The big news has been finally announced and apparently the owners of the Atlanta Thrashers will not renew general manager's Brian Blake's contract. Although Blake did a superb job in rebuilding the Thrashers, he just couldnt get the team to the next step. His last two seasons he had one of the better rosters in this league but failed to make the playoffs for 4 years straight all though the 1st year it was pure rebuilding.

Brian Blake is one of the few originals left and now there will be one less. A lot of originals are moving on. Even though Blake will not be resigned here in Atlanta, there should be no worries about him getting a job elsewhere. His accomplishments speak for themselves with the gm of the year award he got previously. He has helped this league grow in many ways but the old faces have to be replaced by new ones for further development.

This is how the Thrashers looked like before Brian Blake.


Pro Roster
# Player PO HD CD IJ IT SP ST EN DU DI SK PA PC DF SC EX LD OV
26 Stephen Guolla C L OK 55 62 54 67 76 80 62 70 66 50 65 60 60 67
17 Hnat Domenichelli C L OK 39 65 52 63 75 89 66 70 68 58 67 55 60 67
33 Ray Ferraro C L OK 63 55 57 68 78 55 51 73 66 65 69 85 89 69
10 Patrik Stefan C R OK 40 63 68 78 70 80 66 70 65 52 66 55 50 68
21 Matt Johnson LW L OK 80 49 89 42 63 30 50 59 48 60 53 60 60 63
19 Andrew Brunette LW L OK 65 70 65 74 77 80 70 74 73 60 72 51 51 74
11 Wes Mason LW L OK 45 60 65 70 67 78 58 57 55 41 56 45 50 60
30 Denny Lambert LW L OK 80 53 80 60 76 25 53 56 47 62 55 69 70 64
28 Steve Staios RW R OK 65 45 60 73 73 35 45 58 55 65 58 60 69 62
49 Dean Sylvester RW R OK 50 55 72 70 78 80 55 67 63 60 69 55 60 68
32 Donald Audette RW R OK 56 75 40 75 76 78 75 73 70 60 70 67 69 71
18 Shean Donovan RW R OK 54 55 74 54 82 88 61 62 56 63 58 67 68 66
39 Petr Buzek D L OK 70 60 70 77 73 65 60 67 63 70 63 56 49 71
37 Yannick Tremblay D R OK 55 60 67 53 36 80 60 73 65 60 68 55 60 68
2 Chris Tamer D L OK 70 52 74 50 80 48 55 62 51 69 45 72 73 67
6 Adam Burt D L OK 59 46 67 75 83 68 48 63 58 74 55 75 70 67
4 David Harlock D L OK 50 58 73 76 86 58 59 66 58 72 45 60 60 68
40 Gord Murphy D R OK 58 60 64 69 72 93 60 61 56 70 58 80 82 68
35 Norm Maracle G L OK 63 74 55 63 68 81 70 66 70 NA NA 55 60 65
1 Damian Rhodes G L OK 70 75 67 75 70 93 76 45 83 NA NA 70 71 70
Farm Roster
# Player PO HD CD IJ IT SP ST EN DU DI SK PA PC DF SC EX LD OV
15 Per Svartvadet C L OK 56 60 65 69 72 76 57 60 58 50 62 50 54 64
9 Andreas Karlsson C L OK 51 59 65 70 66 80 54 64 59 55 62 50 40 64
12 Herbert Vasiljevs C R OK 54 59 65 70 65 67 58 60 54 53 59 55 50 63
16 Dan Snyder C L OK 70 58 41 66 53 35 58 51 49 53 50 45 50 57
46 Jarrod Skalde C L OK 65 59 58 70 87 45 59 61 55 47 57 69 65 63
22 Bryan Adams LW L OK 38 60 58 65 58 78 60 56 55 50 53 45 50 59
42 Yves Sarault LW L OK 80 52 67 66 72 35 55 57 57 52 55 66 66 63
3 Sergei Vyshedkevich D L OK 53 60 64 65 60 76 62 63 60 50 60 45 50 64
20 Ruman Ndur D L OK 75 52 75 65 67 38 48 50 48 70 58 60 60 66
51 Frantisek Kaberle D L OK 56 56 65 68 70 69 58 65 58 67 60 55 50 66
41 Daniel Tjarnqvist D L OK 35 57 73 67 70 77 58 50 54 45 50 46 49 58
8 Brett Clark D L OK 36 63 63 66 63 94 63 59 60 44 58 59 55 63
7 Scott Langkow G L OK 65 65 57 67 64 39 65 47 69 NA NA 53 51 60
34 Scott Fankhouser G L OK 65 66 70 76 79 84 66 34 68 NA NA 45 50 62
31 Derek Wilkinson G R OK 55 61 70 82 82 93 56 60 60 NA NA 57 56 59
60 Milan Hnilicka G L OK 67 68 70 75 86 94 68 45 67 NA NA 55 50 64
Jeff Odgers The following are prospects on the Thrashers
Dany Heatley, Stephen Baby, Raymond DiLauro, Garnet Exelby, Samu Isosalo, Carl Mallete, Evan Nielsen, Tommi Santala, Zdenek Blatny, Yuri Dobryshkin, Simon Gamache, David Kaczowka, Mark McRae, Ilja Nikulin, Luke Sellers, Libor Ustrnul, Eric Bowen, Jeff Dwyer, Derek MacKenzie, Matt McRae, Zdenek Smid, Rob Zepp, Joel Irving, Blake Robson, Andrei Skopintsev, Brad Tapper, Tomi Kallio, Brian Pothier, Vladimir Sicak, Mike Weaver, Hugo Boisvert, Darcy Hordichuk,
Sean Ritchlin, Ben Simon, J.P. Vigier, Brian Wesenberg, Dimitri Vlasenkov

That team was turned into what it is now.

Atlanta
General Manager: Brian Blake
Pro Roster
# Player PO HD CD IJ IT SP ST EN DU DI SK PA PC DF SC EX LD OV
14 Patrick Marleau C L OK 68 78 76 77 89 79 78 73 71 68 74 60 62 78
50 Nik Antropov C R OK 75 63 80 73 76 50 65 69 69 63 67 45 50 73
21 Alyn McCauley C L OK 62 70 72 70 70 88 71 74 70 74 72 56 59 75
28 Jason Arnott C R OK 76 70 80 82 84 58 70 73 74 72 74 70 77 79
40 Robert Reichel C L OK 55 70 55 79 88 81 70 75 68 69 66 75 65 72
36 Simon Gagne LW L OK 62 80 67 87 83 79 79 75 73 72 74 57 53 78
15 Dany Heatley LW R OK 69 73 75 78 80 71 76 81 78 74 84 51 55 81
31 Krzysztof Oliwa LW L OK 84 53 86 63 77 26 58 54 55 63 57 63 65 67
27 Martin Rucinsky LW L OK 67 73 71 81 84 70 75 72 70 65 73 75 72 76
7 Jody Shelley LW L OK 85 64 80 75 75 30 60 58 59 61 60 60 66 69
47 Jonas Hoglund RW R OK 55 73 70 83 91 86 73 69 65 69 66 69 67 73
26 Mariusz Czerkawski RW L OK 60 76 70 80 84 74 78 70 73 63 74 70 64 76
41 Tie Domi RW R OK 79 62 75 67 83 32 59 64 63 66 68 76 74 71
20 Petr Sykora RW L OK 62 81 65 87 89 77 78 76 76 67 78 62 67 79
6 Scott Parker RW L OK 74 50 83 64 80 31 51 54 56 63 57 56 55 65
5 Aki Berg D L OK 71 63 75 80 85 69 70 60 59 69 59 59 62 72
30 Andrei Markov D L OK 70 76 73 78 80 84 77 77 72 73 68 56 53 78
25 Bryan McCabe D L OK 79 70 78 85 87 48 70 79 74 77 74 67 76 80
43 Steve Staios D L OK 74 66 70 81 90 51 70 74 68 80 64 58 67 77
22 Roman Hamrlik D L OK 75 79 74 89 88 61 77 75 71 76 64 71 77 79
55 Sergei Gonchar D L OK 68 79 72 87 86 70 79 86 80 74 74 71 70 83
33 Alexander Karpovtsev D R OK 71 65 73 75 71 77 67 63 60 69 57 71 69 72
34 Dan Cloutier G L OK 88 81 82 90 85 85 89 60 89 NA NA 65 75 80
37 Jeff Hackett G L OK 75 86 79 73 74 77 82 73 79 NA NA 75 82 77
23 Mathieu Garon G L OK 75 77 75 69 72 72 70 70 75 NA NA 50 50 70
Farm Roster
# Player PO HD CD IJ IT SP ST EN DU DI SK PA PC DF SC EX LD OV
35 P.J. Stock C L OK 85 56 78 79 84 45 55 54 54 65 55 63 64 67
76 Kris Beech C L OK 60 74 70 74 85 69 66 64 65 60 64 48 42 70
13 Justin Papineau C L OK 57 69 61 66 73 85 65 65 61 60 62 47 35 67
53 Frantisek Skladany C L OK 44 63 56 66 73 65 64 55 54 51 52 36 38 59
42 Alexander Polushin LW L OK 55 56 59 69 69 61 60 59 58 59 63 36 38 64
16 Darcy Hordichuk LW L OK 82 62 79 58 59 26 77 54 54 63 57 47 50 67
51 Yuri Trubachev LW L OK 41 66 54 66 73 69 67 57 52 48 53 39 38 60
81 Chuck Kobasew RW R OK 67 70 69 72 74 58 68 67 67 59 64 40 50 70
58 Adam Mair RW R OK 75 64 68 67 66 43 67 53 56 66 58 48 53 66
45 Adam Hall RW R OK 68 58 76 73 81 74 57 66 67 62 66 45 41 70
19 Brad Tapper RW R OK 69 76 65 71 60 58 75 56 58 65 60 50 40 68
48 Nolan Baumgartner D L OK 54 60 72 75 69 68 66 54 54 60 54 52 55 65
8 Henrik Tallinder D L OK 64 57 79 69 74 77 57 63 63 66 50 48 43 69
17 Wade Belak D R OK 77 52 83 67 80 28 58 55 57 69 52 56 61 69
18 Pavel Skrbek D L OK 61 61 73 71 66 72 64 52 53 64 55 50 56 66
9 Christopher Schubert D L OK 51 59 63 62 70 61 64 48 49 63 45 36 38 61
32 Arturs Irbe G L OK 65 76 69 69 73 77 75 60 74 NA NA 84 77 69
39 Berend Bruckler G L OK 58 63 60 63 77 61 61 48 62 NA NA 39 38 57
Dmitri Vlasenkov, Andy Wozniewski, Ryan Vanbuskirk, Ilja Nikulin, Norm Milley, Nathan Horton, Vojtech Polak, Marcin Kolusz, Jonas Andersson, Gerard Dicaire, Justin Maplesoft, Mathew Spiller, Eugeni Artukhin, Tommi Santala, Tuukka Mantyla, Alexander Frolov, Chris Nielson, Joni Pitkanen, Luke Sellars, Eric Nystrom, Ryan Miller, Derek MacKenzie, Pat Jaret, Dimitri Chernykh, Tony Koivisto, Mark Popovic, Jesse Niinimaki, Konstantin Barulin, David Backes, Artem Kriukov, Peter Hamerlik, Billy Thompson, Andrei Posnov, Richard Petiot, Jay McClement, Nathan Paetsch, Jason Pominville, Igor Phanka, Tomas Slovak, Martin Bartek, Marco Rosa, Lance Monych, Luca Cereda, Tomas Surovy, Andrea Jamtin, Beat Scheiss-Forster, David Leneveu, Duncan Keith, Emanuel Peter, Dominic D'amour, Ole Kristian Tollefson, Jiri Cetkovsky, Maxime Daigneaul, Brad Schell, Denis Loginov, Sean McMorrow, Sean Bergenheim, David Bararuk, Evgeny Gladskikh, Carlo Colaiacovo, Thomas Pihlman, Nikos Tselios, Peter Sykora, Fredrik Johansson, Jay Harrison, Jussi Timonen, Libor Pivko

This was done through hard word, devotion, dedication and love for hockey the team and most of all the league. The passion for this league has died. Few people in this league still share it. It has been a great league for 4 years but its been through a lot.

Brian Blake at the press conference said "I had a great time working for the Atlanta organization, but the best part of all was working in with the league with each single one of you. We had some laughs, we had some tears, as well as some words. But in the end we are all like brothers who love the game with all our hearts. I wish each one of you the best of luck in all your future endeavours. There are some great people that will be missed. I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart, the present gms and all the past gms and everyone who helped out with the league. Special thanks go out to Scott though, for setting up this great league and sweating through it as much as he did. For all the perserverance and dedication and time he put into this league just for us all. SO we can have some fun and enjoy the game we love. A lot of the time his work gets unnoticed but he truely is devoted. God Bless all of You and Rest In Peace Mark.

The Thrashers are now available.

Its pretty long so if you dont want to read it just read the paragraph in bold.

And I am out.

Wow, unbelievable. Best of luck in your future endeavors. It looks as if the league has lost a great one here.

Sad...why are you leavin?

Quite a few reasons to be honest. Biggest reason though is school, but there are other reasons as well. I also think my time has come and want to give an opportunity to someone else to take over the Thrashers. Not making the playoffs again also contributed. There are other factors as well.

Also I have not contributed as much as I usually do this year for some reasons like school, my trip to Europe or the league being slow throughout the year. I felt that I was not contributing when there really wasnt much I could have contributed anyways.

The league will definitely miss ya...I haven't chatted with ya much personally in my short time here, but you've assembled an awesome team & obviously been an asset to the league!

You could have at least of had the Thrashers available when I joined...lol... ;)

Seriously, great team though, but it's tough for the league to lose valuable members if we're gonna keep her goin' strong!

Best of Luck!

Brian...DO what you must and I am sure the door will always be open.

Be cool eh!

And so ends another era. And now.... the Bruins - Trashers :P games, will not be the same.

O, btw Brian.... you had a team of pussies. The Bruins where the toughest team in the league... by far! :P

Sorry to see you leave Brian! Another great one soon to be added to the CTCHL HOF.

You'll be missed man! All the best, keep in touch.

Good Luck in the Future. You will be missed

Wow, what a shock... well, you gotta do what you gotta do, good luck with everything, even in my short time here I know you've meant a lot to the league, you'll be missed.

I knew this was coming..

wont be the same without u man

this league just keeps taking a beating..

miss you already brian... good luck with the future.. keep in contact with us too!!

peace..

kyle

Best of Luck Brian! The Oilers organization appreciates everything you have done for them.

D. Foiles

Brian, I guess you are coming to the retirement home with Mathias and I? :lol:

You truly did build a great looking organization in Atlanta and I know how hard it can be to leave a team you have spent so much time building but sometimes you just have to move on I think.

Anyways I hope a good GM takes over the reigns in ATL.

Wow, this wasnt the news i wanted to hear But you got to do what is more important. Good Luck in everything. Keep in touch on the board. How many original Gm's do we have left?

GoodLuck Brian, Hopefully we will see you on the board once in awhile like a couple of other deadbeats I know..............ah I mean Greg and Mathias...........did I jus say the deadbeat thing out loud.................. :unsure:

I will stick around help Scott out as well with the league (if he wants me to), but my days as a gm here are done. And thank you all for all your kind words.

Good question... I don't even remember who's been here since Day 1, it's been so long! hehe

umm... scott, jan, jason (cgy), me, joe, jason (ott?), sean, ray

.. who am i missing?

I dont think Dom was here from the beginning since Montreal has gone through like 10 gms.

A, man. Who the f**k did write the nice words? Come on, you stupid people... gargh Its Brian we are talking about here. There is no need for nice words... :angry:

Well I for one labeled him along with you and Greg............A DEADBEAT!!! :o

I saw that, and I applaude you for that. Finally a voice of reason here.

noo..another leaf fan is gone...

good luck brian

a hall of famer... good luck m8.. see you soon

Dont worry guys. Ill still be around just not as a gm.

Sad to see you leave, but you were a top GM while here and i wish you all the best in the future. Good Luck.