Nothing slapped of reality like an orange sign that read: “To Winnipeg.”
Just days after the Atlanta Spirit Group agreed to sell the Thrashers, relocating the franchise to Canada, a group of Winnipeg officials visited the team’s practice facility in early June. Before the deal was even approved by the NHL, physical assets of the sale were inventoried and marked for transportation north. Everything from the desks and chairs still occupied by employees to the cereal dispenser and coffee maker in the players lounge were tagged.
Moving vans eventually were loaded at the Duluth IceForum and Philips Arena.
“What took us 12 years to build was gone in two and a half days,” a former Thrashers employee said.
The loss of the Thrashers -- the second time Atlanta has had an NHL franchise leave for Canada -- came six months ago. Several former Thrashers employees spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about their experiences during and after the sale process, but only on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to jeopardize current or future employment in the sport.
Atlanta Spirit co-owner Bruce Levenson would not comment for this story.
While those interviewed have moved on, raw emotions remain. There is a deep sadness of losing a “family” and longstanding bitterness over how the situation was handled by the organization and league.
“[Gary] Bettman had his own game plan and he got what he wanted,” one person said of the league commissioner. “He did everything possible to help Phoenix and nothing for us. It was a perfect storm: motivated buyer, motivated seller.”
Last May, Glendale, Ariz., agreed to pay the NHL $25 million to keep the Coyotes in the Phoenix area for another season. The next day, team employees were informed by president Don Waddell that the news did not bode well for the Thrashers. Although Waddell continued to search for an interested local buyer, as he had for previous months, the sale process moved quickly.
On May 31, just two months after the end of the regular season and three weeks after Glendale made its move, the Thrashers’ announcement was made.
Team employees said they had no direct contact from ownership during the entire process, which began in earnest in February, when co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. said there was a sense of urgency to find a buyer or investors. Confidentiality agreements are typically signed during such negotiations.
Support staff said they were informed of the sale agreement in a company-wide email.
“They were nowhere to be found,” one employee said of ownership. “For two and a half months, they weren’t around. There was a total lack of respect for people losing their jobs.”
With the the impending team relocation clear, employees said the final road trips were hard to deal with.
“We knew we would never work together again,” one former Thrashers employee said. “We were a tight family, a special group. I told them, ‘Not many staffs are like this.’ In a sense, my family will never be together again. You have to move on, but I do harbor some ill feelings.
“There should be hockey in Atlanta.”
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