Jets to come back in for a landing?

[Boltergeist]

Thrashers relocating?

If it happens, I wonder what realignment dominoes will fall. Would Nashville go to the Southeast, with Minnesota replacing them in the Central, and Winnipeg going to the Northwest?

[cbarrier90]

Excellent! Now if they could just move Florida and Phoenix to Quebec City and Hartford...

[Hawk]

would love to see hockey in the peg again. they tried hard to get the coyotes, but the thrashers look like a possibility

[cbarrier90]

Atlanta is a terrible market for hockey and sports in general, but it baffles me as to why Bettman would ship off the Thrashers at the drop of a hat when he has done everything in his power to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix/Glendale.

It's been long known that Bettman's experiment in the '90s with hockey in the South has failed in a majority of the markets with the exception of Dallas and Raleigh (jury still out on Nashville.) Hopefully this is the start of getting the NHL back to the dedicated, small markets of the older days.

[Squirrel]

Atlanta is a terrible market for hockey and sports in general, but it baffles me as to why Bettman would ship off the Thrashers at the drop of a hat when he has done everything in his power to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix/Glendale.

It's been long known that Bettman's experiment in the '90s with hockey in the South has failed in a majority of the markets with the exception of Dallas and Raleigh (jury still out on Nashville.) Hopefully this is the start of getting the NHL back to the dedicated, small markets of the older days.

Lightning has had a good following but yeah the Thrashers need to relocate also I dont blame Bettman trying to keep Coyotes in Pheonix. They was doing pretty good until Jerry Moyes started having money problems. Which in itself is a very interesting story. Good guy just got screwed by the Board of Directors at Swift Trucking.

[Boltergeist]

Announcement coming tomorrow?

[KillerKat]

It will be between Columbus or Nashville to replace Atlanta in our division. I hope its Columbus for 2 reasons. One, Nashville will dominate along with Tampa. With Washington there too, it would be really hard for us to make the playoffs. Two, Nashville is my 2nd fav team because theyre the closest team thats not in our division and I dont want to start hating them.

Also, If a 2nd team decides to relocate in the future, I hope they move to Hartford so that the Canes can finally be set free from the Whalers shadow and their fans.

[cbarrier90]

Nashville will dominate along with Tampa.

You do realize that our extremely young team last season is one awful game at the end of the year away from making the playoffs...

Though they have a nice division streak, Washington has never been unbeatable and has become the new San Jose Sharks when it comes to the playoffs.

As for Tampa, the talent is there, but I'll wait and see if they can establish any sort of consistency before I anoint them the kings of the Southeast Division.

Regardless of who the new team is, (for location purposes, I'm rooting for Nashville,) I still think the Canes will be in the hunt for a division title. The only certainty in the Southeast is that Florida will be a non-factor.

[Hawk]

J - E - T - S

Jets

Jets

Jets

actually..I hear Phoenix is trying to lay some claim to the naming rights...assholes...they never used it so it should be fair game

[cbarrier90]

I heard on PTI last week that they might even go with the name of the current AHL team, the Manitoba Moose.

Hopefully Winnipeg doesn't make the same mistake Charlotte did when Shinn left and keeps hold of the red and blue and the Jets name. It just wouldn't be right to see the NHL back there without it.

[Hawk]

that would be weird...I don't believe the Moose have any current plans to leave Winnipeg right away...

[cbarrier90]

Won't they just be forced out? Winnipeg would already be the NHL's smallest market by a long shot and though I'm sure Manitoba is hockey crazy, do they have any other cities that could support an AHL team in conjunction with the new Winnipeg franchise?

[Hawk]

ya, I don't think they would be there long, but it's hard to say. Ticket prices for the AHL are much lower than the NHL, so they could maybe support both. Other markets do and it's gonna be the only ticket in town, so people will travel from quite a distance to support...I'm thinking/hoping.

[The Other Colbert]

It is officially a done deal now:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6610414