Is the NHL moving back to Atlanta?
The NHL has found a lot of success in the past few years by adding more and more expansion teams. First the Las Vegas Golden Knights and now the Seattle Kraken. Both franchises have made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs in their first two years, and even Vegas won the whole thing last season. So, with that being said, should the NHL expand back to a familiar home in Atlanta?
The Atlanta Thrashers (the team pictured above) first gazed upon the NHL landscape back in 1997. The Thrashers stepped onto the ice for the first time in the 1999-2000 season.
But the Thrashers weren’t the only team to subside in Atlanta. The Flames, now in Calgary, played in the “A” from 1972 to 1980. The Flames found success that the Thrashers failed to find while in Atlanta–making the playoffs six out of eight seasons. But making the playoffs is one thing, winning is another. Atlanta would only win two postseason games from 1972 to 1980.
The NHL has been very open to more expansion in the last few months, even going to the point where Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has brought it to a public state. Daly has his doubts of moving back to Atlanta, but mentions it as a sure possibility for the league.
“I think some of the challenges that we’ve seen in the past in Atlanta can be overcome,” Daly told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski on Tuesday.
“I think times have changed pretty dramatically and the market demographics have changed pretty dramatically since the first time we went there and then again in 1999. I think a lot of bigger businesses are in Atlanta (now).”
Atlanta is already a major market for sports, but with five other professional sports teams and the Georgia Bulldogs at peak power, luring in fans would be a tall task. After all, luring in fans became the Thrashers and Flames’ ultimate downfall.
Hosting already the Hawks, Braves, Atlanta United FC, Dream and Falcons, moving to Georgia’s capital would punish the NHL for a third time. If it didn’t work two times beforehand, why try a third time? Try it once, doesn’t work out; redeem yourself and try it again, fail once more; try a third time, now you need help. If so many sports teams are already there, why go through the gauntlet a third time?
Plain and simple, take the Coyotes or an expansion team and move them to Quebec. The NHL fans have been dying to bring back the Nordiques. Canada is already growing at a record-setting pace in population.
The NHL cannot bring back a team to Atlanta, economically it makes no sense, it’s already a packed city, and it’s failed twice already. Gary Bettman, you cannot do it, please.
Should the NHL move back to Atlanta for a third time? Let us know in the comments!
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