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The Finnish Flash would make a splash

How big would the party be at Portage and Main if Teemu Selanne signed with Winnipeg's new NHL franchise?

Grant Skinner, a financial adviser to players such as Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp of the Chicago Blackhawks, thinks it's possible.

"(Selanne) is an unrestricted free agent (as of July 1). He has stated he wants to stay in Anaheim but given his rich history in Winnipeg, it's possible Teemu may give consideration to coming back to Winnipeg. He had four pretty cool years here," he said.

Factors in Winnipeg's corner include Selanne's relationship with Craig Heisinger, the assistant general manager of the city's new NHL team, memories of his 76-goal season in 1992-93 and the second-coming reception he'd be sure to receive.

Hawerchuk says pick just… ducky

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Was it not the perfect connection between old Jets and new Jets Friday night at the Xcel Energy Center?

Seconds after True North chairman Mark Chipman confirmed it would be Jets on the new uniforms, old Jets superstar and franchise leading scorer Dale Hawerchuk, now the head coach of the OHL's Barrie Colts, saw his top centreman Mark Scheifele, 18, become the new Jets' first-round draft pick.

Hawerchuk, now 48, was thrilled with the synergy.

"It's great; I love to see hockey back in Winnipeg," said the Jets first-round, first-overall pick of exactly 30 years ago in the corridor of the Minnesota Wild's arena. "I think when the new rink went in in Winnipeg, well, you know me, I've been an advocate of it coming back and it'll be successful.

Pronounce it with us: It’s ‘Shy-flea’

ST. PAUL -- Just for the record -- and straight from Mark Scheifele's mouth -- the pronunciation of the last name of the first pick in the 'new' history of the Winnipeg Jets is...

Shy-flea.

We bring this up today because it's something -- getting the name right, not butchering it -- that the 18-year-old Barrie Colts centre hopes one day is commonplace in Winnipeg. And we bring it up because members of Jets management were asking the very same thing in the interview leading up to the first round of the 2011 NHL entry draft prior to making him the seventh pick overall in the proceedings.

"I didn't get a full sense (of the Jets' interest) in the interview, but they asked how to pronounce my last name," Scheifele said. "I thought that was just because no one knows how to pronounce my last name. I didn't think I was going to go seven but to go seven is really exciting.

Welcome to Winnipeg, Scheifele

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Winnipeg has dominated the NHL story landscape for going on a month now and it continued right into Friday night's first round of the annual entry draft.

The new franchise had a hundred or so loud and demonstrative fans in the Xcel Energy Center.

They heard Winnipeg welcomed back to the league after 15 years by commissioner Gary Bettman, they chanted through the six teams picking ahead of them and then they erupted when True North chairman and governor Mark Chipman confirmed at the podium the organization has decided to adopt the Jets team name.

"It shows the passion of our fans, that they travelled here to be part of a special day for this franchise," Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said.

Welcoming the second coming

The MTS Centre thundered with the grateful roar of nearly 4,000 hockey fans intent on making one thing crystal clear: This is Winnipeg's team and they are, and always will be, the Jets.

Gathered together at a viewing party for the 2011 NHL entry draft hosted by True North Sports & Entertainment, the team's owners, fans watched on the arena scoreboard as chairman Mark Chipman made the long-awaited announcement from St. Paul, Minn.

For many, finally making the Jets name official made the dream of the NHL returning to Winnipeg a reality.

For Laurie Thompson, it felt surreal to be sitting in the crowd after waiting so many years for the NHL to return to Winnipeg.

Fans get their wish

ST. PAUL -- It is a name that has come to represent this city. Mention "Winnipeg Jets" to any hockey fan anywhere on this globe and, instantly, mental images start flickering of Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson, of Dale Hawerchuk and Teemu Selanne, of the Whiteout and of a tearful goodbye.

And, now, of a triumphant return.

True North Sports & Entertainment chairman Mark Chipman confirmed weeks of speculation Friday night at the NHL's entry draft when he stepped up to the podium at the XCel Energy Center to introduce general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff prior to the reborn Jets' historic first draft pick. And while they carefully considered other options, the overwhelming fan support for the Jets name ultimately helped confirm their decision.

"We listened to a lot of people. Certainly the fans, that was obvious," Chipman said. "Although I was overwhelmed by the number of unsolicited suggestions, a lot of them very good, and thought we had to go in a different direction. But 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).

Maybe Bettman a better man

MINNEAPOLIS -- Now, more than three weeks after the agreement was announced to move the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman agreed to sit down with Free Press hockey writer Tim Campbell on Friday to review that story and several other issues.

Free Press: We're three weeks-plus since the announcement and the story continues to be powerful coast to coast in Canada. Anything about that surprise you?

Gary Bettman: It was always clear to me there was passion for the game and a tremendous sense of loss. Sometimes when there's a sense of loss, it dissipates with time, but that was never the case here. What's interesting about it is that there's so much revisionist history about what happened 15 years ago. Which is OK, because in the final analysis, we're back and we're thrilled to be back. If anybody thinks that the circumstances of our coming back anywhere resembled the circumstances of the leaving, they don't understand what happened in either case.

Winnipeg to face Montreal in first regular season tilt at MTS Centre

Winnipeg's new NHL team will host the storied Montreal Canadiens in the first regular season game to be played at the MTS Centre on Sunday Oct. 9 at 4 p.m., the Free Press has learned.

True North confirmed on Wednesday the historic contest, and also said the full schedule will be released Thursday.

Earlier Wednesday, Winnipeg’s NHL team finally appeared on another team’s preseason schedule.

The Ottawa Senators announced they will host the Winnipeg club on Monday, Sept. 26 in Conception Bay South, N.L.

True North, MTS to expand partnership

Pierre Blouin would like Winnipeggers who haven't even been born yet to watch NHL hockey at the MTS Centre. The president and CEO of MTS Allstream joined True North Sports & Entertainment executives this morning to announce the expansion of their seven-year partnership.

MTS will retain the naming rights to the downtown arena for the next decade with an option to extend the deal to "well past 2030."

"This is the best type of corporate sponsorship we've ever done," Blouin said.

No financial details were released but it was widely acknowledged that the deal is significantly richer than the $7 million one signed in 2004.

Thrashers players “excited” to come to Winnipeg

Tim Stapleton knows very little about Winnipeg outside of the colour scheme at visitor’s locker room at the MTS Centre. And wouldn’t dare take a quick trivia test about his new hockey home.

But the former Atlanta Thrasher-turned Winnipeg Something-or-Other can’t wait to get here.

“It’s crazy right now, but it’s exciting,” said the 28-year-old centre from his offseason home in Chicago.

“I played against Manitoba when I was in the minors so I know that it was, by far, the best road trip. I don’t know much about the city because we were always in and out of there. But I know the hockey environment was always exciting and the fans are diehards and there’s a great tradition of hockey there with the old Jets.