Obscure Sports Weekly, vol. 3: Professional Hockey in North America

These thoughts are in regard to the recent sale of the Atlanta Thrashers to a bunch of Canadians who are going to move the team to Winnipeg. The ink hadn't dried on the bill of sale before the moving trucks arrived at Phillips Arena in Atlanta...

Oh Canada. I have no love for the Atlanta Thrashers. Hockey was granted a second chance in this city and, due to general incompetence and ambivalence by the owners and management, the team was never given the opportunity to thrive. They lost Kovalchuk, who really loved the team. They lost Hossa. They lost Heatley, and while I understand that story had much different details surrounding it, his demeanor changed drastically when he landed in Ottawa (In other words, I believe he would have left anyway). To a lesser extent, they lost Savard. Hell, they even lost Bobby Holik. I know that last one sounds like a joke, but never one to mince words, Holik loved playing in Atlanta.

I did know actual Thrashers fans while I lived there. I went to some games with them. Some of them were very knowledgeable. Unfortunately, there simply weren’t enough of them to support a team in the city where the biggest sports franchise is UGA football. Followed by Auburn football. Followed by the Braves and Falcons and Georgia Tech. In the end, the people didn’t care enough to make it a wise business decision to stay in town. I get it. I agree with it. It’s unfortunate that the team will leave but the reality is that most people (in and out of Atlanta) won’t notice.

That said I have a huge problem with how the league handled this. For longer than I can remember, the Phoenix Coyotes have been a hot mess. Gary Bettman and the NHL have jumped through hoops, flaming hoops and acid-dripping hoops to keep that team in the desert. TO KEEP THAT ICE HOCKEY TEAM IN THE DESERT. And when they couldn’t squeeze through the hoops, they reshaped them enough so they could get by. It was an affront that Jim Balsillie wanted to buy the team and move them to Ontario. That could not happen. What would all 16 hockey-loving Phoenxicians do if the team moved to Hamilton? Would the Coyotes “fans” even care? I’m still skeptical that such a person exists.

It seemed like every week brought another story about the debacle of an ownership situation in Phoenix. So right now, the team is basically run by Gary Bettman. Yes, the same Gary Bettman that allowed the lock out to wipe away an entire season. Yes, the same Gary Bettman that kind of looks like Count Chocula. Yes, the same Gary Bettman that was sent to the NHL by David Stern to destroy it (and he has been quite successful). The same Gary Bettman that excitedly kept the league from re-joining ESPN’s broadcasting services, thus helping ensure its place in Rob’s weekly column on obscure sports.

Keep in mind, the Coyotes are the same team that left Winnipeg 15 years ago and have been terrible both on and off the ice ever since. Really, we’ve reached 15 years of ineptitude already? My, how the time does fly when you’re trying to nurture a sport dependant on ice in a climate that can’t support the natural formation of ice.

So after limitless press trying to force the Coyotes into relevance, both at the NHL level and professional sports level (I’m sure more people outside of Idaho could correctly pick out Boise State’s mascot than could identify the name of the Phoenix hockey team), they will stay in Phoenix for another year. And high praise to all for making this happen because the true rapture would have come on the heels of the Coyotes leaving for Canada. So the Coyotes stay and VERY unceremoniously, the Thrashers are sold and moving within a week. I just don’t understand how they can be reduced to such an afterthought when relocation is always such a feared idea. The league has taken control of several teams over the years to ensure they stay put (Buffalo, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Phoenix) but before push came to shove, they basically said fuck it with the Thrashers. No, that’s OK, we’d rather pick our battles in order to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix.

So it’s not that I’m upset that the Thrashers are leaving; they should have gone to Hamilton and become the Hamilton Mounties or something. I’m upset that they were so disregarded by the NHL and Gary Bettman, that such high stock has been continuously placed in the desert dogs. The Coyotes are the team that belongs in Winnipeg.

This is all just one more reason why I love the sport but hate the league. Well, this is mostly just about how I hate the league and its leadership.