You’ll be seeing stars

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/05/2011 (5291 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Visiting  star power would return in a big way to Winnipeg if True North Sports and Entertainment and the Atlanta Spirit Group can complete their transaction in time.

 The 2011-12 NHL season could well feature multiple visits to Winnipeg by the game’s two most dynamic players; Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin could be here three times and Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby could play at the MTS Centre twice.

 That will be the result of Winnipeg being kept in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference for one year.

 An Eastern Conference team source has told the Free Press that his club has already been advised to expect two trips to Winnipeg next season.

 That indicates the league will likely stand pat for another season with its current divisional and conference alignment, one that would keep Winnipeg in Atlanta’s current slot in the Southeast Division.

 The NHL would then take the next year or so to figure out what to do with a divisional and conference realignment.

If the Thrashers are relocated to Winnipeg, the team would still have Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina and Washington as its division rivals, and play six games (three in each city) against each of them.

 The team would also play four games (two in each city) against the other 10 clubs from the Eastern Conference.

 A Winnipeg team’s remaining 18 games would be spread among the 15 Western Conference teams. Current schedule guidelines allow for three home-and-home series between non-conference teams — which has been used in the past to assure Canadian teams that each of their Canadian rivals will visit at least once a season — and single games against the other 12 teams of that conference.

 That would mean not all Western Conference teams would visit the MTS Centre in 2011-12.

 “It’s too big a fight to resolve in a week or two,” the Eastern Conference source told the Free Press, referring to the debate that’s already begun over which team will eventually be bumped out of the Western Conference by Winnipeg. Detroit, Nashville and Columbus will all be vying for that move for travel and television reasons.

 Some believe that the Red Wings have a past promise from the league to be allowed to move east at the next opportunity, but that will be met with resistance from western rivals and those who might argue that Nashville is a better fit geographically for the move.

 The debate is expected to be intense and the finalization of the 2011-12 schedule, normally by mid-June, won’t allow enough time for the issue to be resolved for next season.

 Countering the star power, a Winnipeg entry in the Southeast Division will have a few drawbacks.

 It’s been calculated that the Thrashers traveled more than 60,000 kilometres last season and a Winnipeg entry in the same division should expect that number to increase significantly, even with well-planned road trips.

 It will also place an extra travel burden on the team’s divisional and conference rivals for a season, because they’ll be headed to the central time zone in the Manitoba capital instead of to Georgia for scheduled games.

 All of those arrangements await confirmation, however, since True North and Atlanta Spirit continued negotiating their deal on Tuesday. Sources told the Free Press there is not yet an agreement, that no press conference is on the schedule but that work continues.

 tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca