On the flipside, the people of Winnipeg are absolutely stoked over the potential return of "The Jets." At least that's what everyone wants the team to be named, myself included. That team's been gone since 1996, and people still wear stuff with the Jets logo on it.

When I was young, I followed the NHL. I knew the names of a lot of players, and had an idea of how the league was going. After we lost the Jets, I stopped caring, because I had nobody to root for. I only pay attention to hockey during the Olympics. The fact that we're getting an NHL team again is really cool. I'm just sorry that you had to lose your team, 'cause I know how much that sucks.

I'm happy for fans in Winnipeg, I really am, but it's the attitude that's coming at us from all around the league that's so hurtful. Every blog and news post out there is full of comments from both Jets fans that sympathize with the Thrashers and those that say we're hicks that never deserved a team in the first place, and it's our fault that it's packing up and moving. Seeing the situation firsthand would change their minds, as this has to be the worst run professional sports organization in the world. The NHL will probably never send another franchise this way. It's not only a shame, but it's unfair in a way, at least as far as I see it.

I just wish this transition were a bit easier. There's a lot of intense emotions on both sides and people aren't keep level heads about it. The lack of solid news is also just heating things up and keeping Atlanta fans clinging to some faint hope the team may stay. I'm excited for the fans in Winnipeg, and I hope they take care of my team. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but if the whole team ends up moving I'll have a hard time not rooting for them. Some of my favorite, most hard working guys play on that team and I really want to see them succeed, whether it be here in Atlanta or somewhere else. They deserve it, and they deserve better than what ASG gave them. We had a team (if you ignore our collapse at the end of the season) that was on it's way to becoming incredible, and this was lacking star power almost entirely. It shows just how hard the guys we have work.

After it's announced, the post season ends, and the dust settles, then maybe we'll see how many Atlanta fans are wearing Jets jerseys next season.

I feel really awful for you buddy =(

I wrote this big whole thing but it pretty much boils down to its a shame Arthur Blank can't buy the team.

That being said the red alternate is by far my FAVORITE jersey in the NHL

If you want one I bet they're going to be selling them off for nothing when it's official. I'm probably going to pick up a few just cause it'll probably be auctioned off in lots. If it's cheap enough it might be neat to sell on ebay many years down the road or something.

As a huge fan of the Sacramento Kings, I truly understand your pain. I was on the verge of tears when it looked like the Kings were going to relocate to Anaheim-- to ANAHEIM. Just about any other city in the world would have felt better than my beloved team going to Southern California.

But somehow, a miracle happened and the Kings will get to stay in Sacramento at least for one more year. I'm praying for much longer.

I'm praying you get a miracle, too. The Thrashers are an awesome team in a great city, and having hockey in Atlanta does far more to promote the sport across the continent than packing them into a city already enamored with hockey.

What really drives me insane is the attitude a lot of 'hockey fans' have toward southern people and non-traditional hockey markets in general. You'd think if you had a real passion and love for the sport that you'd want to share it with as many people in as many places as possible. I love to see hockey grow. I love to see new people fall in love with the sport for the first time and how excited they are by the next game they get to go to. These people don't feel the same way, though. They don't think we "deserve" hockey, and they don't want southern people playing and enjoying the sport for the simple reason that it doesn't snow down here very often. Even if the NHL packs up and leaves I don't think hockey is going to die down here. The NHL is a pretty important anchor, and there will probably be a little shrinking in some of the programs around town, but we've still got a ton of fantastic rinks around the city, an ECHL team, college hockey, and all the local stuff to have fun with. It won't be the same without the big leagues being here, but we'll make it. The rest of the league may be all smug and happy about our team leaving, but we're not done with hockey here, and we don't need them to approve of us enjoying it.

Trash talk and sensationalism is the name of modern media and journalism

My condolences man. It's never fun to have something so passionate about taken away.
I find it interesting that they try in Atlanta now and then, starting with the Atlanta Flames. I think you are right, it's a upper-level issue in the long run in the South.

The Flames left in the 70s because of a real estate deal the owner had to bail himself out of, so unloading the team to Calgary was his only choice to keep from losing both his business and the franchise at the same time. People STILL blame the fan base in Atlanta for the loss of the Flames when in reality it was a well attended team for it's time in the NHL. The Atlanta Knights were wildly popular here before the entire IHL dissolved. The Gladiators here right now are a huge draw, as well as KSU's hockey team. And that's not even going into all of the local leagues and youth programs. Hockey has a place in Atlanta, but it needs to be real for us to pay attention. People throw the term 'fairweather fans' at us a lot, but no team and no market is immune to this (as evidenced by the Thrashers outdrawing the Bruins for two seasons in a row. Yes, for two seasons there were more people going to see the Thrashers than the Bruins). It's not that these people are bad fans, but watching a team lose for so long just gets old. This isn't the Cubs either. It's not like we have more than a hundred years of history to back us up. People weren't going to spend money to watch a team lose because the ownership kept letting go every single top player we had because they didn't want to spend any money. I want an NHL team so bad. NHL hockey is a huge passion of mine, but we keep getting stuck with rich idiots who don't know how to run a business, so the league turns their back on US, the FANS, instead of trying to make a decent team work here with a responsible owner or group of owners. We deserve better than what we got, and the players that worked so hard for ASG even when they obviously didn't care, deserve way better than what they got.

Ugh, I could go on about this for decades. >.<

Even though we were living in Alabama at the time, my dad and I were there for the first home playoff game in Thrashers history (sadly one of two). I have been to a lot of sporting events, and I have never been in an arena so loud and with fans that were so passionate. I KNOW (don't think, but KNOW) that hockey could have been a success in Atlanta with competent ownership. The niche was there for hockey to become the next big thing -- Braves were constantly disappointing in the playoffs, Hawks were awful, Falcons had a dog killer for quarterback. It frustrates me to this day that they were never able to build on that playoff appearance. But after reading more and more about the Atlanta Spirit Group, I get the feeling that they never wanted the Thrashers to be successful.

It's sad that Winnipeg got a team at the cost of another. I feel your pain and Atlanta's. I liked the Thrashers, including the roster, the jerseys, but it's too bad they made the playoffs once in 11 years of their existence. But at the same time, I'm super stoked for the return of the NHL to Winnipeg. The Jets shouldn't have moved in the first place, but we have a team to cheer on again. And hopefully, they'll be called the Jets!

I do hope that after this, Atlanta will at least get an AHL team. Name them the Thrashers maybe, I don't know. Would you be up for an AHL franchise in Atlanta? It can work under good ownership.

I'm really happy Winnipeg got a team back. I know now how hard it is to lose your beloved franchise. There's been a lot of name calling on both sides and I'm really tired of it. People don't need to laugh at other people's pain and people need to refrain from cursing the fortune of others. Root on my boys for me. I will be rooting for the old members of my team, but I'm afraid I won't be rooting for the new Winnipeg franchise itself. This isn't to be mean or anything, it just stings too much right now. I just hope that people will take the hockey fans in Atlanta seriously and respect who we are, what we come from, and our love for the game.

As far as the AHL, I would love to see a team here in Atlanta. I'd love to see the NHL return, but I really don't think they're going to try that again for a very long time. We do have a very successful ECHL team here, the Gladiators, and I will be attending most if not all of their home games next season. I do think it's pretty likely that the AHL may move into Atlanta, though. I don't think the NHL is done here as a league, and the AHL may be a good fit for the city to really start building interest and get confidence back into ownership. ASG really soured a lot of hockey fans here, which is a real shame.

I was born and raised in Atlanta, and hockey is my favorite sport in the world. I will always love hockey, no matter what teams come and go, no matter what other fans say about me, and no matter how many people say that this can't be a hockey town. To me it's the greatest sport in the world. I'm excited for the fans in Winnipeg to have the NHL return. Love it as much as I did. :)

I'm glad that there's a big interest in hockey in Georgia, and I do hope that a few more pro teams make their way there, including an AHL team. That's how True North built itself up, through the AHL. It would be a great idea for Atlanta to do the same. Make a team, put it in the second-highest league in the continent, build a fanbase around it, and see how it goes from there. :)

Gotta love ownership..this is why hockey being a minority sport (in terms of the big four in the States) you end up with asinine groups who mishandle teams. The hawks aren't fairing any better and it won't be long before Atlanta loses them as well. As a Canadian hockey fan who relocated to the southern United States I can see why financially having the Jets back is great but as an online hockey fan I'm pissed. Canadians are the most ignorant bunch of hockey fans next to Pens fans. I don't know how many times I've had a Habs or Leafs fan go on about my team's salary cap troubles, the ownership trouble and how they're getting Stamkos or Lecavalier...what? I follow this team and you see them maybe 4 times a year and you're lecturing me about it?

It sucks that Atlanta couldn't gain a larger following despite trying hard as hell. It might have been the home and alternates (both godawful, the away jersey was one of the best in the league imo) or the lack of advertising by management but that's in the past. Maybe Phoenix can move to ATlanta if there's a prospective buyer? It doesn't help much that ASG had been shopping the team since what was it 2005? All they needed was to prove they could be a playoff team and with Dudley at the helm they could do that.

Now they're in Winnipeg with an awful GM (picking Scheifele at 7th? Yeah we get the Hawerchuk affialiation but are you serious?) and an arena that at max capacity, will match the Florida Panthers average crowd.

The arrogance of some of the fans is really what bothered me most in the situation I think. There were reasons that the team was moving, some of the valid and some of the bullshit, but it sucked either way. A lot of folks from up north, not just Canadians, were throwing the "hockey isn't for hicks" line and assuming that because we were southern we knew nothing of hockey and could never love it. I was born and raised in Atlanta. I was a season ticket holder for the Thrashers. I was known as "Cape Guy" in Philips Arena, as I'd wear this large Blueland flag as a cape. Myself and Puc were featured on the jumbotron at LEAST 60 times this past season, waving that flag. We were in their COMMERCIAL at the end of the season. I loved this sport so much I started to play it. My life became wrapped up in it. I LOVE hockey, and the Thrashers being gone will not stop me from loving hockey. I'm going to continue to attend Gladiators games, one of the ECHL's best attended teams, right here north Atlanta.

You're absolutely right in everything you say. I'm happy that Winnipeg got a team back, because it's obviously important to them, but I hate that it came at our expense. They're going to need to start adding seats and gutting that arena too. I'm not saying it's a bad arena, but if it's going to upgrade leagues, the arena needs to follow. It's a shame the Philips will go unused for hockey now, because WOW that place was awesome. I sat section 204, endzone near the corner, and loved it. Argh...I could go on about this for days, all of the disappointments, the dashed hopes, the insult and humiliation. It's tragic.

But what can you do, right? Money.