Winnipeg Jets to hold press conference on Monday

[Sinclair Promotions]

The Winnipeg Jets ownership group who moved their AHL Franchise to St. John's Newfoundland after getting the Jets four years ago are expected to announce the franchise is moving back to Winnipeg for the next couple of years. This comes on the heels of the Montreal Canadiens announcing they are moving the Hamilton Bulldogs to St. John's for a couple of seasons as the teams works to get a new Arena built to house the team in Montreal.

This is all happening because the former owner of the Bulldogs bought the OHL Belleville Bulls and is moving the team to Hamilton.

The St. John's Ice Caps, formerly the Manitoba Moose will be playing in the MTS Center (Home of the Jets) for the next few seasons as viable long term plan is put into place. That could be anything from Winnipeg building a second arena for the returning AHL Franchise to the team moving to another city and venue in the next couple of years. Thunder Bay Ontario was looking like the forerunner for the franchise, but plans to build a new arena there fell flat.

Another option could be a location in Minnesota as True North wants to have the AHL Franchise close at hand so it easier to move guys between the AHL & NHL. This seems to becoming a trend in the NHL as teams are always looking to have their farm team close at hand.

Currently the Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) and Toronto Marlies (AHL) are located in the same city, but play in separate venues.

This could be an interesting development when it comes to Winnipeg as one drawback to the Jets is their price of their tickets, which is among the highest in the NHL. The team does come close to selling out every game (I believe they have sold out every games since relocating from Atlanta). Could this streak be in jeopardy with the AHL affiliate in town? That question alone should make this a very interesting time for hockey fans in Winnipeg.

[Sinclair Promotions]

It's official Winnipeg now has two Professional Teams as the Saint John's Ice Caps are once again the Manitoba Moose. Both franchises will be playing at the MTS Centre. It will be interesting to see how this will affect both the NHL & AHL schedules for the long term

[TTX]

That's a strange trend. Will be interesting to see how it goes.

[Sinclair Promotions]

I watched the press conference highlights and from the sounds of things this move is a permanent one. The MTS is being slightly renovated so the Jets & Moose will have their own dressing rooms. I'm sure the same will be done for the coaching staffs. It will be interesting to see how they handle the Ice logo's for next year as those are placed under the ice.

One thing I will say thou is that Winnipeg has come a long way from the franchise that bolted for the desert back in the 90's