On May 31th, 2011, True North Sports and Entertainment announced they had signed a deal to move the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg.
The sale of the team will not be official until the Board of Governors Meeting on June 21st, though True North has the support of the executive committee. Bill Daly, Deputy Commissioner of the league, has been quoted saying he believes the vote will be unanimous in favour of the move.
The former occupants of the MTS centre in downtown Winnipeg, the Manitoba Moose, are on the way to St. John’s, Newfoundland. They will serve as the AHL affiliate for the NHL team in Winnipeg. The Moose were previously affiliated with the Vancouver Canucks, who will now likely opt for the Chicago Wolves-the farm team of the Atlanta Thrashers before the franchise relocation. There is talk that the team will have to change its name upon moving to Newfoundland due to the almost-daily news reports of moose injuring and killing people in the province.
Speaking of team names, True North will likely announce on June 24th what the team in Winnipeg will be called, though it will definitely not be the Thrashers. There is obvious support in Winnipeg to have the team renamed the Jets after the team that existed from 1979 to 1996. Another name suggested is the Falcons, in honour of the first Canadian team to win an Olympic gold medal, the Winnipeg Falcons.
Winnipeg will have the 7th overall pick in the NHL draft taking place in St. Paul Minnesota June 24th and 25th. The 7th ranked player among North American skaters is Sven Baertschi of the Portland Pirates, according to Central Scouting Rankings.
Winnipeg has a few things left to check off of their to-do list, like hire a head coach, though Minnesota, New Jersey, Dallas and Ottawa are also on the hunt. There are many things for the new franchise to accomplish in this short offseason and the NHL is not going to wait for them. One of the names that have been brought up in the coaching discussion is TSN hockey analyst and former Edmonton Oilers Coach Craig MacTavish. Kevin Cheveldayoff, former senior director of hockey operations for the Chicago Blackhawks will be the GM for the team. True North informed Rick Dudley, the Atlanta general manager, that he would not be brought to Winnipeg. Cheveldayoff was chosen in the first round in 1988 by the New York Islanders, but injuries prevented him from ever reaching the NHL.
According to True North Sports group, hockey fans in Winnipeg managed to buy all 13,000 season tickets within 4 minutes of them becoming available for general sale. 7,158 tickets were sold to corporate advertising clients and former Manitoba Moose ticket holders during the pre-sale. The remaining 5,842 were purchased online the next day. In addition to this, an official waiting list of 8,000 was filled up just 90 minutes after the public sale began. This is an incredible display of support for the team in Winnipeg and evidence that a passion for hockey has existed in this city for quite some time.
Maybe with a seventh team, Canada will have a better chance of bringing home the cup. With the Canuck’s heartbreaking 4-0 loss last Wednesday night Canada’s cup drought continues since the 1992-93 Montreal Canadiens.
Winnipeg Jets Fan
Gotta say my vote is for the Winnipeg Jets. Like my name says I'm a long time fan. I have this feeling the team name would have been something else about 3 weeks ago. But this town is pumped about the Jets and the longer they wait the more people are screaming for the Jets. My guess is the announcement will be made tomorrow at the Draft. Go Jets Go.