Wild to wear North Stars jerseys for warmup
- Thread starter RussosBurner
- Start date
Bruce Granville
Registered User
- Oct 11, 2014
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DowntownBooster
Registered User
The records may belong in Arizona because the league says so but the history was made in Winnipeg. Bobby Hull, Dale Hawerchuk and Teemu Selanne never wore a Coyotes jersey and never resided in Phoenix. I can tell you that we up here are glad to have the 'Winnipeg Jets' name back. Players come and go all the time either through trades or retirement but the fans remain. To us they are all Winnipeg Jets whether they played in the WHA, the first NHL version or the latest incarnation. We are very happy to once again be able to chant 'Go Jets Go'!
On what level do you think it was a "huge mistake" to revive the Jets name? That's what the fans overwhelmingly demanded. What other consideration should there be? The team is for the fans; and it's on the fans the team depends for its financial success.
Chipman in Winnipeg had an idea to call them the Manitoba Polar Ice, or something like that. Maybe that was following the re-brand idea of the Wild, an example of a new team being very successful after a failed earlier franchise. But Minnesota maybe needed to distinguish itself from a previous franchise that, while loved by the fans, had been horribly led and ruined by owners Green and the Gunds. The judgment was they needed a clean break from that. Now that the Wild have succeeded so well, a change to the North Stars name, or incorporating it somehow as a third jersey (either of which I'd like to see) wouldn't harm us in any marketing sense, I don't think.
But the situation was entirely different in Winnipeg. There wasn't that same hostility between the fans and ownership (remember Gund firing local icon Herb Brooks, and the insulting way he did it? And Norm Green's demands and retrobate behavior?). Winnipeg had an old building and owners who couldn't afford to fix things. Fans understood that and their anger was actually directed far more at Gary Bettman, who blocked local efforts to find a solution, than with their ownership. In those circumstances, from a marketing standpoint, it would actually have been a huge mistake to call them anything other than the Jets. Why take that from the fans? They had a minor league WHL team called the Jets in the 1960's-'70s before the WHA team, and St. Paul has had several iterations of its traditional Saints teams in both hockey and baseball. There's nothing wrong with copying those historical names. Let the fans' love of tradition reign where it can work. I think tradition is gaining even more traction today: While the Wild didn't seriously consider calling themselves the North Stars, and the Jets didn't want to use the old name at first, but had to bow to fan sentiment, the Quebec investment group has made it clear that they will consider no name other than Nordiques for the team. I say good for them, if that's what the fans want.
Again..as i stated...my issue is because the history and records of the Jets are in Arizona.
Fans want to remember it...That's fine. But look in the rafters...Hull's number is not there. Hawerchuk's number is not there. Hawerchuk (now Doan) is not the franchise leader in points...Kovalchuk is.
It's not the same franchise and IMO...should not have the same name.
Fans want to remember it...That's fine. But look in the rafters...Hull's number is not there. Hawerchuk's number is not there. Hawerchuk (now Doan) is not the franchise leader in points...Kovalchuk is.
It's not the same franchise and IMO...should not have the same name.
Three Avco Cup banners from the '70s Jets are in the rafters. When I went to Jets games in the old Winnipeg Arena, three Stanley Cup banners from the Victorias team were hanging there (I don't know if they're in the new building). That's Winnipeg's hockey history, so I'm glad they celebrate it; I respect that you have a different opinion, but I'm glad the fans there got the team name they overwhelmingly wanted.
Fair enough. However, people need to let this crap die. You want the colors? Fine. I would concede to that, namely because I do think they look better than the Christmas colors the team has now. However, trying to change the name would be a slap in the face to this franchise anyway now. The Northstars were around for 26 years in Minnesota. In that time they won 2 Division championships and went to the Stanley Cup Finals 2 times. The Wild have been around for now 17 years and have won 1 Division championship and 0 Cup appearances.
If the Wild can muster out 1 or 2 more Division Championships and/or a Cup Win, they would pretty much eclipse the N*.
IDK, this whole "they were our team" stuff makes me roll my eyes now at this point. Unless you were basically born Pre 1986 the likelihood you even remember watching the N*'s play is probably extremely limited.
Fremitus Borealis
Flügelstürmer
Fremitus Borealis
Flügelstürmer
Me too (obviously? 
). I didn't live here then, but I had a soft spot for the North Stars because I was a kid and their jerseys were my favorite color Even though I was like 10 when they were ripped away to Dallas, I could still tell how unjust it all was 
I was likewise in that camp who was really hoping the new Minnesota team would be called the North Stars, since that just makes sense. From the start I've never been super sold on the name "Wild", which is why I'd be perfectly fine with them changing the name now (which would obviously never happen).
). I didn't live here then, but I had a soft spot for the North Stars because I was a kid and their jerseys were my favorite color Even though I was like 10 when they were ripped away to Dallas, I could still tell how unjust it all was I was likewise in that camp who was really hoping the new Minnesota team would be called the North Stars, since that just makes sense. From the start I've never been super sold on the name "Wild", which is why I'd be perfectly fine with them changing the name now (which would obviously never happen).
123TripleDoge
Registered User
- Nov 24, 2014
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That's gonna be really weird when the Wild have been around longer than the North Stars :0
The Wild don't have a finals appearance yet, let alone two like the North Stars had.
Both histories can and should be respected. I don't want the Wild to change to the North Stars, but I do like that the Wild honor and respect their history here.
Both histories can and should be respected. I don't want the Wild to change to the North Stars, but I do like that the Wild honor and respect their history here.
DowntownBooster
Registered User
Actually there is a banner for Hull hanging from the rafters at MTS Centre. There are also banners for Hedberg and Nilsson as well and for each of the 3 Avco Cup championships the Jets won. It really doesn't matter to us where the records reside since we know where they occurred. Both the NFL and NBA have figured out a way to return records back to the original cities where they happened so perhaps the NHL will come around as well. In the meantime the team name is back where it belongs!
Fremitus Borealis
Flügelstürmer
Actually there is a banner for Hull hanging from the rafters at MTS Centre. There are also banners for Hedberg and Nilsson as well and for each of the 3 Avco Cup championships the Jets won. It really doesn't matter to us where the records reside since we know where they occurred. Both the NFL and NBA have figured out a way to return records back to the original cities where they happened so perhaps the NHL will come around as well. In the meantime the team name is back where it belongs!
True. When the Browns moved to Baltimore to become the Ravens, one of the stipulations was that all the history and so on would be left in Cleveland, so they were treated almost like an expansion team. Then the "Browns" would "come back" to Cleveland a couple years later (pretty much an expansion team), and all the history and everything was still there.
