Atlanta to Winnipeg is done.

[leaffan]

Woke up to see twitter just blazing this morning with the news. All that needs to be done now is the nhl is negotiating the moving costs and such but it looks like the team is on the move.

Thanks to Atlanta for supplying hockey teams to western canada since 1980.

 

[Senser81]

What is the Winnipeg franchise going to be called? Thrashers? Jets? Flames?

 

[NAHSTE]

Oddly I don't feel any sadness. Glad they'll finally have a good home. Now I can move on with my NHL fanhood.

Free agent here, now accepting bandwagon bids.

 

[Dan The Man]

Bout to buy a bunch of Thrashers merch and sell it as "retro" in 10 years.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

Oddly I don't feel any sadness. Glad they'll finally have a good home. Now I can move on with my NHL fanhood.

Free agent here, now accepting bandwagon bids.

Nashville probably, or any other team in the Southeast, as I would go by proximity. So besides the Preds, that leaves Carolina, Washington and Tampa Bay as viable teams for you to follow. Forget the Panthers.

 

[Boss AZ]

What is the Winnipeg franchise going to be called? Thrashers? Jets? Flames?

Hopefully they go with something different. I'd only want them to use the Jets if the Coyotes were the ones moving. Phoenix might actually still own the rights anyways.

 

[Apocalypse]

SWEET! Well I would hope they're re-named the Jets, bring back the old jerseys!

 

[killgod]

What is the Winnipeg franchise going to be called? Thrashers? Jets? Flames?

I'd wager Jets, then Moose, then something new.

Nashville probably, or any other team in the Southeast, as I would go by proximity. So besides the Preds, that leaves Carolina, Washington and Tampa Bay as viable teams for you to follow. Forget the Panthers.

Florida is got a buttload of young talent and a GM that knows how to build a winner. Wouldn't be a bad team to hop on board IMO.

Hopefully they go with something different. I'd only want them to use the Jets if the Coyotes were the ones moving. Phoenix might actually still own the rights anyways.

The NHL owns the name...then again, they also own the Coyotes.

 

[Senser81]

The NHL owns the name...then again, they also own the Coyotes.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U43Ate3Itjs&feature=related[/ame]

 

[Ravin]

OK, so all this just strikes me as so fucking stupid. And not because of the Thrashers moving, but rather because Phoenix, who is owned by the league, is broke, and has had so many buyers come through the door, yet no deal is done yet, is still up for sale, and True North, who was in the running for Phoenix, basically said fuck it, moved onto Atlanta, and bam, Winnipeg has a team.

I think the NHL needs to step in with the Phoenix club now and say "ok, sorry, enough is enough." The sale has been blocked so many times for so many reasons, that at this point, I'd rather they just fold the team and let someone buy a expansion team. To me the bullshit with the city buying years is insane, because it doesn't solve any longer term problems, it just puts a band-aid on a blood gushing cut.

 

[killgod]

OK, so all this just strikes me as so fucking stupid. And not because of the Thrashers moving, but rather because Phoenix, who is owned by the league, is broke, and has had so many buyers come through the door, yet no deal is done yet, is still up for sale, and True North, who was in the running for Phoenix, basically said fuck it, moved onto Atlanta, and bam, Winnipeg has a team.

I think the NHL needs to step in with the Phoenix club now and say "ok, sorry, enough is enough." The sale has been blocked so many times for so many reasons, that at this point, I'd rather they just fold the team and let someone buy a expansion team. To me the bullshit with the city buying years is insane, because it doesn't solve any longer term problems, it just puts a band-aid on a blood gushing cut.

I think at this point there's more going on that's not known by the public/media.

Shady backdoor politics of some kind. Even the Hulsizer deal was fucking off when they discused it. The guy was basically getting the team without paying for it himself....and was going to be paid by the city to run it. I mean, WTF?

 

[Shwayzed]

Oddly I don't feel any sadness. Glad they'll finally have a good home. Now I can move on with my NHL fanhood.

Free agent here, now accepting bandwagon bids.

Due to proximity, I wouldn't mind having another person to talk new york rangers hockey with.

 

[NAHSTE]

Due to proximity, I wouldn't mind having another person to talk new york rangers hockey with.

It's coming down to the Islanders and the Rangers.

 

[wr50l]

It's coming down to the Islanders and the Rangers.

In what world is that even a fair contest?

It would be HILARIOUS to have an Isles fan around here and leaf would be made to feel a lot better.

 

[strahanfan92]

Oddly I don't feel any sadness. Glad they'll finally have a good home. Now I can move on with my NHL fanhood.

Free agent here, now accepting bandwagon bids.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzq2AhbXSeY[/ame]


Make the right choice Luke.

 

[Awesometrax]

As a Winnipegger I will be experiencing the excitement of getting a team back first hand in a few days (barring Bettman deciding to continue being a stubborn asshole to us). It will be tough for me to "dump" the Canucks but I might have two teams starting next year. That first regular season game here is going to be absolutely insane.

 

[Ravin]

I think at this point there's more going on that's not known by the public/media.

Shady backdoor politics of some kind. Even the Hulsizer deal was fucking off when they discused it. The guy was basically getting the team without paying for it himself....and was going to be paid by the city to run it. I mean, WTF?

The politics is what is fucking this shit up.The Blackwater group needs to die in a fire.


And I hate to bring this up, but it seems like the perfect owner would have been someone willing to pay for the team, pay the city to get rid of the debt the team owed, pay, for a building, basically open his wallet to the extreme to get this bankrupt, league owned team into a good market where it can survive. If only they had someone like that...

 

That guy is lookng like a saint right now. With the Atlanta sale / relocation about to happen, it makes you sit and ponder, what the fuck was the problem with the Coyotes moving? You'll let the thrashers leave, and they are owned by people, not the league, yet Bettmen will just let them walk off into the sunset. But Phoenix he has this hard on for, and has blocked the sale so many times, and doesn't want to relocate, blah blah blah. Please just keep some consistency.

 

[killgod]

So TSN has explained that if Winnipeg becomes for real, that they WILL play in the Southeast division for the upcoming season. It's too late in the scheduling process to make any change.

The following year is when things will be moved around. TSN predicts Winnipeg moves to the Northeast with Colorado moving to the Pacific, Dallas moving to the Central.....

If that's the case there could be any number of changes to divisions.

Also, Manitoba Moose AHL team is moving to St. John's NFLD.

 

[Maynard]

hockey lost a little something when they lost the whalers, jets, northstars and nordiques (sp). Back in the late 80ies and early 90ies especially with the Gretzky Kings i was really getting into hockey. Then that lockout happened and they lost me

 

[Maynard]

also...changing the conference names and shit was a fail imo. that was tradition and gave hockey a certain character about it