Penalties Drawn November Update

With November coming to a close it is time to examine the Thrashers penalties drawn for that month. The man-advantage minutes drawn are listed in the table below.

Who had a good month? Well Jon Sim, Jim Slater and Hossa and Kozlov again led the team is getting the favorable call from the referees in November repeating their October success. To be perfectly honest I'm rather surprised to see the same four names atop the November leaderboard. Jon Sim in particular spent some time in the recesses of the Bob Hartley's doghouse and didn't always get a ton of ice time, yet he still managed to be his usual irritating self (well at least to the opposition). Mellanby drew 6 minutes which is better than his big fat zero in October. Larsen and Vigier also had up months.

Who fell on hard times? Steve Rucchin dominates that list. In October he managed to draw 14 man-advantage minutes but fell back to zero for November.

Player	Oct	Nov	Season
Sim	16	16	32
Slater	15	16	31
Hossa	16	12	28
Kozlov	9	10	19
Holik	12	6	18
Rucchin	14	0	14
De Vries	6	6	12
Kovalchuk	6	6	12
Larsen	2	10	12
Vigier	4	8	12
Kapanen	4	6	10
Vishnevski	8	2	10
Metropolit	2	6	8
Exelby	2	4	6
Havelid	4	2	6
Mellanby	0	6	6
Sutton	2	4	6
McCarthy	2	2	4
Boulton	0	2	2
Popovic	2	0	2
Hedberg	0	2	2
Lehtonen	0	2	2
Bench	12	12	24
Unknown	12	8	20

Of course, some players draw a lot of penalties but they also take a lot of penalties as well. Take Holik for example, he drew 18 man advantage minutes but then he also was called for 26 man disadvantage minutes which makes him a net negative for the season.

Who was the most net positive for Altanta? Sim leads the way again with a positive 14 minutes with Hossa and Kozlov right behind him. Slater and Holik draw minutes but then give them back with penalties of their own.

Holik and Vishnevski also had down months. Rounding out the bottom ranks are four defensemen (Havelid, Exelby, Sutton and Vishnevski). Which is hardly surprising since the position they play requires them to haul people down if they get beat.

One thing that really surprises me is Kovalchuk's -4 minutes on the season so far. With his speed and skill he really should be drawing more minutes. I can't help but think that his diving tendencies in past years have given him a reputation among the referees and he is not getting the benefit of the doubt when he goes down.

Player	PIM Drawn	PIM Taken	Net
Sim	32	18	+14
Hossa	28	16	+12
Kozlov	19	8	+11
Rucchin	14	8	+6
Slater	31	26	+5
Kapanen	10	8	+2
Popovic	2	0	+2
Boulton	2	0	+2
De Vries	12	12	0
Larsen	12	12	0
Lehtonen	2	2	0
Hedberg	2	2	0
Coburn	0	2	-2
Metropolit	8	10	-2
Kovalchuk	12	16	-4
Hnidy	10	16	-6
Mellanby	6	14	-8
Holik	18	26	-8
Vishnevski	10	20	-10
Exelby	6	20	-14
Havelid	6	24	-18
Sutton	6	27	-21
Bench	24	20	+4