Atlanta Thrashers

jkrx

Registered User
Feb 4, 2010
4,337
21
How this team will be remembered?

as mediocre at best. Atlanta never really got it going. There weren't any rival matches (except a few against the caps). It all was to unstable but I should point out that a move is yet to be determined.
 

Iain Fyffe

Hockey fact-checker
'Will they be remembered' might be the better question. In 11 years they did nothing of note, and were decidedly mediocre for most of their existence. Perhaps they'll just be remembered as the NHL's second failed attempt in Atlanta? The team name won't even be carried on this time like it was with the Flames.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,584
15,946
'bout the same as the kansas city scouts or california golden seals. i.e., they won't be.

ten years and one memorable moment, in which, sadly, a player died.
 

TheDevilMadeMe

Registered User
Aug 28, 2006
52,271
6,980
Brooklyn
Similar to the Atlanta Flames, I think. Some really exciting offensive superstars, but ultimately a team that was never a factor in much of anything
 

jkrx

Registered User
Feb 4, 2010
4,337
21
'bout the same as the kansas city scouts or california golden seals. i.e., they won't be.

ten years and one memorable moment, in which, sadly, a player died.

Sadly there is basically two things that might be remembered from this teams history. Kovalchuk and the night Heatly crashed his car and Snyder was killed.
 

Chain Attack

Registered User
Aug 15, 2006
2,476
139
As a leaf fan I'll always remember the 9-3 thrashing (no pun intended) we gave Atlanta earlier this year where Brett Lebda was a -3, but the thing I'll remember most was the Kovalchuk-Crosby incident when Kovalchuk scored and pointed at him. Off-ice problems aside, there's really not that much to say. I just got this random memory of Joe Bowen laughing like crazy at the Thrashers mascot who was dancing alongside a fan in the stands.
 

seventieslord

Student Of The Game
Mar 16, 2006
36,080
7,131
Regina, SK
Similar to the Atlanta Flames, I think. Some really exciting offensive superstars, but ultimately a team that was never a factor in much of anything

The Flames at least made the playoffs a few times.

I think that, on the aggregate, over the past dozen years the Thrashers have been one of the NHL's bottom three teams along with Florida and Columbus (interestingly, they all made the playoffs exactly once, and they all won exactly zero games in that appearance)

Parity in the NHL has made it so that the good teams aren't as good as they once were, and you can't be as bad as some bad teams used to be, but by an era-adjusted standard (and I'm not going to try to be precise about this) - they have to have just completed one of the worst 12-year periods of futility in NHL history, "only mediocre" win% fueled by OTL points be damned.
 

Johnny Engine

Moderator
Jul 29, 2009
4,972
2,352
About a week ago I made a thread "top Thrashers ever, the final list," and one person posted in it. Nobody made a list. That should tell you something.
I think the Scouts are a pretty good comparison, as their legacy seems to be "um...well nothing really happened there". The Seals are remembered as an absolute train wreck, and I don't think the Trasher's wore white enough skates to qualify for that.
 

ColdSteel2

Registered User
Aug 27, 2010
34,759
3,578
Had some great players pass through in Heatley, Kovy and Hossa. Helped the Hawks out when they were in cap trouble. That's it.
 

MuzikMachine

Registered User
Nov 14, 2005
800
5
The Flames at least made the playoffs a few times.

I think that, on the aggregate, over the past dozen years the Thrashers have been one of the NHL's bottom three teams along with Florida and Columbus (interestingly, they all made the playoffs exactly once, and they all won exactly zero games in that appearance)

The last time the Panthers qualified for the playoffs in 1999-2000, they were swept by the Devils, however they did make the Stanley Cup finals in 1995-96 and qualified for the playoffs the following season, loosing 4-1 to the Rangers. It's hard to image that the Panthers were one of the more promissing expansion teams in the 1990's.

As for the Thrashers, as time progresses they will probably fade into obscurity like some of the other expansion or relocated teams of the 1970's.
 

Ogopogo*

Guest
They won't be.

Complete non-factor for the entire time of their existence.

To a large extent, this is true.

How do people remember the California Seals? The Thrashers will be remembered in much the same way - they won't be.

BTW - there are probably three of us on the planet that have Seals jerseys, me being one of them. I have a Seals hat as well. ;)
 

DungeonK

Love Thy Neighbor
Jul 6, 2006
5,617
0
Atlanta
Kovy won the Rocket Richard, was drafted by and spent a loooong time with the Thrashers.

A young, gap-toothed Heatley made unfortunate history with the team.

Slava Kozlov and Marian Hossa carried the team on their backs and made the playoffs one season.

Holik, Bondra, Savard, Tkachuk, Recchi, Chelios, Kovalchuk, Savard, Heatley, Hossa, Byfuglien, Enstrom, Pavelec, Kane all laced up the skates for the team- that's a lot of big names for such a short history!

The Thrashers were an exciting team to watch and with all their roster turnover were always a wildcard as to how successful they would be. They will be remembered as the posterchild for Canadian aggression, with fans across the country happy to see them die. That is twice Canada has stolen a team from my city now, and twice that crooked owners were more than happy to play along.

So I guess to remember the Thrashers in a word: sad.
 

seventieslord

Student Of The Game
Mar 16, 2006
36,080
7,131
Regina, SK
The last time the Panthers qualified for the playoffs in 1999-2000, they were swept by the Devils, however they did make the Stanley Cup finals in 1995-96 and qualified for the playoffs the following season, loosing 4-1 to the Rangers. It's hard to image that the Panthers were one of the more promissing expansion teams in the 1990's.

As for the Thrashers, as time progresses they will probably fade into obscurity like some of the other expansion or relocated teams of the 1970's.

I know that. I was definitely cutting off everything before 98-99 when I made that statement.
 

Kyle McMahon

Registered User
May 10, 2006
13,301
4,352
1. A team that showed promise at various times in their history, but was ultimately let down repeatedly by Don Waddell. One of the worst track records as a GM in NHL history.

2. The southern expansion team Gary Bettman let walk away. He was willing to sell the Predators to a con man to keep them out of Canada. He has moved heaven and earth to keep the moribund Coyotes in the failed market of Phoenix, likely just because the optics of moving a team back to its original location would be seen as an admission of failure. But for whatever reason, he let Atlanta pull up stakes without any sort of fight. Not really sure why, and if I was a Thrashers fan I'd feel pretty betrayed. There's no way Atlanta should have been moved before Phoenix (who will move anyway).
 

TheDevilMadeMe

Registered User
Aug 28, 2006
52,271
6,980
Brooklyn
1. A team that showed promise at various times in their history, but was ultimately let down repeatedly by Don Waddell. One of the worst track records as a GM in NHL history.

2. The southern expansion team Gary Bettman let walk away. He was willing to sell the Predators to a con man to keep them out of Canada. He has moved heaven and earth to keep the moribund Coyotes in the failed market of Phoenix, likely just because the optics of moving a team back to its original location would be seen as an admission of failure. But for whatever reason, he let Atlanta pull up stakes without any sort of fight. Not really sure why, and if I was a Thrashers fan I'd feel pretty betrayed. There's no way Atlanta should have been moved before Phoenix (who will move anyway).

As for your second point, it's hard to keep the team in Atlanta when the owners of the arena want them out.
 

VanIslander

A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
Sep 4, 2004
35,130
6,428
As a long time Marian Hossa fan I became a Thrashers fan when he went there and thought his best career season all things considered was his Hart worthy but widely overlooked 100-point season there (the franchise's first and only three digit scorer), a force with and without the puck, still playing physical at that point too.

The Thrashers' 3-Star Award winner in 2007:
hossa3stars_040407_460.jpg
 

overpass

Registered User
Jun 7, 2007
5,254
2,736
This must suck for former Thrasher players. A big part of a player's legacy is carried on by their club, the fans, and the media of their former team, and they're losing that.

Kovalchuk will have to build a new legacy in New Jersey.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,584
15,946
This must suck for former Thrasher players. A big part of a player's legacy is carried on by their club, the fans, and the media of their former team, and they're losing that.

Kovalchuk will have to build a new legacy in New Jersey.

at least there are no banners or retired jerseys to take down, ahem phoenix and colorado, ahem.
 

Kyle McMahon

Registered User
May 10, 2006
13,301
4,352
As for your second point, it's hard to keep the team in Atlanta when the owners of the arena want them out.

And aren't the owners of the arena also the owners of the, ummm...team? Just a crappy, underhanded situation really. I think the team was basically a throw-in in the purchase of the arena so the owners treated the Thrashers like the red-headed step child from day one.
 

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