The unseen reality of pro hockey is that it is a highly unstable profession.
In Winnipeg, 15 years after the Jets departed, it’s an emotional Mardi Gras for hockey fans there as the Atlanta Thrashers have been purchased by True North Sports and Entertainment who fully intend to shift the franchise from Georgia to Manitoba as soon as June 21st.
Great for Winnipeg !!!
But what of those who worked for the franchise in Atlanta ?
When the Thrashers shuffle started to work towards reality, I immediately thought of former Attack coach Mike Stothers, an assistant coach with the Thrashers.
Stothers is a hockey-lifer, and as such, wouldn’t have it or wouldn’t want it any other way- hockey is what he wants to do, it’s where he wants to be, wherever that happens to be.
As a player with the Flyers and Leafs, then as a coach in Philly at both levels, later with the Attack here, on to the Red Wings organization and then back to the NHL with Atlanta, Stothers has had a somewhat nomadic professional life, with multiple periods of employment instability.
But Mike Stothers understands the nature of the game. In fact, he knows it too well, saying coaching is an hour to hour proposition, and this is just the latest episode in uncertainty.
If the Winnipeg franchise adopts the existing coaching structure from Atlanta, you can bet Mike Stothers will be half way across Ontario before the completion of the phone call.
If not ?
Well, there will likely be something, somewhere where Stothers can ply his coaching trade, even if it involves dealing with the perpetual uncertainty of being in professional hockey.
I’m Fred Wallace