The Jets By Any Other Name
The claim to the original Winnipeg Jets legacy is owned by the Phoenix Coyotes, who moved to Arizona from Winnipeg in 1996; the new Jets, meanwhile, started as the Atlanta Thrashers, moving to Winnipeg in 2011. Should Jets fans claim the Thrashers history as their own? Or is their legacy tangled up in the fate of the Coyotes? After all, retired numbers from the original Jets hang in Gila River Arena in Glendale. Long-standing fans who rooted for the original Jets have a more complicated time of things than even fans of the old Minnesota North Stars or Colorado Rockies, whose new teams at least have a different name than the old.
The Original Jets: WHA Roots and NHL Struggles
The Winnipeg Jets started in the now-defunct World Hockey Association in 1971, and were absorbed into the NHL when the WHA disbanded in 1979. Membership in the new league came at a price, however; the Jets were forced to give up major players and ended up last in the league their first two seasons. Though their team would eventually improve, their luck would not. Thanks to the NHL’s playoff structure in the ’80s, Winnipeg couldn’t get far in the post-season without having to play Edmonton, who shared their division. Considering the Edmonton Oilers won 5 of the 7 championships from 1984-1990, this left little room for division-mates to be contenders. The Oilers cooled off just in time for changes to the free agency structure that made it hard for small markets like Winnipeg to compete financially. All told, the original Jets played 17 seasons before relocating in 1996, with an all-time winning percentage of .442. They made the playoffs 11 times and reached the Conference Finals twice, only to be swept out both times by—you guessed it—the Oilers.
The Coyotes: Keepers of the Old Jets’ Bad Luck
The Jets moved to Arizona and became the Phoenix Coyotes. As of the end of the 2014-15 season, the Coyotes had played 18 seasons, with an all-time winning percentage of .516. They won their division once, in the 2011-12 NHL season, a feat the Jets of old never accomplished. They made the playoffs 8 times and reached the Conference Finals once. Compared to the team they used to be, the Coyotes have certainly looked like an extension of the Winnipeg Jets legacy. They’ve also inherited that old Jets bad luck, plagued by financial troubles and facing similar issues—most notably the size and suitability of the arena, which was a major complaint of both the Jets’ Winnipeg Arena and the America West Arena the Coyotes first called home.
From Atlanta Thrashers to the New Winnipeg Jets
While the Coyotes were getting settled down south, the Atlanta Thrashers joined the league in 1999. They were not Atlanta’s first hockey team; the city had been home to the Atlanta Flames from 1972-1980, but since that team kept the Flames nickname when it moved to Calgary, the city decided on a different moniker for its new club. In their 11 seasons of existence, the Thrashers had a .447 winning percentage. They got more than 40 wins twice; they also got fewer than 20 wins twice, making inconsistency the main theme of the Thrashers’ truncated history. They qualified for the playoffs only once, in 2006-07, and were swept out of the first round by the New York Rangers (a very Jets-like move). Like the old Jets, the Thrashers relocated because of financial issues outside the control of the team or its fans. The Thrashers moved to Winnipeg in 2011, but while they took up the old Jets name, they were still considered part of the old Thrashers’ division, forcing them to travel to Florida, North Carolina, and Washington, DC for many of their games. Thankfully, the league realigned in 2013, and by 2014-15 the new Jets made their first postseason in this particular iteration, though they were swept in the Conference Quarterfinals (as is apparently Jets tradition). As of the end of the 2014-15 NHL season, the new Jets have a winning percentage of .589, the highest thus far of any of the various Jets, past and present.
Winnipeg Welcomes Its Team Home
Season tickets for the Jets’ 2011-12 season sold out within 17 minutes of becoming available to the public. The city of Winnipeg has embraced the return of its team with a vengeance. Regardless of which franchise truly owns the Winnipeg Jets legacy, or which version of the Jets was best, the hearts of the fans are with the team playing in the MTS Centre—their second-chance hometown heroes.
