The Thrasher Caveat

I'll admit it:  There's a large part of me that wants the Thrashers to move to Winnipeg.  After all, if the team isn't widely appreciated in Atlanta, why shouldn't they move somewhere they would be celebrated?  It seems logical, kind even.  Winnipeg gets a team back and Atlanta...gets to stay Atlanta.

But that's not the whole story.  Not by a long shot.  It would be if the Thrashers had no one cheering for them at all, but they do (albeit a small fraction of Atlanta's population).  And those people are about to lose all of it.

By next season, there may never be hockey in Atlanta again.

What gets me more than anything is the hypocrisy of it all.  How long has the NHL fought to keep the Coyotes, who are one rung below Atlanta in attendance, in Phoenix?  And for what?  Have Coyotes fans really come out in droves to support their PLAYOFF-CALIBER team?  Not really.  And to me, that is much more telling than Atlanta's attendance issues, as the Thrashers have only made the playoffs once in ten seasons.  In that same time frame, the Coyotes have gone four times. 

And yet, Phoenix is saved while Atlanta is likely Winnipeg-bound.  It could have been either team but it's ultimately the less successful one, the one with fewer opportunities to cultivate a fanbase through its successes.  Who's to say the Thrashers weren't all that far off from a few playoff runs?  And who's to say a few playoff runs couldn't have changed things, even just a little bit?

Now we'll likely never know (although to be fair, the Thrashers would make the second team Atlanta has lost, third if you count the Knights.  Hockey has been in Atlanta before...and failed.)

The photo above could not be more telling.  The fight is there...unless the opportunity for a clean sale overpowers it.

"Because we fight hard for every city [except Atlanta] and our fans need to know that we don't just run out [unless we can make a clean break]"

I'm really sorry, Thrashers fans.

-Shaela