Manitoba Moose moving to St. John’s, confirms NHL to Winnipeg: report

The Manitoba Moose are moving to Newfoundland this off-season, according to a report in the St. John’s Telegram.

Sports editor Robin Short writes that the Moose would continue under the ownership of Mark Chipman’s True North Sports & Entertainment for at least next season. The club is expected to eventually be sold to former Newfoundland premier Danny Williams and Glenn Stanford, who served as director of hockey operations for the defunct St. John’s Maple Leafs, and is currently president and governor of the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs.

Short writes that the move is contingent on an NHL team relocating to Winnipeg. He confirmed in his article that a press conference announcing the Moose are moving to St. John’s is scheduled for Friday at 10:30a.m. Central time.

Speaking with a Winnipeg radio station this morning, Short said Glenn Stanford has quietly been negotiating for months to bring an AHL team to St. John’s. Short told sportsradio 1290 that, even more recently, Danny Williams has been in talks with the Manitoba Moose.

“I do know that Williams has been in contact with Chipman and his group — I think it’s Chipman specifically — for the past week or two, which tells me that the whole Atlanta to Winnipeg thing has been a done deal for some time.

“If you’re negotiating to get an NHL team to your city, the last thing you’re going to do is wonder what’s happening to your farm team.”

Short also told the radio station that his source confirming the St. John’s press conference is not anyone involved with city’s AHL-ready rink.

“That’s not coming from the Mile One people — that’s what we’ve been told. I don’t think it’s to announce Mile One’s rollerskating schedule for the summer.”

Neither Williams nor Stanford were available Friday to comment to the Newfoundland newspaper. A spokesperson for the Manitoba Moose this morning denied the St. John’s Telegram report.

The news comes on the heels of a Hockey Night in Canada report last night that the Moose would be the farm team of a new Winnipeg NHL franchise. The Vancouver Canucks would then be left to look for a new AHL partner.

St. John’s was previously home to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ farm team for 14 seasons. They moved to Toronto’s Ricoh Coliseum in the fall of 2005.

MTS Centre ready for NHL press conference: source

Winnpeg’s downtown arena is set for a press conference to announce the return of the NHL.

Space in the MTS Centre has already been prepared for the event, a reliable source confirmed this morning.

Most major hockey press conferences held at the MTS Centre have been staged using the ice, scoreboard and digital power ring as the backdrop.

That is not the plan at present, says the source.

A room has reportedly been set aside, and prepared, in part of the arena that is located backstage during concerts.

The Globe and Mail reported last night that a deal had been reached to sell the Atlanta Thrashers to True North Sports & Entertainment (TNSE) and relocate the team to Winnipeg.

According to the report, “sources confirmed Thursday night that preparations are being made for an announcement Tuesday.”

A concert featuring Kid Rock is also scheduled for Tuesday at MTS Centre.

The NHL, TNSE, and the Atlanta Spirit Group, who own the Trashers, have denied the Globe and Mail report to other media outlets across North America.

The Winnipeg Free Press is reporting that, “a high ranking True North official involved in negotiations to buy the Thrashers said the Globe story was ‘100 per cent untrue.'”