Uhhhhhh guys......

[Bongo]

What was he realistically supposed to do? All signs point to A$G selling as soon as they could-right after they bought out Belkin, and after the rumored 7 year clause was up. They then began to talk with some California magnate about selling the Hawks, which was just a farce so that they could show the NHL that there were no reasonable offers for the Thrashers locally.

And there weren't, because no one in his right mind would buy the Thrashers, and only the Thrashers, with A$G still in control of the arena. But there were competitive offers for all 3, though it remains to be seen if the NHL could have blocked the move the Winnipeg on the grounds of that. Would have been an interesting court case.

But I don't think Waddell purposefully drove the Thrashers into the ground. More likely is that he was simply incompetent, and his efforts to improve the team were hindered by that and a lack of support from ownership. And what would have gained by saying "Yeah, they're going to move as soon as they can?" to the public? No free agent would want to sign there, and he would have been fired, and for what?

If he had a shred of integrity he could have said, "I want no part of this!" and gone public. ASG did much more than sell our team. They killed the market for NHL hockey in Atlanta and Donny the Wadd was their right hand man. What kind of hockey executive does that? And BTW, once the team was gone guess who was out of a job?

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Chip Alexander @ice_chip · 14h 14 hours ago
Don Waddell, at business of hockey seminar at PNC Arena, says Canes have been trying to get Tim Hortons in the building. Trying.

Chip Alexander @ice_chip · 14h 14 hours ago
Waddell again asked about chances of Peter Karmanos selling team and team moving. Waddell again said team "isn't going anywhere."

Take it for what it's worth.

 

[What the Faulk]

Don't remember if it was mentioned in this thread, but isn't the lease on the PNC pretty awesome and signed through 2019ish? I would assume there's zero to worry about until at least then, and hopefully the on-ice product will drive popularity back up over the next few years.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Don't remember if it was mentioned in this thread, but isn't the lease on the PNC pretty awesome and signed through 2019ish? I would assume there's zero to worry about until at least then, and hopefully the on-ice product will drive popularity back up over the next few years.

I honestly don't think that is as big of a roadblock as it's made out to be though..as any lease can be broken with enough money. Still, regardless of that, I agree in that I don't think there's much to worry about in the next few years.

 

[What the Faulk]

Not so much that they can't break it, just that it's a big money saving thing for them at the moment.

 

[Bongo]

Take it for what it's worth.

For what it's worth, he told me the same thing about the Thrash in April of 2011. That was the last lie he told me face to face.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Not so much that they can't break it, just that it's a big money saving thing for them at the moment.

That's irrelevant in a sale though, which is my point. If some big money guy comes in and buys the team from Karmanos, he may not be worrying about saving money if he wants to move the team. Again, I'm not suggesting it will happen in then next few years, but depending on who the buyer is and what their intention is, the lease may not be an issue at all.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

For what it's worth, he told me the same thing about the Thrash in April of 2011. That was the last lie he told me face to face.

That's fine, which is why I said FWIW when I posted it. I honestly don't trust him or Karmanos.

 

[w e l o s t b o y s]

Take it for what it's worth.

timhorton is the final nail