This hockey club is at a fork in the road. Marian Hossa has been the largest bargaining chip by far this club has ever had. With this trade, the direction of the Thrashers will be determined for seasons to come. Here are the senarios I see playing out.
1. Thrashers trade Hossa for an impact player in a package deal. Result: Less face it. This team is going to need more than one or two players in order to become a cup contender. A trade like this will only continue to be a bandage on this club. Thrashers will probably make the playoffs, but probably be in a similar situation come next season to what they were last season. A team that has no room for its rookies to mature, and is stuck in the middle of the pack. Anyone wonder would it would be like if Coburn was here?
2. Thrashers choose to prepare for next season. With almost 13 million being wiped off the books from Hossa’s, Rucchin’s and Holik’s contracts that expire at the end of the year, the Thrashers could choose the younger RFA type player and a few prospects in return for Hossa. You could use the money saved to go after players in free agency and try to strengthen this foundation. Now this won’t help the sale of Atlanta Spirit’s Playoff Push Four Packs which are available for the rest of the season. See my rant at the end of this blog. If you are season ticket holder you aren’t going to want to read it. Result: Maybe, just maybe, it could reset the team enough to get some consistency.
3. Marian Hossa stays with the Thrashers. Result: The Thrashers do not make the playoffs. Hossa does not resign. Don Waddell is fired.
At what point do you start looking at #2? When is the season out of reach? Do you make a move, or let your team’s play force you to make a move? This is two very uninspired games by this team.
Ok. I have found there are quite a few season ticket holders that are frustrated like me. As of late in their conversations with season ticket reps, some of the blogs have been mentioned including mine. The ticket reps responses have been along the line that bloggers are hacks. They make stuff up, etc. So I’ll show some work. Early this week I was playing around on the Thrashers web site, and I found this 3 for 4 deal. It is available to anyone. I quickly did some math in my head, and said that is lower than the season ticket price. Below is the price per ticket per game for this pack compared to the season ticket holder price
STH – 301 B-E $30 / 4PK – 301 B-E $28.50
STH – 307 G-N $30 / 4PK – 307 G-N $28.50
STH – 307 E $40 / 4PK – 307 E $34.50
STH – 309 B $53 / 4PK – 309 B $43.50
STH – 202 B $53 / 4PK – 202 B $43.50
STH – 208 B $67 / 4PK – 208 B $55.50
(1 game these seats were 117 Y. STH $86/4PK $55.50)
STH – 109 D-N $67 / 4PK – 109 D-N $55.50
STH – 112 E-K $86 / 4PK – 112 E-K $67.50
The link though went to a Ticketmaster site. So, I breathed a sigh of relief. You figure with all the TM charges it would be close. Just to be sure, I called Atlanta Spirit. You can get these seats direct from AS with NO additional fees. There were only 9 black out dates since November for this offer, and the four pack I pulled up were the last 4 games, 1 on a Friday and 1 on a Saturday. Oh yeah, remember one of those great perks mentioned by Atlanta Spirit Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Lou DePaoli, playoff priority. If you buy one of these packs you get… playoff priority. It was one thing to sell individual tickets for under STH prices. Now you are selling packs of tickets with some of the exclusive perks for considerably less in some cases. It gets better. I found this out on the same day. If you are a subscriber of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution you can go to the rest of the games this season for half of the full price which is under the season ticket holder rate. Once again, I am upset, not that prices are going up. It is that Atlanta Spirit tells season ticket holders one thing, and then does the opposite with other offers. So I think I am going to try a new ticket plan for next season. I am calling it the season ticket holder pay as you go plan. I’ll get off my soapbox now, and see you in Blueland.
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