Atlanta Thrashers Officially Moving to Winnipeg: Are Columbus Blue Jackets Next?

The imminent move of the struggling Atlanta Thrashers franchise to Winnipeg was made official today, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

The league has set up a press conference today at 11 A.M. in Manitoba and commissioner Gary Bettman will be in attendance.

For the past few weeks, there was a lot of speculation on when the move would be made official. Some said that the move would not be announced until the end of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, while others said that it would come before.

The city of Atlanta was running out of time to find a local buyer that would keep the team in the United States, and Winnipeg was waiting as patiently as it could.

When The Globe and Mail reported that the sale had been completed on May 19, fans in Winnipeg celebrated in front of the MTS Centre in Jets jerseys until the early morning hours.

However, the league was quick to say that no deal had yet to be made, but it was clear that it was close to being done.

Now that the move is official, the city of Winnipeg can finally rejoice, as hockey will return to the land it called home until 1996, when the value of the Canadian dollar forced the team to move to Phoenix.

The city of Atlanta once again mourns for the second lost hockey franchise in the city's history, first with the Flames in 1980 and now with the Thrashers.

With the move, it looks as if the league will wait on conference realignment until the end of next season to see what the fate is for the Phoenix Coyotes.

The city of Glendale covered the losses for the Coyotes' 2010-2011 season, keeping the team safe for at least one more year while it looks for a buyer.

Winnipeg will most likely spend next season playing in the Southeast Division, which will produce huge travel costs for the brand-new franchise.

Thankfully for them, it will only last for one season, so they should be able to recover.

If Phoenix did in fact relocate at the end of next season, realignment of the conferences would be a lot easier than expected if it went to an eastern city like Quebec. This would mean teams having hopes of moving east to cut travel costs, like Columbus and Detroit, would stay put.

As Phoenix is clearly at the top of the list when it comes to franchise relocation, the Columbus Blue Jackets are not far behind.

As reported earlier this offseason, the Blue Jackets' total losses for this past season were around $25 million. This number, combined with the $53 million lost over the previous three years, is not in the Blue Jackets' favor.

Although it is involved in the conversation, the Dispatch reported that there are no signs of the team moving anytime soon. 

Some contributing factors to this are the amount of money the Blue Jackets bring in for the city of Columbus in such things as hotel taxes and tourist dollars, but also ownership's strong ties with the city.

Current majority owner John McConnell is committed to putting a winner on the ice and plans on spending money this offseason through free agency, regardless of how much the team lost last season.

General manager Scott Howson has talked of a major overhaul to the team this offseason, so it will be interesting to see how much they end up spending.

The Blue Jackets will have to bring in players this offseason that are going to make an immediate impact, especially since they will be spending yet another season competing in the Central division with teams like Detroit, Chicago and Nashville.

Columbus has proven time and time again that when the Jackets are winning, the fans will come. When the team made the playoffs in 2009, there were not a lot of empty seats left in Nationwide Arena.

Even during this season, when the Jackets were playing their best hockey, as their winning continued, seats slowly began to fill.

The high point of this year came on February 25 against the Coyotes, when an almost sold-out Nationwide Arena witnessed a 5-3 Blue Jackets victory, in which rookie Matt Calvert scored his first NHL hat trick.

However, these occurrences have been a rarity for the 10-year franchise, as it has only reached the postseason once.

The city of Columbus and its fans are ready for a winner to be put on the ice—a team that competes night in and night out and a team that can be successful in postseason.

If the team continues its losing ways, then it may suffer the same fate as the Thrashers.

What has happened this offseason should be enough motivation to prevent that from happening.