Jets to Move AHL Franchise St. John’s to Winnipeg

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The Winnipeg Jets will be moving their AHL franchise to Winnipeg for next season.

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For those who attend St. John’s IceCaps games at the Mile One Centre, you will need to head west starting next season to see the AHL affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets.

According to the Winnipeg Sun, their AHL franchise will be moving from St. John’s to Winnipeg starting next season. The team will share the MTS Centre with the Jets.

There was discussion in early 2014 about St John’s no longer being the affiliate for the NHL Jets. Due to the location of this city (eastern part of Canada next to the state of Maine), this caused problems for Jets officials because of the long flight times.

In the Winnipeg Sun piece, author Paul Friesen mentions that other cities were discussed to move the AHL franchise.

"Winnipeg wasn’t True North Sports’ first choice for relocation of the St. John’s IceCaps. Not even close.Cheveldayoff says he visited many other potential cities, Thunder Bay, Ont., the one that made headlines a while back.But each time Jets management discussed the options, “the conversation always came back: what about Winnipeg?”"

With both teams sharing the MTS Centre, calling up and sending down players will be an extremely fast process. This will be a luxury that most teams in the league do not have.

So what do you think about Winnipeg becoming the Jets’s new AHL affiliate?

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