Today Gary Bettman climbed aboard a cherry-picker that lifted him up to a microphone, and announced the NHL had returned to Winnipeg. Yay?

Pretty much the second the city of Glendale agreed to pay the $25 million to keep the Coyotes there, the Thrashers became Plan B.

Of course, if the Thrashers had been Plan A all along, then it could very well be that the NHL was playing a little dirty pool with Glendale, creating a threat that didn't exist in reality, True North Sports and Entertainment in Winnipeg trying to move the Coyotes back to their place of origin.

A lot of people will use this to draw the conclusion that hockey doesn't sell in the South. Personally, I don't buy that. I think anyone can sell anything to anyone if they have the skill and dedication to their product.

Hell, Friday night we managed to kill 4 bottles of Malört Friday night. You can get anyone to do anything.

The big problem wasn't Gary Bettman, the NHL, or the City of Atlanta. The problem was the Atlanta Spirit Group, which bought a package of Phillips Arena, the Atlanta Hawks (NBA) and the Atlanta Thrashers (NHL). They were never interested in owning a hockey team, clearly.

The two times they had legitimate elite players, Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk, they were jettisoned before they needed to be paid. You'll never build a fan base like that. This season, they got a decent GM in Rick Dudley, a couple pieces from a Stanley Cup Champion, Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien, and got solid years out of a couple other players - not a playoff team, but you could see some pieces starting to come together.

Anyway, all that is going to happen with these guys is going to happen in Winnipeg, the City that Global Warming Forgot. They will play their home games in MTS Centre, which holds barely over 15,000 for hockey. 15,000 would be a dismal night these days for the Blackhawks. Of course, when you're playing in a city of 700,000 people, you probably couldn't count on getting 20,000 a night.

As for realignment, the NHL, in their infinite wisdom, have decided against it for this season. So frosty Manitoba will be in...the Southeast Division. Absolutely brilliant.

Gary today basically said the fine people of Winnipeg should really want to impress the Board of Governors by selling 13,000 season tickets with 3-5 year commitments. The people in Winnipeg are so damn giddy to have a team that those seats will be sold in a week.

Now, they didn't officially announce a team name. Figure they'll need a name & jersey by June 24, so they've got a hat & sweater to drape over the 7th overall pick.

On a local note, True North also owns the now-relocating Manitoba Moose of the AHL, so they will be the new affiliate. Which means the Chicago Wolves now have to look for a new NHL team. Considering they're a pretty good draw with a good history of winning in the A, they shouldn't have too much trouble.

The other local note, of course, will be the occasional percolating of someone suggesting Jonathan Toews be traded to Winnipeg, since it's where he's from. People who suggest things on this basis are imbeciles deserving of being blackjacked with a sock filled with quarters. A smelly old sock from a crackhead.

Still, now Atlanta is gone, and Winnipeg is here. Anyone want to buy a Thrashers team for Stiga?