NHL hockey may return to Winnipeg

OTTAWA — Hockey fans crowded Winnipeg's downtown in western Canada overnight cheering news that the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers may be moved to the city -- 15 years after it lost its beloved Jets franchise.The daily Globe and Mail reported that the NHL's board of governors had tentatively approved the sale and relocation of the Thrashers to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and that the sale wrapped up on Thursday.Citing multiple sources, the paper said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was to travel to Winnipeg on Tuesday to officially announce that True North Sports and Entertainment had bought the money-losing team from Atlanta Spirit LLC.True North and Bettman, however, denied that a deal is done, calling the Globe story "inaccurate" and "untrue."True North spokesman Scott Brown told the daily Winnipeg Free Press: "A deal is not done at this time.""I can tell you with certainty that there is no deal for this team to move," Bettman echoed. "Am I predicting that there will never be or that there won't be at some point in time? No, I'm not saying there is or there isn't."The denials, however, did not dampen hopes in Winnipeg where hundreds of fans clad in old Jets jerseys chanted "Go Jets! Go! late into the night.Postmedia newspapers, citing sources close to the negotiations, said a deal could be reached in the coming days, but added nothing has been signed.The financially struggling Thrashers, whose average home attendance of 13,469 last season was the third-worst in the 30-team league, would be the first NHL team to return to Canada after an exodus of the Jets in 1996 and the Quebec Nordiques (which became the Colorado Avalanche) in 1995.A repatriated Winnipeg franchise would become the seventh Canadian team in the National Hockey League. Quebec City and Hamilton, are also vying for NHL franchises.A move of the Thrashers is possible ahead of next October's start to the 2011-2012 campaign, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.A purchase price for the club has been reported in the range of $170 million with the NHL a

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