It only looks that way superficially, but when you read up on the whole story, it's far more complicated.
The last ownership of the Thrashers bought the team as part of a package with the arena and the NBA Hawks. They quickly soured on the Thrashers as, no joke, they came to the conclusion that the Thrashers were taking away too many white fans from the Hawks, which made the Hawks fanbase blacker. They essentially evicted their own team from the arena for that reason.
The first version of the team was done in by a really horrible arena and a huge offer, at the time, from oil barons in Calgary.
Both versions did have attendance problems, but nothing insurmountable with the right ownership, management and arena. Both versions were middling-to-bad the entire time they existed. The Lightning, Stars, Sharks, Predators, and Ducks are all testament to what happens in a non-traditional market when you have the right ownership, good management, and a good arena situation. The Thrashers, Hurricanes, Panthers, and Coyotes are all examples of what happens when you don't have those things.
I do think we're going to end up at 34 teams eventually. If the owner is there, Atlanta will be in the mix.