The Atlanta Thrashers hired Craig Ramsay as their fifth-ever head coach June 24. Throughout his playing and coaching career, he has been the epitome of perseverance and consistency.

At one point during his NHL career, Ramsay played in 776 straight games. For eight consecutive seasons, the former Buffalo Sabres forward scored 20 goals or more, which is quite a feat for a guy better know for his defensive prowess and whose primary role was to shut down opponents’ top lines. During several seasons, the Sabres checking line of Don Luce, Danny Gare and Ramsay scored more than 90 goals

Ramsay won the Selke Trophy in 1985 as the NHL's most accomplished defensive forward, was runner-up for the award on three other occasions, and his career plus/minus rating was + 326. In 1,070 NHL games spanning 14 seasons, Ramsay had just 201 penalty minutes.

Former roommate Rick Dudley, now the Thrashers general manager, hired Ramsay because of the latter’s ability to instruct young players on the nuances of the game.

“I don't think there is a better teacher in the game. We think we have some inordinately talented people here and we want him working with them,” Dudley said recently.

As an assistant coach for the past eight seasons with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia, and previously for Ottawa, Florida and Buffalo, Ramsay has been out of the public spotlight for most of his coaching career, toiling anonymously behind the bench. He had brief head coaching experiences in Buffalo and Philadelphia, both times replacing NHL legends, Scotty Bowman and Roger Neilson. In each instance, he was replaced by successors, Ted Sator and Bill Barber, who had little success.

Commentary: Investing in this class of unrestricted free agents is a reach!

According to NHL attendance figures displayed on ESPN.com, there are 11 teams in the National Hockey League who sorely need a boost at the ticket window.

Those are the teams who are drew less than 90 percent capacity in their home arenas during this past season. As we embark on the free agency madness at Noon today, it seems that few unrestricted free agents will even remotely impact ticket sales in those 11 cities. There are a few notable exceptions to that rule. So, the question that begs a qualified answer is what players can make the desired impact at the ticket window for the following teams:  Anaheim, Atlanta, Carolina, Colorado, Columbus, Florida, Nashville, New Jersey, New York Islanders, Phoenix or Tampa Bay?

I heard a report this morning that said the NBA's Knicks and Nets have sold more than a thousand new season tickets with the expectation that those teams will make a big free agent acquisition. Of course, the NBA is in a rare position this year where several of its top stars can seek new addresses. In the NHL, the ultimate team game with typically 18 active participants on the ice each game, star power doesn't necessarily equate to wins or spikes in attendance. And, from a business perspective, that makes offering long-term contracts at garish annual salaries a huge gamble for NHL teams that draw less than 16,000 fans per game.

Playing for a contract?

It has often been said that when the contracts of some NHL players are scheduled to expire (on June 30) after the season concludes, that their on-ice performance during the regular season and playoffs (if applicable) is often enhanced because they know a strong performance can lead to millions.

Players recognize that individual statistics and leading their teams deep in the playoffs can yield dividends in their upcoming contract negotiations and some seem to play their best before signing their next contract, rather than after they have signed.

SportsSoutheast tracked certain soon-to-be free agents during the past three seasons to see if they performed better in their "contract year" or the year after they signed their free agent contract.

In some cases, those results were striking, mystifying or downright deplorable. This year, there are several unrestricted free agents coming off "career" years or those that might be considered anomalies. See the "Buyer Beware" list below.

Statistics don't always demonstrate the true value of what a player brings to a certain team, but some provide a good inkling. We'll let you decide which players can be considered a good value.

Virginia’s prime hunting, fishing and golf retreat

Donald Steel. The name doesn’t ring a bell to most golfers in the U.S. He has built just four courses in America. But Steel is about as good as it gets when it comes to golf course design – on par with the likes of Nicklaus, Fazio and Dye.

In addition to building 70 courses in more than 20 countries, St. Andrews regularly picks Steel’s brain, he’s the only person who has advised every course in the United Kingdom that has staged the British Open. This 69-year-old from the same hometown as legendary architect Donald Ross had seen just about everything. Until in 2000 he was given a 14,000-acre tract of land in the mountains of southwest Virginia and asked by the Primwest Group in Switzerland to build a golf course. Steel’s eyes must have been as wide as golf holes.

The Pit and Tobacco Road: Sandy Graveyards for Sandhills Golfers

Word that the USGA will stage its two major championships in consecutive weeks on Pinehurst No. 2 surely stoked the phones of vacation planners in the Cradle of American Golf. But why wait until 2014 to pack the clubs and visor in the car and make a trek to the North Carolina Sandhills for some of the nation’s best golf has to offer?

And while logging a round on No. 2 is a notch on the belt of “places I’ve played” and back-home fodder for envious buddies, we at SportsSoutheast.com are here to recommend two unique public layouts that take the word “sand” in Sandhills to a whole other level.

Tobacco Road and The Pit each have a history to tell as colorful as this area, where an estimated 20 million years ago ancient beach dunes were formed to create an abundance of sandy soil about an hour southeast of Raleigh.

Dan Maples, son of legendary golf architect Ellis Maples, designed The Pit in 1984 from land that was once a thriving sand mine. Thirteen years later and some 25 miles north, maverick architect Mike Strantz accomplished another striking sandy layout at Tobacco Road. These two courses are unlike any others in the area, and are as diverse as any you’ll play in your lifetime.

Versatility is valuable in the NHL's salary cap era

NHL general managers seeking key pieces of the puzzle for their 2010-11 rosters could be left scratching their heads as July 1's unrestricted free agent market opens for business. Since the return from the lockout, NHL rosters have gotten younger and a wide chasm between the top-5 skaters on each roster and the last five players to make a team has never been more pronounced. Most general managers are left searching for "middle-class" players who won't break the bank but can contribute in many ways.

An example of the type of versatility GMs are searching for is the style of Thrashers' center Marty Reasoner. Last season, the Boston College product from Honeoye Falls, N.Y., had just 17 points playing on the third and fourth lines but was the team's top penalty killer. Those roles seem a bit incongruous for a guy who scored 33 goals and added 40 assists in 42 games during his final year at BC before turning pro, when he led the nation in scoring and was named Hockey East tournament MVP and first-team Hockey East.

For veterans who aren’t getting top-line minutes, they need to be versatile — and in this era of specialists in all sports — that commodity is getting tougher to find.

“What makes you valuable and keeps you valuable is that you are able to do different things and do them well,” the 33-year-old Reasoner told SportsSoutheast. “One of the things that was said to me at the beginning of last year was the fact that we did feel like we had more depth, and my role was going to change as far as what they expected from me. The year before I was given a little bit more of an opportunity to play more consistent five-on-five minutes, which in turn led to more scoring chances, which leads to better numbers. It was different this past year because I was put into a different role.”