Another Season Down The Drain... That Makes 10 Of 11...

Much like Mister Blutarski's seven years of college, the Atlanta Thrashers are playing in an 82nd game with that as the finality of another NHL season.

One of the mantras the HQ has always had in its hip pocket: Be either very good or very bad. If you're neither, very few people give you the time of day.

Honestly, Game 82 had more Pittsburgh Penguins fans in the house than Thrashers fans- and that's to be expected. If you can't get a ticket from a broker to travel two-and-a-half hours east of here and catch Tiger holing out from the fairway, then keep the trip cheap and watch hockey in an air-conditioned building for a field trip.

But, when you're coming in to Game 82 at 34-35-12 with a minus-43 in goals scored, let's face it... you're average...

And the lack of attention you generate is of your own device...

Two teams worse than you in the east have already fired their coaches- Ottawa got rid of Cory Clouston and Florida dumped Peter DeBoer after they finished two points behind the Senators.

You knew there was a problem when your two captains and most-respected players, Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien, came to the head coach and questioned the want-to of some of the guys on the roster before the trading deadline.

There's no question that GM Rick Dudley has been given little to work with and has had to consistently tinker instead of do what he was brought in to do- create a winner with Craig Ramsay.

Don't misunderstand, the Thrash can be good... and that's all given the current lack of ability to invest from the ownership group... Good, but not, great... and as long as there is no marquee player to wrap the flag around, that won't change...

NHLNumbers.com has the tale of the tape this way... The Nashville Predators, no money bank themselves, and the Phoenix Coyotes who are still owned by the league, have cap figures some five to six million dollars ((US)) MORE than the Thrash-who came in at just under US$46-million.

So let's get this straight... the league and its partnerships with the 29 surviving owners are investing more in a western conference playoff team that has to reinvent itself every year than a group that has proven itself to be dishonest in its approach to either investing or attempting to divest itself of the Thrash as a property.

But the HQ will maintain- once again, for what seems like the 12th year in a row- that if an owner invests properly that fans will come both casual and die-hard.

That fact seems to be perpetually lost on the current group that writes checks that they obviously, don't want to...

Chris Vivlamore, in his AJC article Sunday, raised the question as to whether this Game 82 is the last one the team will have at OSG HQ. We kinda doubt it, if only doubting in the short term...

Oh, here were the highlights from Game 82...
((HT: NHL/ROOT Sports))


If only for the sake of scheduling, it would take a lame-duck year to get everyone shifted appropriately- probably Nashville moving over from west to east so as not to get an Original 6 team pissed off..

The next move comes from the Goldwater Institute whether Atlanta Spirit knows it or not... and True North Sports and Entertainment is waiting for the next move...