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Former Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay rips Winnipeg Jets owners for not reaching out to him

Craig Ramsay

Atlanta Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay sets up a play during a timeout in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010. The Penguins won 3-2. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

AP

Parting is often such sweet sorrow, as the saying goes, but the way things have gone since True North bought the Atlanta Thrashers have been less-than amiable for former head coach Craig Ramsay.

Ramsay, who was just hired as an assistant to Kevin Dineen with the Florida Panthers on Wednesday, was asked about how things went with the Thrashers after True North purchased the team and things clearly did not go so well. While GM Kevin Cheveldayoff did his part to reach out to Ramsay and interview him for the head coaching position (a job Claude Noel eventually landed), the ownership apparently weren’t as forthcoming with him.

The Winnipeg Sun gets the word from Ramsay about how things broke down once the Thrashers were sold off.

“I never got a phone call from the Winnipeg people when they apparently bought the team,” Ramsay, who lost out on the Winnipeg job when Claude Noel was hired, told Brophy. “None of us did. There are always three choices: ‘We want you; we don’t want you or we really don’t know at this point because we don’t have a general manager in place.’ At least then the communication is open and you’ve spoken to the (new owners) and that didn’t happen. It’s disappointing.

“The fact that they dragged it out meant there were jobs that were going by the wayside while we were under the assumption that perhaps Winnipeg was interested in bringing our group along. It was a month or more just sitting by the phone waiting for things to happen while you are under obligation not to talk to other teams because of tampering charges. When Kevin Cheveldayoff got the (GM) job he at least called right away. Other than that we were just sitting there and waiting and that’s not fair.”


The lack of communication Ramsay talks about kept him from being able to interview for open head coaching jobs that became available after the season was over. While there’s still one more opening left in New Jersey, Ramsay either wasn’t under consideration or jumped at the chance to be an assistant in Florida.

After True North decided to let former GM Rick Dudley walk away that had to Ramsay’s biggest sign that his job wasn’t likely to remain in Winnipeg. Of course at that point he was still waiting to hear what was going to happen next. It looks poorly upon the Winnipeg owners to not even reach out to Ramsay, but unfortunately when new owners come in these things have been known to happen.

At the very least, Ramsay will get a chance to help the rebuilt Panthers climb to respectability in the Southeast Division and if all things go right, he can help the Panthers keep the Jets down as they’ll be divisional foes for just this season.

Hmm... Wonder if there will be any money on the board in the locker room for those games?