Times wires
Monday, May 16, 2011
ATLANTA — Thrashers president Don Waddell said Monday that the team is exploring "all options" for new owners as there are reports that for the first time those options include a group interested in moving the team to Winnipeg.
Co-owner Bruce Levenson, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and Waddell would not confirm a report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Thrashers owners are in negotiations with True North Sports and Entertainment, which would relocate the team to Manitoba. Winnipeg lost the Jets (now the Phoenix Coyotes) in 1996 but has since built a new arena.
"We've never commented, and aren't going to start now, on who we're talking to or not talking to," Levenson told the Associated Press. A True North representative had no comment.
Levenson said last week that he was trying to find a buyer to keep the team in Atlanta, but he added, "Nobody has pushed forward with an offer."
He is part of the group that controls the Thrashers, the NBA's Hawks and operating rights to Atlanta's Philips Arena.
FEASTER EARNS NOD: The Flames dropped the interim tag and promoted Jay Feaster, who helped assemble the Lightning team that won the 2004 Stanley Cup, to general manager. Feaster was hired last summer as an assistant to Darryl Sutter, who resigned Dec. 28. Feaster also said Calgary and forward Curtis Glencross agreed to a $10.2 million, four-year deal.