Dan Snyder's Legacy: 10 Years Later

((HT: Hockey Night In Canada))

The HQ will stipulate, openly, that we follow the puck- regardless of level and geography...

And the HQ's home base that had the Atlanta Thrashers was ground zero for a lot of story-telling in the team's history. It involved weddings, firings, trades that stunned, and drafts that even stunned more...

It also involved, sadly, a death...and those kinds of phone calls that you get alerting you to those stories leave you with a pit in your stomach...

Dany Heatley was driving home from a local bar with teammate Dan Snyder in the passenger seat of his Ferrari in October of 2003. On a very curly, two-lane road with dips in elevation, Heatley crashed the car and the accident took Snyder's life...

The HQ covered the subsequent trial and how Snyder family has carried on from here...

And Graham and LuAnn have done so nobly...

HNIC caught up with them and the Snyder family's efforts over the weekend...


Few rival the people who the Snyders are as a family...
And we doubt many we come across will...

Developing: Ilya Kovalchuk Retires and Moves to Russia

Really?

Just 2-years after signing a somewhat controversial 15-year, $100 million contract with the New Jersey Devils, star forward Ilya Kovalchuk has decided to walk away from hockey.

Or at least the NHL.

Kovlachuk, who came to the Devils after beginning his NHL career 11-years ago with the now defunct Atlanta Thrashers is...or was considered one of hockey's elite snipers.

Kovy is also fairly recently married and released a statement saying "This decision was something I have thought about for a long time going back to the lockout and spending the year in Russia" Though I decided to return this past season, Lou was aware of my desire to go back home and have my family there with me. The most difficult thing for me is to leave the New Jersey Devils, a great organization that I have a lot of respect for, and our fans that have been great to me"

The "Lou" he referred to in his statement would be Devils GM Lou Lamoriello who now has to fill a vital roster spot without the benefit of a 1st round pick. That pick would be this upcoming season as the Devils had to forfeit the pick as a penalty for the original long-term contract they tried to sign Kovalchuk to. The NHL did not like the arrangement and imposed heavy penalties on the team.

There are rumors Kovalchuk may end up playing in the KHL, which pays on a par with the NHL, even if the talent level at times is not quite the same.

We covered Kovalchuk during his stint in Atlanta and found him to be quite a fascinating person to talk to. Although rumored to be a bit aloof, we found him as he got older to be a very engaging thoughtful and self-aware person to talk to.

We wish him the best. Though we don't think Devils fans will be quite so understanding.

So, You REALLY Wanna Know, Atlanta Spirit...??? Really...???

((HT: AJC/Schultz))

Sarge, completely, gets the credit for this...
But the HQ felt compelled to share...

The folks over at the Alexander Babbage PR firm are asking for people to respond to what they call a "fan pulse" survey... wait for it...

The first five questions are relatively harmless, but the sixth question is one of those "from a scale of 1 to 5" things...

Using a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 means "Not at all interested, I never follow" and 5 means "Very interested, I always follow," please rate your level of interest in the following.

How interested are you in the:

Sports in general
The sport of basketball
NBA overall
NBA lockout news
Atlanta Hawks front office news
Atlanta Hawks game performance/stats
News about Hawks ownership
News about the sale of the Thrashers
Non-sporting events at Philips Arena

Really...??? really...
Yup... they went there...

Here's what a lot of folks think about that question...
Exhibit 1...
((HT: JHendrix70/Sportsnet))


Exhibit 2...
((HT: JHendrix70/WXIA-TV))


Hubris is an amazing thing...

Spirit Still Hasn't Returned 2011 Ticket Deposits

((HT: WSB-TV Atlanta))

Consumer investigator Jim Strickland was thrust into the middle of a story that, some wished, already had an ending...

The HQ knows that, hopefully, the folks at True North Sports and Entertainment will give the team formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers a good home. But the ownership group that sold the franchise, Atlanta Spirit (a group lacking in representation of both), is apparently holding season ticket deposits as long as they can...

From the WSB report:
Strickland also discovered the team's former owners, Atlanta Spirit LLC, haven't posted an update on the Web for weeks.

According to the website, before fans can get a 100 percent refund for next season, the NHL governors still need to approve the sale.

That happened nearly a month ago.

June 21st, to be accurate...
Remember...??? Apparently, Spirit has conveniently...
((HT: Sun News Network/JHendrix70))


The rationale is easy to figure- other than the major idea that the ownership group is looking to grab any kind of interest-bearing payment they can to improve their bottom line- which, really, is business...

Plain business... it's selfish, boorish, and completely unprofessional in a market where the NBA franchise is still owned by what's left of their coffeurs...

But it's business...

The HQ gets it... but any kind emotional capital they thought they had left (which, really, wasn't much) may be out the window...

Enjoy that lockout... which, being business, will mean Spirit won't have to spend any money on any level...