Player reaction mixed to Thrashers' sale and move

By Ken Sugiura

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Andrew Ladd is fine with moving to a new city, but the Thrashers’ eighth and final captain feels sympathy for the team’s jilted fans.

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Curtis Compton, ccompton@ajc.com Thrashers captain Andrew Ladd expressed remorse over the team's move from Atlanta: "I'm sorry we weren't able to make it work and I feel bad for [the fans]. It's not fair to them."

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“In my short time, I got to meet some very passionate fans,” Ladd said. “I’m sorry we weren’t able to make it work, and I feel bad for them.”

Reached Tuesday as the Thrashers’ sale and move was finalized, Ladd and teammate Tim Stapleton both looked forward to playing for new ownership in a market starved for hockey.

“I know it’s cold,” Stapleton said of Winnipeg, Manitoba. “I’m going to miss Atlanta. Atlanta was a great city, but you’ve got to move forward and look at the positives. [Winnipeg] is a great city to play hockey in.”

Traded to the Thrashers from Chicago last July, Ladd said he liked living in Atlanta and had envisioned possibly staying in the city for a long time. Speaking of the Atlanta Spirit ownership group, though, he said: “It seemed almost as if they were more interested in basketball than the hockey.” As a result, he said he expects to play for owners who will “be willing to give more.”

Ladd said he felt badly for organization staffers facing the prospect of uprooting to Winnipeg or possibly losing their jobs. He had spoken with team trainers and others Tuesday morning.

“We as players kind of sign up to be moved and be ready for this, maybe a little more so than them,” Ladd said. “You feel for those people, and obviously the fans. It’s the second time it’s happened in Atlanta.”

Ladd, who has been keeping in touch with teammates, said reaction to the sale and move has been mixed.

“Those guys that have been here, like [Eric Boulton] and [Chris Thorburn], guys that call Atlanta their home, it’s probably real tough,” he said.

Coach Craig Ramsay learned that the deal was completed in a mass email sent by team president Don Waddell just before True North’s announcement. Ramsay called it “a sad time.” For Ramsay and his staff, it’s complicated by the matter of not knowing their future. At a news conference in Winnipeg, True North chairman Mark Chipman said only that he wants to meet with general manager Rick Dudley and others as quickly as possible.

Ramsay, who said he and his family will miss living in Buckhead and being able to walk to restaurants and shopping, has one year remaining on the contract he signed with the Thrashers.

“I’ve been in the business a long time,” he said. “You’d think it gets easier, but it doesn’t.”