John Anderson, head coach to the Chicago Wolves since 2001, has been named the new head coach of the NHL Atlanta Thrashers.

John's record was recorded several posts below on the win of the Calder Cup by the Wolves. Clearly this 2007-8 team was a great team to work with and it was clear, early in the season that the Wolves were headed for the playoffs. The wild card was that the next best team in the league was sitting on their heals throughout the season in the standings and also just 70 miles away: The Rockford IceHogs.

The victory in the West Division finals almost promised that one of the teams was going to end up in the finals. It didn't promise a cup, but merely that either the Wolves or the IceHogs were going to the finals. The North division was irrelevant, perhaps even an annoyance, between the games between the Wolves and Hogs and the finals.

Anderson's naming to coach was threatened, I think, by the wins of two straight games by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the finals. If the Wolves were unable to win the sixth game NHL level owners, the Atlanta Spirit does not have a General Manager at the moment, would have been correct in reconsidering whether to offer Anderson the job.

But, to his credit, Anderson pulled it off.

It is a sweet moment of vindication and victory for John Anderson. It is his moment in the lights.