My apologies for being absent from Friday until now...needless to say..was a whirlwind weekend with no time to type out opinion on what was going on in Blueland.
But I'm back (nananana)...so let's see if we can talk about something that came to mind in the last day or so.
Now with the Kaptain departed and the upheaval that ensued afterwards I have a question that I'd like to get your answers to. I myself have my own opinion..and of course I'm not shy and am ready to share it with you..but the question is, as the title stated...Is the post season now a must for the Thrashers?
I say yes personally. Now that we have parted company with Kovalchuk and we no longer possess one of the league's top snipers and at this point no "marquee" players it's become more important than ever that the franchise deliver another extended hockey season to this city. Simply put, a playoff series (including some wins) will go a long way to erase the pain of watching our franchise star walk and the disappointment and angst that we felt against management and ownership for letting the situation degenerate to that point.
If this club can carve itself a position in the playoffs it will do more than just erase some pain, it will also in my opinion, show that it can compete without Ilya Kovalchuk. This is something that needs to be proved not only to the city and it's fan base but really to the players as well. One of the components that has been missing from this club is a sustained confidence in their ability to compete in this league, and a playoff berth may just establish some confidence in their ability to do so.
Let me clarify this point...making the playoffs won't be enough. We have to be able to compete in the playoffs as well. That means that even if we depart in the first round it better not be until a hotly contested game 7 is dropped. I really believe anything less will not be good enough. To simply make it there and do another disappearing act in 4 games will almost be more cruel to this fan base than to not have made it at all.
Town Hall Honesty
The Falconer did a great job of giving a good transcript of the town hall meeting that preceded the game on Saturday. As he observed there was some calm rational talk, but the season ticket holders didn't hold back on asking some blunt questions and for the first time in a long time got some blunt answers back and not just some whitewash and sales talk.
The biggest thing for this franchise and the ownership is to make good on the promises and intentions that they have for this club. It's clear from their comments that the departure of Don Waddell isn't coming any time soon. So for all you fans out there that said you couldn't support the club post Kovalchuk unless it included post Waddell..well it don't look like that's going to happen.
The question then becomes how much do you love hockey? Do you love it enough to continue to support this team by going to games? or are you just going to watch on t.v.? or...just the papers...or just give it all up?
I think there will be some fans in each of those categories..but I think that with a post season berth and some wins that some may choose to follow after all.
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2 comments:
I bailed out on this team weeks ago and jumped on the Nashville Predators bandwagon...
As far as Waddell goes, so does my loyalty. It shows that ownership is not committed to winning. Fans of other teams are laughing at us.
Great points. It does look like DW is still gonna be around. And with the right people working with him in the Thrashers' Front Office, I don't mind that. DW is good with the $$ side of things from everything you can read or hear, and although being a nice guy doesn't translate to job security, for him a byproduct of being a nice guy, being at least decently good with people (read: fans; read: CONSUMERS) does add a little job security for him. And as I said, with the right people, I think they can make it happen.
As for playoffs, I don't know that I do think this season is a must. I think it'd go a damn long way to alleviating stress and pressure on the situation as a whole and on every part of it in particular, but I actually think that with so damn many prospects that are NHL-ready or very close to it and the sheer quantity of draft picks acquired (seriously. It looks like a video game hockey firesale right about now) there are enough pieces that can be moved that the team can make some waves at any time should they choose. I think that'll keep some fans at least casually interested, but interested enough that when things start happening they show up again.
But again, making the playoffs this season would go a hell of a long way to alleviating the pressure and stress and strain on the fanbase and the $$ and everything else.
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