If Bob Hartley thought he had a tough job in Colorado, he should consider the pot of stew he has decided to watch over in Atlanta. Unlike in Colorado, the objective in Atlanta doesn't involve chasing the Stanley Cup so much as it is simply reviving the franchise to the point where it does not become the second NHL team to leave that city.

The NHL is approaching a major intersection with the current CBA set to expire in September 2004. If we are to believe all the talk and posturing, there is a very good chance that the entire financial landscape of the NHL will change, and very likely that will mean a change in the actual location of several franchises.

Ottawa and Buffalo are in obvious trouble, but so are Calgary, Tampa Bay, Nashville and even Atlanta. The warm welcome given the Thrashers when they first arrived in the city has given way to cold empty seats.

And empty seats in a city such as Atlanta don't make for a bright future. After all, it's a city that has trouble warming up to Mike Vick, let alone Ilya Kovalchuk.

The Thrashers are a prime example of a franchise that could be a real threat if the NHL's financial battleground was more even. With a salary cap, the Thrashers would be sitting pretty with rising young stars such as Kovalchuk, and Dany Heatley, and some room to go out and get a reasonably priced free agent.

Atlanta still needs to develop some defensive prospects, and it is assumed Hartley will infuse a more responsible system of play, a situation that might collide with Kovalchuk's style. However, it has been proven in Minnesota that money is better spent on coaching than chasing an unreachable star. Hartley's first task is to stabilize the team. Then, much further down the road, have the team in a position to start thinking like the Avalanche.

It's not impossible. Denver also was once abandoned by an NHL team and got swept up in football with a quarterback as an icon. Now, it's got a hockey team that rules the sports empire in the Rockies.

What the Avalanche and Senators should have in common
In reference to the Avalanche, it might be wise for some NHL executive to draw up a chart of that team's success in relation to its roots (the Quebec Nordiques) -- and then circle the Ottawa Senators.

So, Gary Bettman's goal is to avoid moving a franchise at almost any cost, and search under every carpet to find people who will agree to do just that. However, when you look at the blossoming of hockey in Denver after the Nordiques arrived from Quebec, there is a strong reason to entice a buyer to obtain and move the Senators.

While the Senators have a good on-ice product, the apparent bargain-basement, bankruptcy buy-back plan might not be in the best long-term interest of the team or the league. Like the Nordiques, the Senators are in a small Canadian city. And like the Nordiques, the Senators are a very good team that get over the top by simply adding payroll.

Imagine the Senators moving to Portland or Houston, having some deep pockets in new ownership next season, and then taking a look at free agents and potential free agents the same way the Avalanche viewed players such as Ray Bourque, Ron Blake and even Theo Fleury.

Given that blueprint, the NHL ought to be looking at the Senators as a team with great potential to provide a franchise that serves to enhance the league, rather than a franchise that magnifies the problems.

Rumors Bruin
The Boston Bruins decision to move goalie John Grahame to Tampa Bay created a guessing game of which goalie is going to wind up in Boston tandem with -- or play ahead of -- Steve Shields.

The best guess here is that the Bruins make a deal with Buffalo for Martin Biron very soon, or perhaps later in the season with the Philadelphia Flyers for Roman Cechmanek if Robert Esche continues to play well. Either that, or the Bruins go to old friend Mike Milbury with the Islanders and make a deal in which Rick DiPietro winds up back home in Boston.

Speaking of former Bruins, the Atlanta Thrashers might be advised to simply write off Byron Dafoe for the season. Goalies don't recover from groin injuries in the same season they suffer it.

Al Morganti covers the NHL for ESPN.