Winnipeg Gets Set For Jets Return To NHL

(NewsCore) - ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Delighted hockey fans in Winnipeg, Manitoba, were looking back to the future Saturday after it was announced the relocated Atlanta Thrashers would take the name of the city's former team, the Winnipeg Jets.

Chairman Mark Chipman confirmed the renaming of the franchise late Friday at the NHL entry draft in Minnesota to spark celebrations among the fans following proceedings back home at the MTS Centre's official draft viewing party, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.

Chipman said he planned to "go in a different direction" before canvassing opinion, but found the suggestions for a new title kept returning to the name of the team that skipped town in 1996 to relocate in Phoenix, Ariz., as the Coyotes.

"We listened to a lot of people. Certainly the fans, that was obvious," he said. "We talked to our scouts at dinner [Thursday] night and the kids that were interviewed this year all wanted to know what the name of the team was going to be. And there was a strong preference [for Jets].

"I talked to family, I talked to close friends, guys I grew up playing hockey with," Chipman added. "[To try] to get an authentic feel for what the right thing to do would be. And in the end it just kept coming to that name."

The Free Press reported that the new franchise's link with the city's former incumbents was unlikely to go further than the title with plans to introduce new jersey designs and team colors.

Read more: Winnipeg Free Press