In Atlanta Thrashers Demise, Unfair to Blame the Fans
by Mark D on Jun 22, 2011 10:00 AM EDT
in This, That & What-Not
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We complain all the time here about media members who take the easy way out when talking about the Islanders. Whether it's a story about Michael Grabner that brings up Rick DiPietro for no reason other than to laugh about his contract, or a story that focuses on when Garth Snow was a backup goalie instead of on his success since then, we hear it all the time. When it comes to the Thrashers leaving for Winnipeg, the easiest way out is to write an article blaming the fans and their poor attendance. For the most part they can't defend themselves in the media.
I'll admit I was hard on Atlanta fans too. But that comes from being a Mets fan, and the Braves being one of the best teams in the NL for far too long. It seemed like during those times that fans in Atlanta didn't even care about the team despite them winning. At first they stopped showing up for regular season games. Now that I can see, as the baseball season is ridiculously long. But then they stopped showing up for the playoffs too. There were stories of fans of opposing teams getting playoff tickets for so much cheaper in Atlanta it was worth the drive down there. So since then I've never had a high regard for Atlanta sports fans, and I was wrong.
We've seen franchises survive the brink and bounce back in a big way. The be all, end all is no longer the product on the ice. For example, look at the Predators. The new ownership took steps to integrate themselves with the fans.
It's pretty obvious now that the Atlanta Spirit Group had no intention to even listen or care about the fans. All they ever wanted was to cash out ASAP. They didn't even pretend that wasn't their purpose. The original agreement for the franchise gave them an out and they took it immediately. They could have taken the time to find someone who wanted to keep the team in Atlanta. Maybe if people had been given more then a week to try to save the team, something might have come through.
But going through multiple message boards for the Thrashers, including Bird Watchers Anonymous, you realize just as quickly that Atlanta fans are just as passionate fans as just about any other fans in the league. They have their Ozzyfans, TMCs, BCIslesmans, Benhasna's among many others who are just as dedicated to their team. In what world is it fair that the Phoenix Coyotes are given every chance in the world to be saved, but within a week the Thrashers go from ending the season to being no more?
If there's one thing that NHL fans have learned from all this, you can't trust Bettman. Too quickly he went from unwilling to move any time, to allowing the Thrashers to move. One key thing people have pointed out was that the reason for expansion to the Sunbelt was for the league to have a nationwide footprint. With the signing of a 10 year deal with NBC the league might have found itself without a "pressing need" to have a nationwide footprint. Suddenly it wasn't the be all end all to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix or the Thrashers in Atlanta.
In all of this mess, it was the fans who were thrown by the wayside, and the fans who were blamed for the team leaving. If the Islanders had moved, or the Coyotes had moved, the same arguments would be made that it was the fans' fault. If the Islanders had moved, the first thing people would have pointed to was the poor attendance for the first half of the season. No one would mention the many outside factors that would effect attendance.
So before you blame the fans for the Thrashers moving, take a look around. How easily could the shoe be on the other foot? How hard would you all be fighting and screaming that the team moving had noting to do with our failings as fans? How many places would ignore the failings of ownership and the front office, and mock those who have the least amount of ability to fight back?
It's a new league. Sure it helps having a good team on the ice, but NHL teams today are going to have to take the extra step and integrate themselves with the community. People have a lot more options then they used to available to them. If you want them to come to the games instead of DVR'ing them it is going to take work. Access to media and information is reaching unimaginable heights from just 10 years ago. If the owners are unwilling to change for this day and age, then it's on them when attendance falters and not the fans.
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Hockey Fans
I could care less whether you are a fan in Nashville, Pheonix or Atlanta or an original six city. Think about how Canadian hockey fans often look at American hockey fans as some how less legitimate and it drives me crazy. The Thrasher fans in Atlanta got the shaft, just as fans in Winnipeg and Minnesota once did.
Nassau Coliseum lost a veteran and an original Islander fan. ACC 1918-2011
Correctme if I'm wrong
But they did lose two hockey teams, of course under very different circumstances. I think they are unique in that distinction in modern times.
Yeah
The guy with the sign is complaining about not getting a second chance like Phoenix but, well, the Thrashers were Atlanta’s second chance.
Vote Yes on August 1st.
by Anarcurt on Jun 22, 2011 11:08 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
That was a generation ago
If Atlanta Spirit Group wasn’t just looking to cash out, they could have found someone to keep the team in the area. It takes time for people to react, to get together money. No one ever had a chance to save the Trashers.
"I bet Calgary wishes they had a backup goalie as their GM" - Pauly C
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
Atlanta should get True South to get the Flames back instead of keeping the Thrashers.
Nassau Coliseum lost a veteran and an original Islander fan. ACC 1918-2011
by Hockey1919 on Jun 22, 2011 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
That would
be Hilarious. Or if the Coyotes move to Atlanta
"I bet Calgary wishes they had a backup goalie as their GM" - Pauly C
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
Then the Stars could move to Phoenix…and the Wild could go south again!
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
My complaint is that the fanbase is used as a tool
It may not have been a great idea to set up a team in Atlanta again, but the NHL probably felt they needed the market for a national deal. They set-up shop long enough to get the deal in place with no intention of supporting the fan base that develops and then pull up stakes when their interests are served.
Nassau Coliseum lost a veteran and an original Islander fan. ACC 1918-2011
That's what irks me
I know part of the timing was simply when the ASG lawsuit was finally settled and they could bail on the team ASAP, but it’s still amazing to ask NHL fans to invest in a crap product for a decade with the hope of it becoming something better, and then as quickly as Evander Kane knocks out Matt Cooke, the team is gone.
What pisses me off is we’ll never know what Atlanta can do as a hockey market because they never really had a chance. I’d actually argue the same of Phoenix: That NBA-only building was rocking when they were doing well in the late ‘90s. But it’s a land deal to move the team out into the exurbs at a bad time in the economy and…well now no one remembers when the Coyotes were selling out.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
by Dominik on Jun 22, 2011 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Attended games in PHO the inaugural season
Had to be the worst stadium configuration ever, but the place was pretty full. . Add in the new baseball team which started winning, football improving and the basketball team coming off the Barkley era and hockey got lost in the shuffle. Then they moved the team as a development deal and left much of the fan base a commute away. I’m sure many people that had seats to the Suns and Coyotes didn’t decide to follow the Coyotes to Glendale.
Nassau Coliseum lost a veteran and an original Islander fan. ACC 1918-2011
Greater Phoenix is an interesting area
My lifestyle is sort of built on being at a hub with quick access to all points urban and exurban, but I know if I was local to America West Arena and then they took the money and ran to Glendale, I wouldn’t have followed.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
From my one visit to Phoenix
The area around the arena is a nice set up, but it’s a pain in the derriere to get to.
"Playin hurt, baby that don't faze me. I don't got time for pain. The only pain I've got time for is the pain I put on fools who don't know what time it is!"
Two venues, double the cost
I would think that a company that has had corporate suites or even seats in America West for the Suns are going to double the cost by getting suites in Glendale as well.
I believe in Boston, you buy suites for Celtics, Bruins and all events at the Fleecethem Center. You have to pay more, but you are paying for basically all arena content for the year. Corporate support is usually the life blood so even if the diehard hockey fans transfer to Glendale it is asking alot to get the corporate licenses to transfer as well.
Nassau Coliseum lost a veteran and an original Islander fan. ACC 1918-2011
Yeah, the area around it is pretty sweet
And I saw tons of people in Coyotes jerseys, despite what the average Winnipeg columnist assures me.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
Glendale
I like the setup that Glendale has with the Westgate City Center and Jobing.com Arena being part of that. I think the Hub around a new areener could benefit from having some commercial development, although to a smaller scale than what’s been done in Glendale (some more restaurants within a safe walk away from the new Coliseum would be nice).
Fact of the matter is that it looks like even Westgate City Center is having financial issues, with the possibility of foreclosure.
Washington
lost the Senators twice (obviously not hockey, but similar). And I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up losing the Nats someday too.
Yes and no
My understanding is that Washington has a bit of a transient population (much like Atlanta) where it can be harder to support the home team. They currently have some players who can help them get into contention, but the two main players either recovering from Tommy John Surgery or still in the minors. I suspect the Nats will be contending for the playoffs in a couple more seasons.
In retrospect.....
Atlanta has never been a hot-bed for the NHL anyway. When the Flames moved to Calgary, that should have been the end of hockey in Atlanta. The reason for the move originally was because the interest in the team had whittled away. It’s similar to what happened in LA with the NFL. In both cases, as mentioned in the article, the blame should not be placed on the fans alone. The franchise(s) share the responsibility of not ingratiating themselves within the community as well.
IMHO, we are going to see the same thing happen with Phoenix and Florida. The Coyotes move to Glendale has been a horror show because of the location. In Florida, they have never been able to establish the fan base because the area is dominated by the Dolphins, among other factors. I could see both teams relocating within the next few years.
Atlanta Attendance
Went up and down based on how good the team was, and for a while they had an amazing Duo in Kovy-Heatley and Kovy-Hossa. That the ownership couldn’t capitalize on that or realize the value in keeping Kovy-Hossa togeter was a tragedy.
At the very least they did try to keep Kovy around, and offered him more money then he ended up signing for with the Devils, but it was too little too late.
"I bet Calgary wishes they had a backup goalie as their GM" - Pauly C
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
Blame Themselves
It’s the fans’ fault that ownership couldn’t keep Kovi, or Hossa, or Kozlov, or Lehtonen!
And why they had to trade Brayden Coburn!
And why they lost Marc Savard and drafted Patrik Stefan!
/atlthrashersfancentral
We may be in the box, but you get the penalty.
Lighthouse Hockey - a beacon of greatness on the rocky coast of sports blog mediocrity
Non-hockey scribblings at nightflyblog
If only
I wonder if ATL had a Torrey instead of a Waddell, if it would’ve been enough to keep them more relevant and entice a local buyer.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
Even Torrey couldn’t do much if the the players know the team is relocating. I’m not saying Waddell may not have been part of the problem, but the uncertainty doesn’t help attract or retain players. It could be just as much an indictment of Winnipeg as Atlanta. Ifl Ladd doesn’t re-sign it isn’t because he didn’t like Atlanta it is because he didn’t want to go to Winnipeg.
Same could be said for Phoenix with the spector of the team moving, players weren’t too happy about the possible re-location destinations. Most players love playing in the Phoenix area, but don’t want to be moved to some unknown destination whether it be Winnipeg, Hamilton or Kansas City.
Nassau Coliseum lost a veteran and an original Islander fan. ACC 1918-2011
Waddell
Yeah, I more meant the errors of his early tenure. Given the circumstances, there’s no shame in the last two years. I trust Waddell was up front with Kovy, so Kovy looks better for not signing (though not so good for acting like he would all the way up until his final season).
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
The problem is...
While
But going through multiple message boards for the Thrashers, including Bird Watchers Anonymous, you realize just as quickly that Atlanta fans are just as passionate fans as just about any other fans in the league.
there just weren’t very many of them.
There's a mountain of buoyant nostalgia under this team and it's going to erupt like Vesuvius when the Islanders are back in playoff contention.... Count on it.
by Nova Scotia Isles Fan on Jun 22, 2011 11:16 AM EDT reply actions
How can we know though?
I’d argue the problem is they never had a chance. Does Atlanta have hockey potential? I’d say yes, based on the all-too-brief high points of their 11 seasons of piss-poor ownership and management.
People cite the two times Atlanta has failed, but…they had awful ownership both times! How can we even judge a market’s potential when the owners handcuffed them pretty much from Day 1? How did Minnesota of all places lose a team?
The difficulties with southern expansion have been more about the NHL approving bad owners (an issue ‘90s Islanders fans are familiar with) than bad markets. The demographics are there, but you can’t do it unless you have an owner committed for the short- and long-term. Which, incidentally, is what smaller-market Winnipeg and Buffalo now have.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
by Dominik on Jun 22, 2011 11:35 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Wow, we typed our posts simultaneously it seems
Nassau Coliseum lost a veteran and an original Islander fan. ACC 1918-2011
the smart people stayed away
You had to know over the past few years that this team’s ownership was looking for an out. Why make the investment as a fan knowing you are going to get screwed? I’m amazed there are actually people that became Islander fans when the Milstein’s and Spano’s owned the team. Talk about a leap of faith and a waste of good money.
Nassau Coliseum lost a veteran and an original Islander fan. ACC 1918-2011
Smart people
Yeah, I’m frankly impressed with the Thrashers fans who stuck with it. I can’t say I’d be buying season tickets under the same circumstances. Pro sports asks a lot of the consumer — Webby’s talk about a “new age” in sports makes me think of how going to games has gotten so expensive, there are many incentives (including TV) to stay away until a franchise has shown you something.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
As an Islanders fan in ATL.....
….I can testify that the attendance was as good, if not better at “the Bulb” (as they call it) as it has been in our barn…. Granted, I usually only went to the games when the Isles were in town (I’ve never missed an Isles @ Thrashers game), but the attendance actually felt higher in ATL than any of the Islanders games I have attended at NVMC in the past 15 years….. Only attending the Islanders games here in Atlanta, I certainly didn’t do my part to keep the Thrashers in town…. Truth be told, there actually IS a very large hockey following in Atlanta…. What most people don’t realize is that more than 50% of Atlanta residents are transplanted northerners (myself included)… This is why you see so many fans in visiting jerseys, not only at Thrashers games, but at ALL Atlanta sporting events…. Most of us moved here holding on to our favourite teams, and usually only attend the games when our favourite teams are in town…. It really does distort Atlanta’s image as a sports city….
by H0PPY on Jun 22, 2011 4:48 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Nashville/Carolina/Notlanta
I have made the trek to see the Isles play in carolina whenever I can. It has always been a really fun experience. The fans there have grown more and more knowledgable with every visit. It would be better if we had a better team than them, but Carolina puts on a good show and it’s a very welcoming atmosphere.
I had an opportunity to go see the Isles in Nashville last year. I’m not a big country music fan, but they intergrate the hockey experience into the Nashville experience… and they do it rather well. I will try to make that trip whenever I can.
I’ve been to Atlanta a few times… I think I’d rather travel to guam to see an NHL game. I really can’t believe that Bettman/NHL didn’t learn from their mistake in the 70’s. Maybe they felt that post-olympic atlanta was a different place… Where places like Phoenix, Miami and Tampa have grown with strong migrations from the north, it appears that Atlanta’s growth was parallel with prison overcrowding and non-incarceration sentencing in the surrounding states. There are a lot of great folks, and opportunities in Atlanta… but I don’t think the demographics mesh with hockey at all. they barely mesh with baseball. If bettman could have found a way to stage roller derby between periods it might have worked.
+ This is only my opinion and does not reflect the opinions of this site, its members, nor any other human being.
Lighthouse Hockey: where "you better check yourself before you rec yourself" -bobl
If your life isn't pathetic enough already, follow me on twitter @JPinVA
JP I HAD to email you!!!!
We are all Islanders, even if we are in Jersey!
by Russel Ginart on Jun 22, 2011 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions
Guam isn't too bad if it weren't for the snakes.
Nassau Coliseum lost a veteran and an original Islander fan. ACC 1918-2011
I haven't been to Atlanta for a game
So I have no impression on that front, other than what season ticket holders tell me.
Nashville and Carolina have had enough of a taste of playoff success to “get it.” Atlanta went four-and-out in their lone appearance against a detestable team.
+ This is only my opinion and does not reflect the opinions of Frans Nielsen nor any mortals.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
Playoffs?
Maybe that is true… but I think it is more important that the people marketing those teams have engaged their target markets.
Raleigh is a young city. So they have cheerleaders in the stands. It doesn’t overshadow the hockey, but it is something to keep you occupied during the TV timeouts. They have bands in the parking lot and cookouts in better weather. They really seem to be embracing the sport.
Nashville has the bands between periods and every kid has a damn train whistle for Tootoo. If there was enough room in those seats to play banjos, they’d have a bluegrass/banjo night…. were everybody could pluck for a puck. (or…PLUCK PLUCK, YOU SUCK!) They know what their audience needs, and they give it to them with a helping of something they might like… like the double butter paula dean mashed potatos with a little escargot… if 20% like the escargot, they’ll drag more in for the mashed potatoes… and pretty soon you’re sellin’ snails by the truckload.
For that dynamic to work in atlanta you’d have to give out thrasher hats that kids could wear sideways, and they’d have to be in gang colors. Not to mention hockey jersey’s don’t allow you to show off the barb wire tattoos on your bicep, or the notches for the drive bys you’ve survived on your forearm.
They do, however, make excellent cover for a Gloc tucked neatly in the pants that are drooping around your upper thigh. But who needs that when you have an ass crack.
My one suggestion to hockey fans in ATL is to embrace the Winnipeg team… watch them on your big screen TV in your 2500 sq foot house in Alpharetta and take that job in Carolina, tampa, miami or Nashville when it’s offered to you… and you’ll have hockey again.
Lighthouse Hockey: where "you better check yourself before you rec yourself" -bobl
If your life isn't pathetic enough already, follow me on twitter @JPinVA
Attended games in Nashville, Carolina, Phoenix, Atlanta and Columbus
I’m an Islanders fan first, but I like watching hockey games in general, whether it be an NHL game, an AHL game or a game on the college level. Plus, it gives me an excuse to travel somewhere different, and during a month when there’s not as much sunlight, it gives me something to do while I am out of town. As for these games in non-traditional markets, not all games featured the Islanders either, just the game in Phoenix, and every game was in the post lockout period.
Of the five cities I listed, Nashville and Carolina have done very well to tailor the hockey experience to local tastes, whether it’s tailgating in Raleigh or the Nashville experience in Nashville. Columbus and Phoenix try to make the games part of a “night out” experience, with the Arena District in Columbus that features a nice set of restaurants and bars, or the Westgate City Center in Glendale, which has shops, restaurants and a 20 screen movie theater. The Blue Jackets also have some obsession with the Civil War which makes for an unique experience in and of itself.
Atlanta, on the other hand, just didn’t seem to pack much excitement or energy in a Thrashers game. The Thrashers hosted the Penguins that night, and it just seemed like people went to the game, they watched, and then went home after the game ended.
That being said, hockey can work in different markets, but the home crowd has to be energized about the team, be given a consistent winning product, be part of a larger experience and somehow blend in with the community. I think that’s where Atlanta got it wrong this time around.
That being said, I’d welcome the return of the NHL to Hartford, especially since it would be the closest NHL city to me (a 2 hour drive, and a good chance to occasionally see the Isles play on a weeknight).
What I started to wonder yesterday
With the cap and floor rising also, is maybe this parasitic city sucking nonsense IS the business model. There are a few teams that actually make good money, but yet the cap increases every year or two and by a decent amount.
Teams that stink almost can’t even make the floor payments, lose money, and hav to relocate…which comes with a hefty relocation fee, which if the new team doesn’t win quickly, sustains them for a few years until they can’t cover it anymore, rinse, repeat.
But if every couple of years or so, a buyer floats the NHL a booming check just for the privilege of losing money for 10 years and sell at a loss, that will dry up pretty quickly…especially in non-traditional, not ready-made markets.
When you have teams on the brink of folding (Atl/Phx/ and maybe even Florida…and Jersey is lookin for a 40+% buyer), how in good conscience can you raise the cap/floor without a better revenue sharing plan or exemption of some kind. (Unless that is part of the plan or the cycle they expect). Maybe what the league should do is float these teams a one time cushion of 10mil usable to sign an impact FA to generate interest and winning on what usually will be a bad team. It’s obviously very rare that a good team moves, and unless they improve quickly, they’re on borrowed time.
When the Isles make us drink, we curse Milbury through a monocle and with our pinkies out. Lighthouse Hockey & Chivas-All Class.
Website:Lighthouse Hockey Twitter: @KeithLHHockey
by Keith Quinn on Jun 22, 2011 11:44 AM EDT via mobile reply actions 3 recs
Amen. The wizard behind the curtain
maybe this parasitic city sucking nonsense IS the business model.
Sure seems that way! Pro sports don’t really make sense without sucking off the public teat (and corporate teat, which sucks off the public teat) — not at these prices anyway.
The NHL basically has five really indestructibly profitable teams…then all the rest. If the league doesn’t cede to more revenue sharing, then it’s basically depending on civic parasite behavior — or back to an Original Six league. I don’t really like either option, which is why I wanted both a salary cap and revenue sharing, and didn’t think either went far enough.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
by Dominik on Jun 22, 2011 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
may I plagiarize myself?
From the comments on this article by Travis Hughes, SBN Overlord:
Because the range from ceiling to floor is a fixed number, it becomes relatively smaller as the salary cap increases. $23 mil is about 59% of $39 mil (the original cap); the new $48 mil floor is 75% of the $64 mil ceiling. Smaller markets will have more difficulty affording the salary floor as salaries increase, especially if, for one reason or another, they don’t qualify for revenue sharing.
One thing the league should have done a little differently is set the floor to a maximum percentage of the cap to help those teams… perhaps two-thirds of the ceiling, so a cap of $64 million results in a floor of $42.67.
I think these should be features of the new CBA.
We may be in the box, but you get the penalty.
Lighthouse Hockey - a beacon of greatness on the rocky coast of sports blog mediocrity
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Only if you give yourself permission
But I agree. When you’ve got top teams eagerly gobbling up each increase in the ceiling with other teams not even spending to the mid-point, you’ve got a problem.
Alas, this goes back to the eternal BOG struggle between big market and small market teams. Everybody wants a bigger national footprint and bigger league, but they don’t want to share their ducats to make it happen.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
Yep
And if the Canadian dollar ever goes south again a couple of those indestructible teams will start to provide a lot less revenue sharing
"Playin hurt, baby that don't faze me. I don't got time for pain. The only pain I've got time for is the pain I put on fools who don't know what time it is!"
by Semi_Colon on Jun 22, 2011 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I know it
Fortunately for them, it doesnt look like that is happening any time soon.
But it does annoy me when people look at the variances back then and blame international economics- but when US teams have economic problems its because the fans are assholes who dont care or do not exist at all. :(
Let Us Go, Islanders! (Ever notice how strange that sounds without the contraction?)
by TheMetalChick on Jun 22, 2011 6:53 PM EDT up reply actions
Could happen anywhere in the USA...
Atlanta isn’t a Hockey Hot Bed. But, there are a lot of markets that aren’t in the US. How much hockey coverage do you get on Long Island. In New York, baseball, football and basketball all get more coverage; but hockey but can still thrive.
Atlanta is all about college football. But the Atlanta population can support a hockey team and would for the right ownership. It takes time to grow a fan base. There are also tens of thousands of transplants like myself that go to games.
If hockey can work in Washington DC; Carolina, Nashville, LA, San Jose, Dallas,,etc., it could have worked in Atlanta. They just needed committed ownership. Not a group of jerks who spent more time fighting with themselves then trying to build an organization. I still feel if the Trashers had a one good playoff run, the fans would have come out.
One problem is that Atlanta is so football nuts, most people didn’t even realize the hockey season had started until the super bowl was over.
In the end Winnepeg is still too small a city to keep a major sports fanchise and in ten years or so, they will move again.
Imagine a scenario where ATL bottoms out 2 out of 3 years at the right time
Let’s just say that those two years instead of Stefan and Kovalchuk, they wind up with Nash, Ovechkin or even Crosby? It could easily have happened, they were only off by a couple of years. Would the franchise have remained a bubble team and just out of the playoff hunt? The fortunes or Washington, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Atlanta could have been drastically altered.
Sometimes it just comes down to sucking at the right time when generational talents are available. Kovalchuk may have been a great player in ATL, but he never captured the post lockout marketing buzz that Ovechkin and Crosby did. Haatley was a tragedy that ATL never recovered from in a market that was still being formed.
Nassau Coliseum lost a veteran and an original Islander fan. ACC 1918-2011
BRA-VO!
WebBard, I hereby officially dub you: WebBard: Honorary Knights’ Commander of The Loyal Order of The Whale!
[Fanfare…well, Brass Bonanza, that’s our fanfare]
Thank you, thank you very much for this article!
I get so fucking sick (pardon my language, but I’ve been putting up with it for going on 15 years now) of people going into default “The fans didn’t show up!” or “Nobody there cared!” when an NHL team splits from a city.
Everything you pointed out, in some way, shape or form, can be applied to the situation we were dealt up here in Hartford.
Only worse in how that particular “Bought it to Move It” owner got his hands on the team.
Maybe you know the story: On his way out of office, corpulent scumbag (and then sitting Connecticut Governor) Lowell P. Weicker sells team to Ponytail Pete Karmanos for chump change and a soft landing on the board of Karmanos’ CompuWare company after serving a term as governor that the state has never recovered from, with absolutely NO concerns about whether or not Piggy Pete would move the team within three years of purchasing it, and, more than likely, even selling it to that !@#$ (can’t come up with a profanity that quite fits the rage I get from even mentioning Cockholster Karmanos, so I’ll let you folks create your own.) KNOWING FULL WELL THAT THAT ASSHOLE WAS GOING TO MOVE THE TEAM NO MATTER WHAT!
Ahem
Let this wonderful article be a staunch reminder to the dickheads in other NHL cities who think it’s “The Fans’ Fault” when a team leaves town.
Not always the case. Sometimes, it’s the slimy underhanded dealings that only the locals ever learn that makes it happen.
Seems to be the case in Atlanta.
Was DEFINITIVELY the case in Hartford.
Ya ever seen Frans Nielsen’s eyes, Chief? Those…cold…black…lifeless eyes, like a dolls eyes…
by BrassBonanza10 on Jun 23, 2011 4:16 AM EDT reply actions 2 recs
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1979-80
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May 24, 1980: Tonelli to Nystrom. At long last, the steady build of the New York Islanders from expansion doormat to surprise semifinalist to annual contender reaches the promised land: Buoyed by a late season trade for Butch Goring that gave the team the depth up the middle GM Bill Torrey had been seeking, the Islanders knock off the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.
The victory justified the faith in coach Al Arbour who guided them from their second season to their first Stanley Cup seven seasons later. The Islanders would not be the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup, but they would be the only one capable of a dynasty.
1980-81
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May 21, 1981: This time it was much easier. After falling to "only" 91 points in the 1979-80 season, the Islanders returned to their division title tradition, piling up 110 points -- a whole 13 points over second-place Philadelphia.
Between the quarterfinals (where they beat the upstart Oilers in six games) and the finals, the Islanders reeled off eight consecutive wins -- with a four-game sweep of archrival Rangers in between. As they defeated the Minnesota North Stars in five games for their second Cup, their goal difference in the final was a combined +10.
1981-82
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May 16, 1982: Another year, another landslide title. The Islanders won the Patrick Division by a whopping 26 points over the second-place Rangers, and were seven points clear of their nearest competition for the President's Trophy, the still-not-quite-ripe Edmonton Oilers.
A first-round scare against the Pittsburgh Penguins turned in the Isles' favor thanks to John Tonelli's heroics, and a true dynasty was on its way: Past the Rangers in six games, then an eight-game sweep of the Quebec Nordiques and Vancouver Canucks to run away with the Stanley Cup.
1982-83
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May 17, 1983: Not so fast, whipper-snappers. The Edmonton Oilers' steadily rising challenge for league supremacy took them all the way to the finals for the first time, where the New York Islanders summarily dispatched them in a four-game sweep. For the Islanders, the Dynasty was secured. For the Oilers, it was a powerful lesson in where talent ends and the demands of playoff hockey begin.
Four years, four Cups, 16 consecutive playoff series wins (a record that would grow to 19 until the rematch with the Oilers the following year). Mike Bossy scored 60 goals yet again, and Wayne Gretzky became acquainted with Billy Smith's crease.
