuk’s sniping skills. With Kovy now patrolling greener pastures in Jersey (figuratively speaking, of course), Peverley had better pray for less on-ice responsibility lest he be found out for the checker in top-six forward’s clothing he really is.

"I have no idea why anybody would ever choose to play forward. Defence is soooo much more fun!!!!"

Byfuglien’s versatility makes him a valuable player, but there’s little value in moving him to defense when the Thrashers’ defensive corps is already complete. Moves such as this won’t just leave analysts scratching their heads... it will lead the Thrashers a few steps back in the team’s evolution. Even the dodo had the good sense to go extinct rather than regress intellectually.