Don Waddell: Should he stay or should he go?

With one final tick of the Philips Arena scoreboard clock Saturday night, the Thrashers will head into yet another long, playoff-free offseason.

Win or lose, they will finish 27th in the 30-team NHL. Last season, they were 28th. They’ve made the playoffs once and never won a playoff game in the nine-season history of the franchise.

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Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com

GM Don Waddell says he’ll be back in the same capacity next season. But should he be?

Should Don Waddell remain as the Thrashers general manager?
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Coaches, players and even owners have come and gone, but one man has been there from the start. Is it time to replace Don Waddell, the only general manager in Thrashers history? Waddell says he will be back with the same responsibilities he has always had. “No doubt about it,” he said Thursday night.

Here are three arguments for and against retaining him.

Reasons to make a change

1. Accountability.

No other NHL general manager has kept his job as long as Waddell with so little success. The Thrashers have played 737 games; they have won 272. Only seven active GMs have been with their current team as long as Waddell has been with the Thrashers. Three have won Stanley Cups. Two have reached the cup finals. The other two are three-time NHL executive of the year David Poile, whose Nashville Predators were headed into Friday’s games vying for a fifth playoff berth in 10 seasons, and Larry Pleau, who kept his title but became the No. 2 man three years ago when the St. Louis Blues hired a president of hockey operations.

2. Avoid more mistakes.

The Thrashers planned to begin their ninth season with a top line of Ilya Kovalchuk, Erik Christensen and Jason Williams. Christensen and Williams were so ill-suited to the task that they’re no longer with the team. The general manager’s job is to assemble a roster and a coaching staff that can win, and Christensen and Williams were the latest examples of a failure in judging players’ ability.

3. New leadership brings new hope.

Attendance has fallen this season to an announced average of 14,564, far higher than the actual number of people present at Philips Arena and the lowest number since the record-low season of 2002-03. The economy probably accounts for some of the decline, but some fans say they have just lost patience waiting for things to improve. A new general manager would symbolize change.

Reasons to keep Waddell

1. He had a good year.

Center Rich Peverley has 33 points and a plus-16 rating in 38 games since Waddell claimed him off waivers; Waddell got good advice from Thrashers coaches and followed it. The two Mathieu Schneider deals converted three players the Thrashers didn’t want into a second-round draft pick. Free-agent signee Marty Reasoner earned so much respect from his teammates he won the Player’s Player Award. The pre-emptive re-signing of Tobias Enstrom looked good when Enstrom had a huge March. Waddell’s one move in the past 12 months that flopped was the signing of forward Jason Williams, but Waddell didn’t appear to have any better options with players willing to sign with the Thrashers.

2. The team is finally winning.

The Thrashers had the best 14-game stretch in franchise history when they went 11-3 from March 6-April 3. They’ve been one of the league’s best dozen teams since March 1, and if the season had started Feb. 1, they would be going to the playoffs. “Winning games in March is a lot harder than winning games in October and November,” Waddell said. “We’ve won some big games against teams that were fighting for their lives to make the playoffs.”

3. The Thrashers are young and growing.

The Thrashers’ average age of 27.5 ties them for eighth-youngest in the NHL, and most of their key players are their younger ones. Zach Bogosian is 18, Bryan Little 21, Tobias Enstrom 24, Ilya Kovalchuk 25. The oldest defenseman just turned 28. Next season’s starting goalie is 25 (Kari Lehtonen) or 21 (Ondrej Pavelec). Four of the five players who scored 20 or more goals are 26 or younger. Ten players Waddell drafted have made key contributions this season, an indication the general manager made better selections in recent drafts.