"As he and his teammates gathered for season-ending physicals, Slava Kozlov blamed the Thrashers' failures this season on the coaching staff.

Kozlov pointed to a lack of preparation and poor system as reasons that a talented roster missed the playoffs. In particular, Kozlov faulted head coach John Anderson, although he did not mention him by name.

"To me, this was the best team in 11 years of the organization," Kozlov said on Sunday. "This franchise had the best players. Right now, they can not blame [Ilya] Kovalchuk or [Slava] Kozlov. They have to take responsibility, because I think ownership did everything right, signed good players, they have a good goalie, good defense -- but something is missing. I think we are missing from the coaching staff. Looks like they have fun, but unfortunately in the NHL you have to work. You have to prepare for every game.

"There are lots of good teams in the NHL and you think you are a good team if you see the roster. That doesn't work in this league. You have to do homework and work hard. I think I can put a big question mark that they weren't preparing.""