The NHL Appears To Be Going For A Hat Trick By Trying To Put A Team In Atlanta For The 3rd Time
Scott Cunningham. Getty Images.Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. But fool me a third time? Well three's company, I guess.
The Atlanta Flames were in town from 1972-1980. In those 8 seasons, they won a grand total of 2 playoff games. They never had any real success in Atlanta, the market no longer gave a shit about hockey, and the Flames relocated to Calgary.
The Atlanta Thrashers were in town from 1999-2011. They took Patrik Stefan with the 1st overall draft pick in 1999, so that tells you everything you needed to know. The '99 Draft actually sucked so ridiculously hard outside of the Sedin twins, but still. That's just the luck that hockey in Atlanta has. They get the 1st overall pick in a catastrophically horrible draft class. They were in the NHL for 12 years, but only 11 seasons due to a lockout in 04-05. They made the playoffs just one time, and they were swept out of the 1st round. It's almost impossible for a franchise to have a worse stint than the Atlanta Thrashers.
20 years of NHL hockey in the city of Atlanta, and they ended up having just as many relocations as total playoff wins. Not playoff series, but playoff games.
But here's the thing--nostalgia is a helluva drug. The Thrashers might have been terrible, but they had Ilya Kovalchuk. They had Dany Heatley. They had some pretty kick ass uniforms.
B Bennett. Getty Images.
B Bennett. Getty Images.Enough time has passed now that we've reached a point where people can forget how bad the Thrashers were on the ice. The people yearn to return to the early 2000s, and putting a team in Atlanta just feels right. As long as they are either renamed the Thrashers, or their uniforms are Thrashers inspired. The Thrashers aren't necessarily a hockey team as much as they are an idea of a hockey team. They represent the world of 20 years ago. That's what you need to give the people.
If you just stick a random ass hockey team down in Atlanta without any ties or nods to the Thrashers, that team is ultimately going to suck and they are going to relocate to Western Canada within the next 10 years. But if you give the people some sweet ass uniforms, and maybe a chance at getting a superstar to lead them to a couple of playoff series wins? Well then maybe the 3rd time actually is the charm. I doubt it, but maybe it's so crazy it could actually work this time.
