If the Thrashers had stayed in Atlanta

HisIceness

This is Hurricanes Hockey
Sep 16, 2010
40,108
70,026
Charlotte
Lets say someone like Tom Glavine or Arthur Blank steps up to save the Thrashers from relocating in 2011 and gives the franchise some stability (New GM, new scouting, etc.)

What do you guys think we see from the Thrashers from an on-ice standpoint? Would Evander Kane be a household name there? How about Ladd/Byfuglin/Little? Do they finally give Atlanta a somewhat decent product that fans come out to see? Would the franchise have rebranded that summer or next and go with a new logo/colors?

Also, what would this have done with Columbus/Detroit wanting to get into the East and the expansion of Vegas/Seattle? Could we have seen Columbus/Detroit staying in the West, Quebec and then one of Vegas/Seattle/Winnipeg added as expansion?
 

James Gryphon

Registered User
May 12, 2014
35
1
Texas
I think that most of the problems that ail any franchise over a long period of time can be blamed on bad management. I'm not sure whether I've seen a single NHL franchise that folded because it was a 'bad hockey market', in spite of the team doing well and the owners doing all they could do to keep it afloat, while there are examples of plenty of teams that relocated or folded that could have easily been successful in other circumstances, or teams that came close to folding because they won the lottery: Min. North Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins, et al.

So, assuming that the new Atlanta ownership was similarly competent to the people who are currently running things in Winnipeg, I don't see any reason to suppose that the franchise couldn't be successful there. That said, though, they would almost certainly not have the turnout of the Jets, for two reasons, first on account that fans get disgruntled after many seasons of mediocrity and need some time for the team to show that they've improved, and secondly that Winnipeg has also been the victim of losing a hockey team, and were very ready to embrace a new one when it came. The post-relocation Jets have continued to have problems cracking into the playoffs, in spite of having some good players, so it seems reasonable to suspect that the Thrashers in the same situation would be little better and probably do little to inspire the fans' confidence. The attendance might have gotten better than it used to in the last two or three years, as the team has become more of a contender, but I don't think the Thrashers would have made as much money as the Jets have.

A rebranding wouldn't probably have been out of the cards. The Dallas Stars did it under less serious circumstances, in spite of having a lot of good memories associated with the logo and such in the town (left over from the 'glory days'). For a team like Atlanta whose greatest accomplishment was getting swept in the first round by the Rangers, I dare say that putting some distance between them and their old identity might have been a good thing... not that it likely would have helped much given the results they've since gotten.

The old division alignment was set up to account for the teams as they were, and it's unlikely they would have changed to an unbalanced setup without at least some geographical reasoning for it. I suspect Detroit's ambitions for making it into the East would have had to wait for a few years. By the time the next round of Western expansion talk came along, though, they would have had more of an opportunity to do it, perhaps setting up something not unlike the unbalanced conferences we have today. Columbus might have had to wait, though, until Vegas or Seattle came along before getting to go East. I find it hard to believe even the NHL would approve of a 17/14 conference setup.
 
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Big Phil

Registered User
Nov 2, 2003
31,703
4,144
I think Arthur Blank has his hands full enough with getting over the Atlanta Falcons' display in the Super Bowl the other year. But all kidding aside, it may have survived. I never thought Atlanta was a good place for hockey to begin with, but what made it worse was the management. If you have Kovalchuk and Heatley, you should have a pretty good future. Even with Heatley's accident and the trade for Hossa you still had Hossa, Savard and Kovalchuk to play with and never won a playoff series. Yeah, that's just bad.
 

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