Atlanta's Last Stand?

After the Glendale Council voted in favor of keeping the Coyotes for at least one more season, all attention moved toward Atlanta, the next most realistic option for movement.  Unlike most teams, the Thrashers aren't contracted to their arena making them all the more movable, and with the way things are playing out right now, they may have already hung up their skates for the last time.

Canada based company True North has been negotiating with the Georgia based group that owns the Thrashers, Atlanta Spirit.  As things stand, it looks as if Winnipeg will finally get their team back, and Atlanta will have played their final game as an NHL franchise in a bittersweet turn of events.

What a thug.

On Phoenix and the Potential Move to Winnipeg

In case you haven't noticed, the Phoenix Coyotes aren't exactly the poster team of the NHL.  In fact, the Yotes rank 29th out of the 30 teams in attendance for the 2010-2011 season even though they statistically had their second best season in team history (43 wins, 09-10 season had 50 wins).  Such a difference between team production and fan attendance clearly raises many questions with the NHL.  The most important of which being, should the Phoenix Coyotes stay in Phoenix or should they be moved?

At this point in time, a potential move for the team from Phoenix to Winnipeg is very possible.  Winnipeg has shown that they would eagerly accept another team (Their last team was the Winnipeg Jets who became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996).  To move a team from Winnipeg to Phoenix and then back to Winnipeg ultimately seems like the NHL admitting to making a mistake, but really it's just financially what the league may have to do. 

I won't delve too far into the technical aspects of the move at all, but honestly, I support the relocation.  I always liked the idea of Canada having another team, and maybe now it's Winnipeg's time.  The Coyotes were a loveable team of underdogs, but sometimes that's not what gets fans in seats, sometimes it's just as they say in the real estate business...

...location, location, location.