After an interview with Illegal Curve and various and sundry other interviews that left Thrashers fans dismayed at his level of dedication to the city, goaltender Chris Mason is following in Chris Thorburn’s footsteps and stating that ownership isn’t behind the team.
In a blog post by Chris Vivlamore of the AJC, Mason says that he feels like there’s support in Atlanta and that the owners never really gave anyone a shot.
Mason, a Red Deer, Alberta native, said he would like to experience playing in a Canadian market, but not at the expense of Atlanta.
Mason said he did not feel Thrashers ownership was 100 percent behind the franchise. He cites how the team responded at the trade deadline as it made a push for the playoffs.
“I don’t think we were given a legitimate chance,” Mason said. “We made a couple of good moves for [Radek Dvorak] and [Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart] at the deadline. But it wasn’t enough. We were such a young team. It’s hard to make the playoffs. We believed we could win but sometimes you need someone who can score an extra goal or two or help on the power play. Our management was hampered by budget. It’s still hard to make the playoffs even if you have the money to spend. When you don’t have it, it’s even harder. You see it every year. Good teams don’t make the playoffs. A couple of more pieces and we could have been in.”
I guess Mason has a different script for Vivlamore than he does for the nice folks at TSN or IC, where he practically sold the team to the good people of Winnipeg.
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