Winnipeg-Bound. With the purchase by True North, the Atlanta Thrashers are no more, and the city of Atlanta can finally focus on the Atlanta Hawks and not ruin something good that is the NHL. Theres a lot to do for True North and for the old Thrashers players, office members and what will the fans do? With the deal going down as I write this, Winnipeg picks 7th overall at the draft in a month. The first time we will see the new team on TV. Will they have a logo or even a jersey to give to the players they select in the draft? That will be interesting to see the identity of the new team. Theres also the problem with the divisions, what becomes of them? What division do the Thrashers go in? Will that force another team to move divisions? What team is heading East? Big Frame brought this up in an earlier topic. Detroit to the East? Nashville to the East? Columbus to the East? Right now those are two questions I have, hopefully they will be answered shortly. Update: Icetheitcs posted a blog recently basically saying what I said and a bit more. No news on a name and that Winnipeg has the 7th pick overall. He also mentioned that the Board of Governors needs to approve this at their next meeting on June 21st. He then goes on to say that the team is staying in the Southeast division for this season, realignment will occur next season. If thats true then wow. Heres a fancy MAP of the new NHL. Update: NHL.com released a state by the AHL regarding the Manitoba Moose. Another quest is, will the Wolves still be the teams AHL affliate? Will where the Moose go?
Re: Winnipeg-Bound. If thats not the name, and the logo aint close to that, then why even go to Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada?
Re: Winnipeg-Bound. Are they even allowed to use the name? They should keep the colors, or something similar to it.
Re: Winnipeg-Bound. The NHL owns the name (Due to them owning the Yotes) and with them pushing the "History Will Be Made" Why wouldn't they let them be named the Jets?
Re: Winnipeg-Bound. Good for them, Atlanta should have never had a team in the first place, and neither should phoenix
Re: Winnipeg-Bound. I did not know that. It would be nice if they named them the Jets. I'm going to make some jersey concepts, I'll post them here when I get around to it.
Thrashers headed to Winnipeg True North Sports and Entertainment has completed its deal to purchase the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers, clearing the way to move them to Winnipeg. True North announced the deal at a news conference Tuesday at MTS Centre in Winnipeg, the arena the team will call home next season, pending league approval. The deal bringing the NHL back to Manitoba is worth $170 million, including a $60 million relocation fee that will be split by the rest of the league, a source told ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun. "It's nice to be back in Winnipeg after all these years," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who attended the news conference. Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6610414
Re: Winnipeg-Bound. Merged TBF's post with mine. To answer his poll, I say they succeed in Winnipeg. The fans their actually like hockey.
Makes sense. Travel is easy these days with private jets and all. It is difficult to build a rivalry with teams so far away so it is good they will realign later. The team will be supported well for a few years at least but not many pros want to play in The Peg (or Deadmonton, for that matter). They will have to rely on draft picks and young players who are just happy to be in the NHL making money.
