A not-so-hard hat

It's not like I haven't worked team helmets before, but I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of getting 22 members of the Atlanta Thrashers to sign this effort before last Saturday's game.

I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, and I certainly don't want to jinx this little bit of luck bestowed upon me by the hockey gods, but it was like the players were lining up to sign.

Granted, the players came out in small bunches, but most were willing to wait a few seconds to sign the item.

When I've worked Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning team helmets, it's taken me a couple of trips to amass the total number of signatures (22) that fill the Thrashers helmet.

Now, I do need three key autographs to complete the Atlanta helmet -- Marian Hossa, Kari Lehtonen and Johan Hedberg. Defenseman Steve McCarthy is missing, too. My concern, however, is whether there's any room left for them to sign.

Here's the lineup, in alphabetical order, of who signed:

Players: Eric Boulton, Pascal Dupuis, Tobias Enstrom, Garnet Exelby, Darren Haydar, Niclas Havelid, Bobby Holik, Ken Klee, Ilya Kovalchuk, Slava Kozlov, Brad Larsen, Bryan Little, Ondrej Pavelec, Eric Perrin, Mark Popovic, Jim Slater, Chris Thorburn, Todd White and Alexei Zhitnik; Team staff: Jeff Odgers, Don Waddell, Steve Weekes.