Last Year's Rank: 70
Title Track: 114
Ownership: 120
Coaching: 81
Players: 99
Fan Relations: 98
Affordability: 91
Stadium Experience: 85
Bang for the Buck: 94
Every downturn needs a scapegoat. For the woeful Thrashers, who fight to escape the bottom of the East and who rank third-worst of all franchises in Ownership (second-worst overall among NHL teams), the sacrificial victim is GM Don Waddell. As fan member sc1259 wrote on nastynest.net: "I don't get it. He should have been gone long ago, and delaying the process is only killing us even more… Waddell is the constant throughout this whole failure. He needs to be axed..........NOW!!!" You can understand the frustration. The only marketing chip this mediocre (35–41–6) club has had in years ("Come out and watch the amaaaaazing Ilya Kovalchuk!") is entering his walk year and will probably be dealt, unless management signs him to a new deal. Even the new jersey unveiled last season rivals The Love Guru as the worst hockey-related product of the past few years. When asked, Thrashers PR refused to turn over sales numbers, saying instead that the traditional design was still available to enjoy. Sort of what another Atlanta-based institution said when asked about New Coke.