AnySportAnyTime

According to TSN, the move of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg is a done deal.

The Atlanta hockey club will be sold to True North Sports and Entertainment. The primary owner will be David Thomson, the billionaire chairman of the media conglomerate, Thomson Reuters.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will be in Winnipeg for the announcement. It will be extremely interesting to see the reaction from fellow Winnipegers toward Bettman. Many blame him for the primary reason why Winnipeg moved to Phoenix in the first place on July 1, 1996. Unlike Alberta where Bettman has high popularity, he doesn’t have a high approval rating in Manitoba.

So Winnipeg hockey fans will now be cheering for the likes of former Hitmen star Andrew Ladd, former Oiler Rob Schremp, Dustin Byfuglien, Evander Kane, Anthony Stewart, Blake Wheeler, Tobias Enstrom and Ondrej Pavelec. The Thrashers’ general manager is Rick Dudley, and their head coach is Craig Ramsay.

Meanwhile unrestricted free agents that need to be re-signed in order for Winnipeg to keep them are Eric Boulton, former Oiler Radek Dvorak and Freddy Meyer.

I’m a little surprised that Atlanta is moving to Winnipeg because I didn’t think the MTS Centre would be big enough because it only holds 15,015. But that said, Atlanta was averaging only 13,469. However, I feel there were many nights the Thrashers barely had 10,000 fans in attendance. Being involved with a struggling professional sports team in the past, I know how the numbers can many times be skewed.

The official press conference is slated for 10am Mountain Time. If anything earth shattering follows from the press conference, stay tuned to anysportanytime.

There is still no official word that the Winnipeg team name will be the Jets. Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz speculated the possibility of a different team name just over a week ago.