the 4th star

The blame game continued south of the border regarding the Pacman Jones tornado that touched down in Winnipeg this week. Here’s Jim Trotter, the man who broke the Jones to the Blue Bombers story on the Sports Illustrated website, with some comments from Jones’ co-agent, Jason Fletcher:

“We exchanged several contract proposals with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and I feel this opportunity won’t materialize because of the media frenzy that took place. It was nothing that I did wrong or my client did wrong. The media was not as friendly as the team thought they would be. A lot of people were just attacking the situation and attacking Adam and his past; that’s why I believe they reneged on their offer.”

Those terrible media people. Bringing up a player’s extremely sketchy past and then offering fair comment on it, with some wondering if he could play anymore and if the Blue Bombers needed the potential headache and public relations timebomb. How dare they do their jobs.

Someone should really control those guys.

This past summer has been all about the money. There was the unrestricted free agent *frenzy.* That was around the same time the Phoenix Coyotes financial problems came into the spotlight, when BlackBerry billionaire Jim Balsillie threw his two cents into the fray and the league kept talking out of both sides of its mouth. You know, the place they seem reluctant to put their money in.

Screwed up contracts — both legitimate Chicago fuck-ups and the over-spending variety — became commonplace, and some players decided to gamble on the bigger payday in Russia. Terms like “escrow” and “cap numbers” came to be a part of the conversation, too. Then there was even more change — and even less sense — from Patrick Kane, who allegedly tag-teamed a Buffalo cab driver with his cousin over 20 cents.

It seems talk of climbing out of this recession has put money on the mind and our mind on the money, so in the spirit of cash, let’s take a look at all 21 teams 30 teams as training camps get set to fire up this month. Like most financial ventures, some teams will offer a greater return than others.

Atlanta Thrashers

Southeast Division
2008-09 record: 35-41-6, fourth in the division, 13th in the conference
Cap space: $14.328 million

Tip sheet:
The Thrashers have qualified for the post season just once…Things haven’t really gone well since their opening entry draft, where they selected Patrick Stefan first overall. The club’s second pick? Some guy named Luke Sellars (30th overall)…Marian Hossa holds the club record for points in a season (100 points, 2006-07).

Fun fact:
2009 first round pick Evander Kane (4th overall) is named after Evander Holyfield.

You should really invest in this club because…
Kane. Unless something happens with Ilya Kovalchuk’s approaching unrestricted free agent status, the rookie is the only bright spot here. A sad prospect for Atlanta fans.

The bottom will fall out because…
Kovalchuk. All signs point to him walking after this year, so the Thrashers will have no choice but to deal the 50-goal man and franchise player. Could be the beginning of the end for the Thrashers in Atlanta.

Key acquisition:
A tie between forward Nik Antropov (free agent) and defenceman Pavel Kubina (trade). Ugh.

Bottom line:
At least the Islanders and Lightning have some hope to cling to.