When an NHL team has an 0-6 record there are a limited number of changes they
can make if they want to turn their season around.
Trades are difficult to make because every other team in the league knows
you're in a tough spot and they'll make you pay dearly for any pieces you try to
acquire. Teams at the bottom of the standings in any sport- not just hockey-
rarely come out on top in the short term in trades. If they're lucky they can
acquire good prospects and raft picks as they dismantle a team, but if they plan
on being competitive right away that's not an option. The roster we have is the
one that has to win games, and heading into this season few people expected this
kind of performance from this group of players.
If the roster wasn't going to get blown up the only available change was at
the head coaching position. Bob Hartley has accomplished many things over the
course of his professional coaching career and I have no doubt he'll accomplish
more before his career comes to an end, but for one reason or another he wasn't
able to coax a consistently strong effort out of this particular group of
players.
As Bobby Holik and Garnet Exelby said in the AJC, part of the responsibility
for that failure lies with the players themselves, but there are 23 players and
one coach.
So Bob Hartley is no longer the head coach of the Atlanta Thrashers and this
team is now tasked with proving that they have the talent and the ability to win
some hockey games. No player likes to be responsible for getting a coach fired,
and this should be a big wake up call to everyone in the Thrashers locker room.
Everyone here in Duluth was on the same page after the announcement. Don
Waddell mentioned that he's heading into his new role as interim coach with the
mentality that the team has an 0-0-0 record it's a clean slate. Exelby said more
or less the same thing, stating "We're going to look at it like tomorrow is the
first day of the season."
This team and this company are still committed to winning and to winning this
season. Asked today if the outlook or goals for the Thrashers have changed due
to their start Atlanta Spirit CEO Bernie Mullin was firm.
"Absolutely not. We want to put a winning team on the ice and go deeper into
the playoffs than we did last year."
For that goal to be accomplished the change had to come now. Waiting 10 or 12
games into the season would have been too long. This team is capable of digging
itself out of a hole, but the hole could only get so big before it would be
impossible.
As for the search for a new coach, it begins immediately but don't expect
Waddell to rush it.
"Timetable is less important than finding the right person to coach this
group of players" he said.
When asked how hard it would be to interview candidates while he is on the
road for seven straight games as the interim coach Waddell pointed out that it
might make things easier. The trip includes stops in cities like Toronto,
Chicago, Montreal and Ottawa that are big hockey cities. There are a limited
number of candidates in the Atlanta area so hitting the road might not be such a
bad thing.
If you want to see or hear the full press conference from this afternoon you
can
listen to the audio here or
watch the video here.
