10 Reasons Ron Wilson Should Come to Atlanta

1. A nine-letter word that begins and ends in "K." Wilson has never worked with a goal-scorer of this stature before; Bondra in his Washington Capitals heyday might come close, but I think even he falls short of our glorious Czar.

2. Toby Enstrom. He had an insanely impressive first year and he is set to become one of the league's finest defensemen. Case in point: in his rookie year Toby racked up the same number of points as Wade Redden (more on him later).

3. Goalies. Ronnie loves to challenge and develop goalies. With a few tweaks here and there he'll lead Kari to Nabokov-like results. He'll likely achieve this by frightening our Kari with the prospect of an Ondrej Pavelec takeover, goading him into greatness. This is known as the "light a fire under the goalie's ass strategy."

4. Eric Perrin. He seems tailor-made for Ron Wilson. He's fast, versatile, excellent on the penalty kill, and he fights for the puck. Ron would love him.

5. The Thrashers are GOING to land a top defenseman to play alongside Toby (and Brooks Orpik!) next year. Mark Streit, Brian Campbell, Wade Redden--all awesome, all available. We have to sign ONE of them, surely. As well as Brooks Orpik, of course.

6. Ron is a USA Hockey guy. Don Waddell is a USA Hockey guy. Atlanta is located in the USA.

7. Speaking of Atlanta, the Thrashers are a newer sunbelt franchise in a non-traditional market. Ron Wilson has ONLY ever worked with these sorts of teams: Anaheim, Washington, San Jose...

8. Related to Reason 7: He hates the Canadian hockey press. The Thrashers are WELL below the Canadian border and our star player if a Russian that frightens many of our hockey comrades to the north.

9. Atlanta is near his home in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

10. Atlanta is a much more exciting place than San Jose (though you are near San Francisco there), Anaheim (though you are near L.A.), and Washington (I've lived there, I can attest; if you're not a lobbyist or an intern DC is a slightly sterile place to live).


Please, Ron. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase.