The AHL has approved relocation of True North’s AHL team from St. John’s, NL, to Winnipeg, MB, beginning with the 2015-16 season.
— Winnipeg Jets PR (@WpgJetsPR) March 12, 2015
As Tim Campbell of the Winnipeg Free Press reported this week, True North Sports and Entertainment have successfully moved the Winnipeg Jets AHL team back to Winnipeg from St. John's Newfoundland. This is a boon for the Jets as their prospects will be nearby for call-up purposes. It will also allow for the Jets to monitor their progress closer and ensure that they are well taken care of.
This means that the AHL is undergoing another reshuffling as the Hamilton Bulldogs are moving out to St. John's for next season. The division for the new/old Winnipeg AHL team has not been announced yet, but based on location, both the Eastern and Western Conferences work. The move should hugely benefit the Jets cost wise, as travel to and from St. John's was a massive burden for AHL teams.
This move also means that the MTS Centre gets that much busier with two professional hockey teams now in the city. There will be the NHL Jets and the yet to be named AHL team. Because the AHL is more of a weekend league to promote families to go to games, it should be expected that the Jets will play more home games on week nights rather than weekends.
Attendance is probably not going to be an issue as this move seems to be for hockey related reasons only. Bringing the farm team to Winnipeg makes it unlikely that call-ups will have to fly crazy routes to meet the team on the road. It also means that there is the potential for the Jets to send players down in between games to save cap space for the deadline.
