Ex-Atlanta coach gives True North a thrashing

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This article was published 07/07/2011 (5436 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Former Atlanta Thrashers head coach Craig Ramsay doesn’t believe he’s been treated fairly by True North, which bought the NHL team and will move it to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 season.

In an interview with Sportsnet’s Mike Brophy, Ramsay went beyond some of his recent comments about his frustration with the process that saw him interviewed for his old job only to see it go to former Manitoba Moose coach Claude Noel.

Ramsay told Brophy that in the end, he wasn’t disappointed he was replaced, but then he went on a lengthy diatribe about how he wasn’t treated very well by the Winnipeg organization.

“I never got a phone call from the Winnipeg people when they apparently bought the team,” Ramsay told Sportsnet. “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. I think with 40 years in the business you deserve a call from them to let you know where things stand and where they think they are headed.

“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. (General manager) Rick Dudley was at least let go right away so he could go about his business, but you have good people like (assistant coaches) Mike Stothers and John Torchetti and the training staff sitting there waiting for some indication as to what was going on. 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.”

Ramsay, a 60-year-old native of Toronto with a lengthy resumé, is said to be pursuing an assistant coaching opening or two in the NHL. Florida has been mentioned.

Wednesday at Jets headquarters was a quiet day, with no signings or other staffing announcements made.

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