"Slava Kozlov sat on a wall

Slava Kozlov had a great fall

All the Thrashers' doctors and all the Thrashers' men

Could put Slava together again

Ok, so it's not as timeless as the 18th century nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty, but it helps illustrate a point. Unlike all the king's horses and all the king's men that couldn't bring Humpty back to life, the Thrashers have had much more success reviving Kozlov's hockey career.

The 17-year veteran has had a renaissance to begin the 2008-09 season and a little nip/tuck action has played a big part. Kozlov opted for offseason shoulder and knee surgery after a disappointing 2007-08 campaign and the 36-year-old winger appears to have the pep of a 21-year-old rookie.

"My first priority for this season was to get healthy," Kozlov told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Now that I'm healthy, I'm going to help this team."

Kozlov has actually lived up to his word. He is tied for a team-high eight goals and has posted 14 points through 15 games. During his early-season success, Kozlov had a goal in four straight games (five total) from Oct. 30-Nov. 6, which was his longest scoring streak since December 2006. He also has five multi-point outings.

The former Detroit superstar looks nothing like the player that struggled through most of '07-08. Kozlov had five goals in two of the first three months last season, but after the New Year, he scored only six times in 42 games. These weren't the results expected from a player that totaled 80 points the previous season. He didn't blame poor health for the lack of offense.

Rather, Kozlov's offensive game took a dive after coach Bob Hartley was fired. Interim coach Don Waddell took Kozlov off the power play and off a line with Marian Hossa, a player with whom he had great success with in 2006-07.

After the '07-08 season ended, Waddell went back up the front office and opted to hire John Anderson as the Thrashers' new coach. His style of play has been a perfect fit for Kozlov, who is in the second year of a three-year contract.

Anderson has paired Kozlov with Bryan Little and Todd White on most nights and the trio has clicked. All three players lead the team in points (44 combined).

"He's in the right spot," Anderson told the AJC. "He's a pretty smart player. I don't think he has the wheels that he used to have probably six or seven years ago, but if you're in the right position and know where to go, you don't have to do as much skating."

Kozlov is currently on pace to achieve 70-plus points for the sixth time in his career. Perhaps the king's men should go back to the drawing board and take a page out of the Thrashers' playbook, proving with Kozlov that you can put the pieces back together.

Add 'Em Erik Ersberg, G, L.A. Kings

Owned: 14 percent of leagues

Analysis: Jason LaBarbera opened the season 3-5-1 with a 3.01 GAA and .884 save percentage as the Kings' starting goalie.