Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg?
2/17/2010 at 11:45 AM
Take this for what it's worth, but another NHL-to-Winnipeg rumour is making the rounds that many may have heard already. According to the rumour, an announcement regarding the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg would be made after the Olympics. The excerpt below is from well-known Winnipeg sports figure Scott Taylor's blog:
So are the Atlanta Thrashers about to wind up in Winnipeg? NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says that the Thrashers ownership must get it together or else. The “or else” we aren’t sure of, but we do know this: According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Thrashers are 28th in the NHL in attendance, averaging 4,000 fans fewer per game in the 10th year of their existence (13,204, according to inflated announced figures) than in the first (17,205). The rumours get louder and it could be that the Thrashers are about to get a new owner: Mark Chipman’s partner David Thomson. Again: Believe whatever it is you want to believe.
http://blog.rogersbroadcasting.com/scott-taylor/ The link below is a pretty realistic discussion of the rumour and the idea of the NHL potentially allowing team re-locations over the next several years: http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Eklund/SourceNHL-will-make-it-7-possibly-8-Winnipeg-Quebec-or-Toronto/1/26358