Willi Plett, who spent five seasons playing in the Atlanta Flames organization before the franchise moved to Calgary in 1980, spoke with the Calgary Herald about the very possible Atlanta Thrashers move to Winnipeg. Plett owns a Roswell landscaping company and used to operate a driving range in Woodstock; he says he likes to catch a Thrashers game at Philips once per week or so with his sons.
On whether he's surprised by the team's potential move, Plett commented:
It doesn't SURPRISE me. That's not the word. Not really. Considering the team hasn't really had any real success, I don't think anyone's 'surprised' by the speculation we're hearing. When you make the playoffs once in 11 years it's just, well . . . hard. Anywhere. But especially here in the south. You need some success to draw people, to get them excited. It'd certainly be a black eye on the city, if the team moves again.
Elsewhere around Calgary, Matchsticks And Gasoline -- SB Nation's Calgary Flames community -- has been confident for weeks that the Thrashers are headed to Canada. Though we vigorously question their odd theory that hockey can't succeed in Atlanta because Atlantans are too poor, it's still interesting to see what fans of Atlanta's original NHL team think of the current one's standing.