The Puck Stops Here

Earlier this year, I picked Kevin Bieksa of the Vancouver Canucks as the worst NHL player getting a regular shift. Since then, he has picked up his game with 3 assists in the 4 games since then. Thus I pick a new player as the worst so far this season. He is Steve McCarthy of the Atlanta Thrashers. McCarthy has no points in his eight games played so far and has a league worst -10 +/- rating. He is an example of what is wrong with the Atlanta Thrashers so far this season. When you have a defenceman as unproductive as McCarthy has been playing more than 17 minutes a game, it is hard to win. McCarthy is a former first round pick who was a junior star, but he has never made the jump past being a depth defenceman. His 16 points last season was a career best. An above average team would not have the depth to play McCarthy as much as Atlanta does. In Atlanta, if they don't play McCarthy, likely they would have to play somebody even worse.