ATLANTA - Last season with the Boston Bruins, Byron Dafoe was in goal for 35 victories. That's more than the Atlanta Thrashers have the past two seasons combined.
Dafoe signed a two-year deal with the Thrashers Wednesday, joining a franchise which has never won more than 23 games in three years. This season, they started 0-8-0-1 but have since gone 5-3-1.
Shortly before donning his new Number 34 jersey, Dafoe said ``This is a team on the threshold of going to that next level, which is playoffs. At this point in my career, I want to play games and win games. Coming to Atlanta definitely fits that mold.''
The 31-year-old led the Bruins to the Northeast Division title in 2001-02, but an indifferent performance in a first-round playoff loss to Montreal left him out of favor in Boston. An unrestricted free agent, Dafoe didn't find the offers he wanted, and the Bruins brought in Steve Shields in the offseason to replace him.
Dafoe has been working out five days a week with the hockey team at Merrimack College near his home in Boston, but he'll need a few days to get re-acclimated to facing shots from NHL players.
He said, ``I feel I'm in great shape. The difference is I've been having college shooters shoot on me, as opposed to NHL players. I can't say which game, coming up in the next week or so, but I don't think it's too far away.''
Whenever he can play will be soon enough for embattled coach Curt Fraser.
Fraser said, ``Here's a kid that chose to come here, a competitive kid that wants to win games and plays hard. He's going to give us some stability in goal, which we haven't had in our four years.''
Dafoe will be paid $1.25 million for the rest of this season, and the incentive-laden contract includes a rare players' option for the second year.
Thursday
January 30th, 2025
5:32PM
