Thrashers Sold...

[gamecckfn]

Moving to Manitoba.  Makes the Southeast conference interesting.

[gorillagogo]

So Calgary and now Winnipeg have NHL teams that originated in Atlanta. If Saskatoon wants to get an NHL team in 10 or 20 years they better hope Atlanta gets another expansion team soon.

As far as divisions go, they should move Nashville or Columbus to the Southeast and Winnipeg to the Western Conference. If they wanted geographic integrity, they should probably put Dallas in the Central, Winnipeg in the Northwest and Vancouver in the Pacific divisions. I think they want to keep the Canadian teams all in the Northwest, though, so Colorado to the Pacific would make more sense than having Dallas there.

[Steve Zielinski]

Unfortunately, the Moose name has already been taken. Perhaps they will choose a name like "The Manitoba Strutting, Rutting Mongoose"

[gamecckfn]

I am sure they will be the Winnepeg Jets.

Phoenix looks like they are staying for one more year, but they could be on the move as well.  Seems like they would have to realign though.

[gorillagogo]

I read somewhere that the NHL owns the name "Jets" so they will either have to get permission to use it or else pick a new name.

[joebeimel]

The team being named for the province, Manitoba, was the original buzz. But recently there has been an uproar amongst Winnipegers for the team to return as the JETS. As mentioned, the NHL owns the Jets name which I'd think wouldn't be that big of a hurdle to overcome.

If they are named for the province they'll likely take the name and logo of the Canucks AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.

True North Sports, the company behind the purchase of the Thrashers, owns the Moose currently, and the RTS center.

I believe in either scenario, the Moose would have to move, most likely to St John's, Newfoundland.