A wrong righted....

Skipping the Pirates today as I missed the Thursday collapse (thanks Battlin' Bob,LOL!) and I watched the first nine innings of last nights win over the Phillies in extra innings due to time constraints

My time could be even more limited or I may have a few days next week before the latest run of work,so that is still to be determined.
If I get some time,I have some things in the works that should be fun,I hope.
I hope to have an updated signing front,the promised Forgotten Superstars piece and maybe even something on the Hagerstown Suns.

The NHL might have had no other choice and I am sure that some in the front office are not thrilled,but no matter how,Winnipeg has returned to the NHL where they belong with the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers.

This day has been a long time coming for Winnipeg and is the first step of the collapsing of Gary Bettman's Richard Nixonish "Southern Strategy".
As happy as I am for Winnipeg and righting a wrong (although the best scenario would have been bringing the original Jets home from Phoenix),I must say a few words for the Atlanta fans.
I have been critical of several of the southern hockey cities and their fans (or lack there of),but to the true fans that supported and lost their second team there,my condolences.
The biggest issue was that there just were not enough of you,but despite the numbers-I sympathize and know how you feel as I have teams that moved (Browns to Baltimore) and at different times had teams close to leaving (Cavaliers to seeming half the country and Canada in the Ted Stepien years and the Devils flirting with Nashville in the mid 90's).

Winnipeg still has issues despite this victory.
It will be the smallest market in the league,playing in its smallest arena (15,000) and will likely have to draw near capacity houses every night to keep the dough rolling in.
Is that possible?
Yes,or I could also see trouble after five or six years of a bad hockey team.
The Canadian dollar is strong right now,as long as that stays near or above the worth of the US dollar,I think things are OK.
The weakness of the Canadian dollar in the 90's was the largest stumbling block that Winnipeg had in keeping the Jets and that has changed now,although these things are often fluid.

The Winnipeg fans seem to want the old Jets name,logo etc back and Bettman has said that it is theirs to use,if they like and that makes sense to me.
When your fanbase wants something overwhelmingly-give it to them!
It only makes good fiscal sense and not doing that is rowing upstream.
I look at the almost thirty year run of various owners of the Cavaliers that tried color scheme after scheme when the fanbase wanted the original colors as the classic example of this.

Winnipeg will travel a lot this season as the late timing will keep them in the Southeast division/Eastern Conference for next season,but will likely be transferred to the West for the 2012-13 year.
A five team division of the four Western Canada teams,Minnesota or Colorado would be a fun one to follow and might happen that way.
The "Jets" have some nice young players that can be built around such as Dustin Byflugen,Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian,but they are still a distance away,but in the beginning that will not matter much to the fans that just want the return of the NHL.

In any event,Congrats to Winnipeg and the question now is who's next?
Quebec City needs to get an arena built,Kansas City has an arena with market questions,Seattle has arena needs and Hamilton always has the bad bad wolf in Toronto knocking them down.
As for us?
I have not forgotten this pledge-make the right choice and I'll live up to the pledge for the inevitable move to the Western Conference.

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