So wrong it had to be right

Hartley, Thrashers face uphill climb to respectability

When Bob Hartley took over the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday he kept reminding everyone that he had really wanted the job because it was "the right situation, and I was only going to come back to coaching when the right situation presented itself."

Given that the 3 1/2-year-old Thrashers have to this point compiled a lifetime record of 68-174-32-15, and that they are in the familiar position of being dead last in the NHL, having surrendered an off-the-charts horrible 163 goals, it's hard to imagine what would be the wrong situation for coach Hartley. The Bad News Bears without Kelly Leak and Amanda?

Yet Hartley, who was signed to a multiyear deal, has a point. The Thrashers, after all, have nowhere to go but up. They have the two franchise-caliber young forwards (Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk) and, with the Nov. 22 acquisition of Byron Dafoe, the first frontline goalie in franchise history. "When they signed Dafoe, it was a message to me that this team wanted to win," said Hartley, who was coaching the Avalanche at the time of the deal.

The Dafoe signing also showed that general manager Don Waddell recognizes that the Thrashers honeymoon -- and his honeymoon as well -- is nearing an end. Other recent expansion teams (the Wild, especially; the Blue Jackets, too) have taken far shorter routes to success without compromising their futures. Waddell's work is coming under greater scrutiny with each fruitless season, and the Thrashers desperately need to raise both their visibility and their attendance. They need to start winning.

"We're not saying we have to win 10 in a row," Waddell said. "But we hired Bob because we thought he was the man who could take us to the next level."

Thus far the Thrashers have maintained commendable patience throughout their early years -- that patience explains why former coach Curt Fraser lasted as long as he did. Waddell has assembled a young team that he believes is underachieving and ripe for direction. Casting his lot with Hartley, who took Colorado to four Western Conference finals, isn't a bad risk. Hartley does his best work nurturing young players and, as Waddell noted, "is organized and can bring some structure to the team."

Hartley is also committed. He had barely been out of work three weeks when he called Waddell last week to inquire about the coaching position. Hartley didn't need the job -- he would continue to receive his paycheck from the Avalanche through the end of the year -- but being idle didn't sit well with him. "I felt like a shepherd who'd lost his sheep," Hartley said. "[The time off] gave me time to reflect."

That was after THREE WEEKS, mind you. Most coaches (see Ron Wilson, Ken Hitchcock, Pat Burns) need at least a few months refraction period, but 100 Days of Solitude isn't Hartley's speed. He still feels thankful every morning that he left his Ontario factory job for the hockey coaching ranks (in the mid-1980s), and he's not a man to let opportunity pass. He saw the Thrashers job as a "challenge that I wanted to add to my resume. I want to bring this team to the playoffs."

Hartley knows the history of this team. He knows that losing has long since gotten old in Atlanta. He knows he's going to need a few new bodies on defense and a run of good luck on the medical table (can Dafoe stay healthy?) to even begin to turn the Thrashers around. For all his grand plans, Hartley offers this caution. "I'm not the miracle guy here in Atlanta," he says.

His general manager, however, hopes that he is.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy takes sides every Wednesday at CNNSI.com.

 

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