5 NHL cities that lost teams and then got them back later
By Ant Barberio
Winnipeg
Yes, the city that sort of started this whole thing to begin with. We don’t need to do much explaining here since most hockey fans already know the basics of the story.
Winnipeg once had a hockey team called the Winnipeg Jets who weren’t very successful. As part of the NHL’s push to move into nontraditional hockey markets, the Jets moved to Phoenix after the 1995-1996 NHL season to chase a better financial situation in one of the United States' top-growing media markets.
Plot twist, although the Phoenix Coyotes have had a few bits of one-ice success (a string of playoff appearances in the 2000s-2010s) they’re more known for their financial problems and constant relocation rumors.
The Jets returned to Winnipeg in 2012 with the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers. In their just over a decade, they’ve arguably had more success than the original Jets with six playoff appearances in 13 seasons.
The current Jets have as many conference final appearances as the previous Jets/Coyotes franchise with exactly one apiece.
Winnipeg hockey fans embraced the return of their beloved team, although the team has had some recent troubles selling tickets.
Current owners don’t seem too overly concerned with the dip in ticket sales and contend the franchise hasn’t lost money since relocation, reassuring fans of the team’s stability. Commissioner Gary Bettman recently traveled to Winnipeg in response to the recent troubles.
Although there have been a few notable examples of players not liking playing in Winnipeg (Patrick Laine or Pierre-Luc Dubois anyone?) the team locked up franchise players Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck, long the subject of trade rumors, to seven-year contract extensions last summer.