OT: The Atlanta Thrashers are coming back soon

[Sothron]

You can find various articles and news clips about this. The Gathering which is being built will be the NHL version of the Battery where the Braves play. It will include a state of the art world class HOCKEY arena that seats 18,500 fans. The location is around Alpheretta. That is squarely where the majority of hockey fans live around Atlanta. Genius move.

The NHL deputy commish in Sept. said the NHL is open to coming back to Atlanta and spoke highly about the Gathering and the changes to Atlanta since the Thrasher's first expansion in 1999.  

I was a season ticket holder to the Thrashers. I have an acquittance that was part of one of the 24 local groups that tried to buy the team to keep them in Atlanta. That person reached out to me last week kinda outta nowhere.

They said the NHL has already agreed to put an expansion team in Atlanta in the Gathering arena. The NHL owns the Thrashers name/logo rights and that will be given to the new ownership as part of the expansion fee which sounds like it will be 750 million to 800 million range. The announcement could come as early as next June when work is scheduled to being on the Gathering arena. 

The team could play a season or two in State Farm if necessary or the Gas arena that is smaller but seats like 13k fans. That would be temporary because the Gathering is the real home of the team. 

This person has gotten me all excited and hopeful. I have hated the A$G and will always hate them for what they did to Thrashers fans. This new ownership will own the Gathering and will be actually invested into the team and trying to win. With the new NHL expansion rules the new Thrashers will be guaranteed to get good players out of the expansion draft. Look at what Las Vegas and Seattle have done as recent expansion teams.

So if you are an old Thrasher fan or just love hockey and want to see it again in the ATL it sounds like this is finally going to happen again.

 

[JTB]

Not a hockey fan but I root for all ATL professional sports so it’s nice to see a comeback!

[warcore]

I went to quite a few of those games they were always a good time. The highlight was sitting behind the Penguins bench during Sydney Crosby's rookie season. He was 17 yo. 

[RedDawg#8]

I followed hockey because of the Thrashers and stopped the moment they left. I am pumped that they are thinking of returning and bringing the name back. I always liked Thrashers and thought it was a cool homage to the home state.

I remember having the young rockstars like Dany Heatley and Ilya Kolvachuk next to vets like Slava Kozlov and Marian Hossa.

Can’t wait to check out the new arena. As much as I hate how far away they’re going, I totally get it and hope it pops off the same as the Battery did and revives hockey support in this market.

 

[Atlantaholic]

I went to a Thrashers game once and despite being a complete noob I had a f***ing blast. Hockey is a lot of fun live. 

[frosgrim]

Wow, this is incredible! I love hockey, but stopped watching after the Thrashers were sent out of Atlanta.  The NHL could have stopped that nonsense.  i'm still out of the country, but i will follow the new team until i get back to the states in about a decade.  Thanks for posting this Sothron. 

[Gray Mule]

I DON'T REALLY UNDERSTAND SOCCER OR HOCKEY.  

But I am a fan of all Atlanta pro sports teams and I'm happy for all the hockey fans who lost their team some time ago.

[bird_dirt]

I didn’t grow up watching hockey, but I loved going to Thrashers games. 
My family took a trip up to Boston last month and I got us tix to a Bruins game. It was the first time my wife and kids went to a hockey game and they all had a blast. It’s so much fun live. 

[shakes]

3rd time‘s the charm I guess