I, for one, am super excited about the new season. It is easy, in looking back through the past few seasons, to feel extremely nervous and unsettled when we see names flying everywhere, new management, new coaches. I mean, what do we have to hold our faith on? Within the last 5 years we have witnessed our team clinching the division, making it to the playoffs and winning home-ice. Only to watch the Rangers, of all teams, to sweep in and stomp every hopeful dream we had of continuing the march to the Stanley Cup.
We plummeted, we fell, we landed in the bottom of a murky pit filled with broken branches and unstable ground. It took just 6 straight losses into the next season for the Thrashers to cut Bob Hartley from the team. The murky air continued to swallow and stagnant the Atlanta ice. Waddell stepped in to hold the team together and act as interim head coach, which gave the team new light, but, without a solid foundation, the light flickered and diminished back into darkness.
We have witnessed years of dreams, placing them all in one (or a few) baskets. Hossa, no longer willing to try to climb through the pit, constantly getting snagged and falling back down, fought for a change, broke through his chains and took flight. Lehtonen, perhaps just not strong enough, more likely not trained well enough, finally was released after years of losing him as our starting goalie.If our management team concentrated on finding a way for all the pieces to fit together, combined a chain could be created to create a way out, a way to climb out of the depths of the darkness created in this city…but instead, we continue to juggle goalies, go through almost an entire season with no captain (or head coach for that matter) and then find yet another ‘star’ to put all of our hopes and dreams in. We find another head coach with promise to steer this team the right way and as we near the destination, the road collapses yet again. One of the most memorable moments of my most recent Thrashers history was hearing Waddell admit that maybe they were a little off by making this a one man team with Kovalchuk, and maybe they should have utilizing the entire team a little more frequently. Maybe that lightbulb coming on was the same one that moved Waddell out of the GM position, opening up a huge change, probably the only thing that hadn’t changed since our inception.
Suddenly, it is as though someone took the biggest branch, the one everyone used to plant their feet on as they reached up out of the hole, and tossed it aside…realizing it had become weakened throughout time. Now, they have discovered that, over time, different things have fallen in the pit, new tools have been uncovered. We now have a whole new root system creeping up the walls. We may possibly have more players standing outside on the rim of this ever growing pit, but these players are reaching their hands in, feet solidly planted, and I see the players still stuck in the pit gaining strength and climbing with light finally reaching their faces.
I think we have gone through a number of ground-shaking changes in the last, well, honestly, since inception. We have been an organization that, for the longest time, didn’t appear to really be learning the experience, just living it…now it seems like they have begun to take the challenge instead of letting it continue to beat them down. Instead of letting this team fall into the depths of the earth, they are learning now. Severing ties that needed to be severed, opening doors that need to be opened. For some, they waited too long. But instead of crying in the corner, the Thrashers ARE moving forward. There is a fan base here that loves hockey. This fan base has been screaming for change…and finally, they have started to hear…
There will be a time of adjustment, there will be a time of learning. And unfortunately, there will still be losses. But what truly makes an amazing team is not necessarily a mixture of the highest records and numbers. What makes a truly amazing team is a collection of talent, of all levels, willing to stick together, to do what needs to be done, all moving towards the same goal. A team that is willing to be on the ice as a team, not the backup for a one man show. A team is willing to be displayed as a team, with one goal, the same goal. We needed change, in the most severe of ways. Maybe, for this team, maybe it takes bringing on a few who have just spent a day with Lord Stanley…maybe they were spending that day reminding him that there is still hockey in the deep south and as our history has shown, you can always try to burn us down, but we will always re-build.
“Great moments are born from great opportunities…You were meant to be here. ..this moment is yours”
~Herb Brooks/ 1980 USA Gold