I know that this technically qualifies as old news, but the sale and relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg was only approved by the NHL owners on Wednesday, so it's only new official. The former Thrashers still don't have a name, but that's obviously just a matter of time. "Winnipeg Jets," the name of the city's former franchise that eventually became the Phoenix Coyotes has been mentioned as a possibility, but I don't think that's what they should name the team. Before Atlanta relocated, the Coyotes had been talking about moving back to Winnipeg. If they had, I'd be all for reincarnating the Jets (frankly, they never should've moved to Phoenix in the first place). But since this is a completely different franchise, a new name is in order. One of the other possibilites that's been mentioned that I'm a real fan of is "Manitoba Falcons." I vote for that.
Anyway, the NHL schedule was also announced yesterday. (Sidebar, why is the NFL schedule the only one that gets fanfare when it's released?) When the Thrashers announced that they were moving to Winnipeg, Gary Bettman immediately said that they would remain in the Southeast Division this season before realignment next year. I figured that the schedule was the reason. The fact that they announced it already proves my suspicion was right. It's much easier to have Winnipeg play one season in the Eastern Conference than it would've been to try to completely redo the schedule. Besides, uncertainty about the Coyotes' ownership situation (they're currently owned by the NHL) and possible move means you might have aanother team playing in a different city in 2012-13.
For the NHL, the best-case scenario is the Coyotes staying in Phoenix. That's makes moving Winnipeg to the Western Conference much easier. I would imagine they want to put Winnipeg in the Northwest Division with the other three Canadian teams. The only team that can possibly be moved to the Southeast Division is Nashville, so the Predators will likely be the other team to switch conferences (and, in the process, create an ultra-competitive division that already includes Washington, Tampa Bay and Carolina). So, with Winnipeg in the Northwest and Nashville in the Southeast, that means a Northwest Division team has to take Nashville's place in the Central. Since Minnesota's actually near where the Centntral Division teams play and Colorado isn't, the Wild move instead of the Avalance.
So, if the Coyotes stay in Phoenix, my proposed NHL divisional alignment looks like this:
Atlantic-New Jersey, N.Y. Islanders, N.Y. Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
Northeast-Boston, Buffalo, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
Southeast-Carolina, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Washington
Central-Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Minnesota, St. Louis
Northwest-Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver
Pacific-Anaheim, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose
Now, if Phoenix moves to Quebec City, that creates a whole new bunch of problems. While Quebec City also deserves to get another team (although the Nordiques moving to Denver was completely different than the Jets moving to Phoenix, and the people in Colorado actually realize they have a hockey team and want it there), I don't even want to think about the nightmare that would create for the NHL trying to figure out divisions. You'd obviously have to put Quebec in the same division as Montreal and Ottawa, which would probably boot either the Sabres or Maple Leafs to the West. And, even though Vancouver is about as far west as you can go on the North American continent, keeping the Canadian teams together is the smart thing to do, which means somebody not on the West Coast (Colorado?) would have to join the Pacific Divison. This is all hypothetical and a long way off, but it sounds like the NHL will NOT be taking geography lessons from the NFL when it comes to establishing its divisions.
Anyway, this is the rare franchise shift from large market to small market, rather than the other way around. Atlanta is one of the 10 largest markets in the U.S., while Winnipeg will be the league's smallest market playing in the league's smallest arena. So what? The big difference is that Winnipeg wants a hockey team, while Atlanta had one and didn't care. That's why this is a smart move. Winnipeg never should've lost the Jets. But that's irrelevant now. They sold 13,000 season tickets in a matter of a few hours when they went on sale. 13,000 people in a 15,000-seat arena looks a lot more full than 12,000 people in a 19,000-seat arena like the team had in Atlanta.
Hockey in Atlanta was never going to work. The Flames played there in the late 70s and early 80s before moving to Calgary, but the NHL decided to try again with the expansion Thrashers in 2000. That didn't work either, and 11 years later Atlanta became the first city to lose two different NHL franchises (both to Canadian cities). Sure the Thrashers were never any good (they only made the playoffs once, when they got swept by the Rangers), but I'm not sure that would've mattered. By the end of the Braves' run of 13 straight division titles, people didn't even come to their games. Not only does Atlanta have the Braves, Falcons and Hawks, it's also the home of Georgia Tech and a hotbed for college sports. People simply didn't care about the Thrashers. That wouldn't have changed even if they were good. And the Thrashers' owners knew it. They'd been trying to sell the team with the purpose of relocation since at least 2004.
Despite the NHL's repeated attempts to make the American South hockey fans, the sport IS Canada. Hockey belongs in Winnipeg a lot more than it does in Atlanta. When the Jets made their ill-advised move to Phoenix in 1996, it had nothing to do with attendance. It had more to do with the fact that playing without a salary cap, in the league's smallest market, while having to pay all expenses in American funds (while only collecting revenue in Canadian money, with an exchange rate of roughly $1.40 Canadian to $1.00 American) made them unable to make things work financially. But Winnipegers never stopped loving hockey, and the AHL's Manitoba Moose always had high attendance numbers.
Now those fans in Winnipeg get what they've wanted and deserved for the last 15 years. Welcome back to the NHL. It's going to work this time.
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