Poor attendance may cost Thrashers revenue cut

MONEY RACE: The Thrashers are out of the playoff race but remain in an attendance race with millions of dollars at stake. Entering Friday night’s game against the Red Wings, the Thrashers were averaging 14,323, their worst announced attendance since 2002-03. Another, unannounced attendance figure is the one that counts, though.

The Thrashers need to match the league’s average revenue growth rate and reach a paid attendance threshold of 14,000 or the average NHL paid attendance, whichever is lower, to receive the full amount of NHL revenue sharing aimed at helping teams in non-traditional hockey markets.

“Right now, it’s touch and go,” general manager Don Waddell said. “We want to try and sell as many tickets as we can [for the five home games] between now and the end of the year.” A Nashville Predators owner said this season his ownership group would consider buying tickets to Predators games to achieve the attendance benchmark, though a later statement said that wasn’t necessary.

Thrashers co-owner Bruce Levenson said this month his group wouldn’t buy Thrashers tickets to meet the benchmark and wouldn’t need to do so. “There’s tiers to that [revenue-sharing] program,” Levenson said. “I don’t know if we’ll hit the top tier, but we’re still going to be in line for substantial, very substantial revenue sharing.”

SLATER SKATES: Center Jim Slater participated in the morning skate as he works his way back from a head injury suffered Saturday at Buffalo. “His headaches have cleared up a little bit,” Thrashers coach John Anderson said. “It’ll be day to day as we see how fit he is, how ready he is to play.”

CRABB RETURNS: The Thashers welcomed forward Joey Crabb back into their lineup Friday night. Crabb played 26 games in mid-season before being sent back down to the Chicago Wolves in January. He said it should be easier to return to the Thrashers than it was making his NHL debut last November. “The first time I got called up, I didn’t know the guys as well,” Crabb said. “The second time getting called up it’s a lot more comfortable. You know all the guys, and it’s a little more welcoming. It all helps. That’s part of getting more comfortable and having a little more confidence on the ice, too.” “Certainly he knows what we want out of him up here,” Anderson said. What does Crabb need to do that he didn’t do the first time? “Just be a little bit more consistent,” Anderson said. “We’d see him play great games and then let down to what I think is an average game for him. For a guy who’s trying to stay in our lineup, he has to bring it every night. Guys who have a couple of years on their contract, they can have a bad night and it’s not as glaring.”

— Mike Knobler