Former NHLer Leading A Bid To Bring Hockey Back To American City

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Matt Garland
March 12, 2024 (3:21 PM)

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The Atlanta Thrashers franchise folded in 2011, having lost $130M since 2005. The team was sold to True North Sports and Entertainment and became the Winnipeg Jets. Former NHLer Anson Carter is leading a bid to bring the NHL back to Atlanta.

Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment (ASE) Group, partnered with former NHLer and current broadcaster Aaron Carter, announcing their desire to bring an NHL team back to the Atlanta, Georgia area.

«The ASE Group is a hockey-first ownership team, which will include partners Neil Leibman (Top Tier Sports), Peter Simon (Simon Sports), and Aaron Zeigler (Zeigler Automotive Group), all of whom have a tremendous passion for our sport,»

said Carter through a press release shared by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman today.

Carter expressed his desire to have an NHL team in the current city in which he resides.

«I've lived in Atlanta since 2009,» Carter said. «I have no doubt that the best league in the world will thrive in its return to Metro Atlanta. The ASE Group is a hockey-first ownership team. I have been in dialogue with Commissioner [Gary] Bettman since 2019 about an expansion team returning to the Fulton County Metro Atlanta market.»

Atlanta has already has two teams leave the city. The Atlanta Flames competed in the league from 1972 to 1980 before moving to Calgary. Later, the Atlanta Thrashers competed from 1999 to 2011 before relocating to Winnipeg.

The most recent expansion team was the Seattle Kraken who made their debut during the 2021-22 campaign The expansion fee that Seattle paid was $650 million.