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Minnesota North Stars

The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for most of its history were green, yellow, gold and white. The North Stars played 2,062 regular season games and made the NHL playoffs 17 times, including two Stanley Cup Finals appearances, but were unable to win the Stanley Cup. After the 1992–93 season, the franchise moved to Dallas, and the team was renamed the Dallas Stars.

Beginnings
On March 11, 1965, NHL President Clarence Campbell announced that the league would expand to 12 teams from six by creating a new six-team division for the 1967–68 season. In response to the announcement, a partnership of nine men, led by Walter Bush, Jr., Robert Ridder, and John Driscoll, was formed to seek a franchise for the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Their efforts were successful, as the NHL awarded one of its six expansion franchises to Minnesota on February 9, 1966. The five other franchises were awarded to Oakland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. The expansion fee for each new team was $2 million ($ in dollars). The "North Stars" name was announced on May 25, 1966, after a public contest. The name derives from the state motto, "L'Étoile du Nord", a French phrase meaning "The Star of the North". Months after the naming of the team, ground was broken on October 3, 1966, for a new hockey arena in Bloomington. The home of the North Stars, the Metropolitan Sports Center, was built in 12 months at a cost of $7 million ($ in dollars). The arena was ready for play for the start of the 1967–68 NHL season, but parts of its construction were incomplete. Spectator seats were still being installed as fans arrived for the opening home game on October 21, 1967.

Early years
On October 11, 1967, the North Stars played the first game in franchise history on the road against the St. Louis Blues, another expansion team. The game was a 2–2 tie, with former US National Team forward Bill Masterton scoring the first goal in franchise history. On October 21, 1967, the North Stars played their first home game, against the California Seals. The North Stars won 3–1. The team achieved success early, reaching first place in the West Division halfway through the 1967–68 season. Tragedy struck the team on January 13, 1968, when Masterton suffered a fatal hit during a game against the Seals at Met Center. Skating towards the Seals goal across the blue line, he fell backward, hitting the back of his head on the ice, rendering him unconscious. He never regained consciousness and died on January 15, 1968, two days after the accident. He was 29. Doctors described the cause of death as a "massive brain injury". To date, this remains the only death of a player as a result of an injury during a game in NHL history. The North Stars retired his jersey, and later that year, hockey writers established the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which would be given annually to a player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. Following the news of Masterton's death, the North Stars lost the next six games.

The North Stars achieved success in their first year of existence by finishing fourth in the West Division with a record of 27–32–15 and advancing to the playoffs. During the 1968 playoffs, the North Stars defeated the Los Angeles Kings in seven games after losing the first two in the series. In the next round, the West finals, the North Stars faced the St. Louis Blues in a series that also went seven games. Minnesota was one game away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals but lost the deciding game in double overtime.

The team was led in the early years by the goaltending duo Lorne "Gump" Worsley and Cesare Maniago. Defenseman Ted Harris was the North Stars' captain. The first Stars team also included high-scoring winger Bill Goldsworthy and other quality players such as Barry Gibbs, Jude Drouin, J. P. Parise, Danny Grant, Lou Nanne, Tom Reid and Dennis Hextall.

The World Hockey Association (WHA) began play in 1972 with a franchise based in St. Paul, the Minnesota Fighting Saints. While a number of exhibition games were played between teams in the two leagues, the North Stars never played their cross-town rivals. But the competition for the hockey dollar between these two clubs was fierce. Despite making a good account of themselves on the ice, insurmountable financial difficulties forced the Fighting Saints to fold midway through their fourth season. A second incarnation of the Fighting Saints lasted only half of the next season before also folding.

By 1978 the North Stars had missed the playoffs in five of the previous six seasons, and had only tallied two winning seasons since joining the league. Attendance had tailed off so rapidly that the league feared that the franchise was on the verge of folding. At this point, Gordon and George Gund III, owners of the equally strapped Cleveland Barons, stepped in with an unprecedented solution—merging the North Stars with the Barons. The merged team retained the North Stars name, colors, and history, and remained in Minnesota. But the wealthier Gunds became majority owners of the merged team, and the North Stars moved from the then five-team Smythe Division to the Barons' place in the Adams Division (which would otherwise have been left with only three teams) for the 1978–79 season. The recently retired Nanne was named general manager, and some of the Barons players – notably goaltender Gilles Meloche and forwards Al MacAdam and Mike Fidler – bolstered Minnesota's lineup. Furthermore, Minnesota had drafted Bobby Smith, who went on to win the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie that year, and Steve Payne, who recorded 42 goals in his second campaign in 1979–80.

On January 15, 1979, the North Stars defeated the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, 8–1. Tim Young became the second player in NHL history to score five goals on five shots. His five-goal game remains the best offensive output by a player in the Minnesota/Dallas franchise.

1980s
In the middle of this transition, a historic night awaited the North Stars. On January 7, 1980, Minnesota was scheduled to play the Philadelphia Flyers, who came to Bloomington with the NHL's and major league sports’ longest undefeated streak, a 35-game run of 25 wins and 10 ties. An all-time record Met Center crowd of 15,962 squeezed into the arena, which remained the highest total in all 26 seasons of the North Stars franchise. Minnesota ended the Flyers' streak with a 7–1 win. Seven different North Stars scored seven unanswered goals. In the quarter-final round of the 1980 playoffs, the North Stars upset the four-time defending champion Montreal Canadiens in seven games before bowing out to Philadelphia in the next round.

With the addition of new players such as Minnesota native and 1980 Olympian Neal Broten and sniper Dino Ciccarelli, the North Stars had five straight winning seasons starting in 1979–80, which included back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup semifinals, against the Flyers in 1980 and against the Calgary Flames in 1981. By defeating the Flames in 1981, the North Stars reached their first Stanley Cup Finals. They lost in five games to the heavily favored New York Islanders.

On November 11, 1981, the Winnipeg Jets visited Met Center. Fueled by an eight-goal second period, and a four-goal, seven-point night by Bobby Smith, the North Stars scored the most goals in an NHL game since 1944 in a 15–2 win.

Following the 1981 NHL realignment to a more geographically grouped configuration, the North Stars were in the Norris Division. Ciccarelli scored a franchise record 55 goals in just his second season in 1981–82, leading Minnesota to its first division title. The team bowed out of the playoffs in the first round against the Chicago Black Hawks.

In the summer of 1982, general manager Lou Nanne drafted Brian Bellows, who scored 35 goals in his rookie season of 1982–83, when the team finished with 40 wins and 96 regular season points – both the most ever recorded in the 26 years the franchise was based in Minnesota. The North Stars lost in the playoffs to the Chicago Black Hawks in the second round.

In 1983–84 Bill Mahoney, a defensive-minded coach, took over. Early in the season, Bobby Smith was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for a pair of defense-minded forwards, Keith Acton and Mark Napier. The team posted the second-highest victory total in its history with 39 and won its second Norris Division crown in three years. Luckily for them, the Norris Division was very weak that year; they were the only team in the division to have a winning record.

In the playoffs, the North Stars defeated the Blackhawks. Minnesota won the series 3–2, then eliminated the St. Louis Blues in seven games. They then lost to the Edmonton Oilers in four games.

After 1984, the franchise only had one more winning season in Minnesota, in 1985–86. In 1987–88, it won 19 games, the second-fewest wins in franchise history. A loss to the Calgary Flames coupled with the Leafs' win over the Red Wings not only kept the North Stars out of the playoffs, but also with the worst record in the league. Chronic attendance problems led the owners to threaten to move the club to the San Francisco Bay Area, against the league's wishes.

1990s
The NHL instituted a compromise for the 1990–91 season whereby the Gund brothers were awarded an expansion team in the Bay Area, the San Jose Sharks, that would receive players from Minnesota via a dispersal draft with the North Stars. Both the Sharks and North Stars would then be able to select players from the other 20 NHL teams in an expansion draft. A group previously petitioning for an NHL team in the Bay Area, led by Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg, bought the North Stars as part of the deal. Baldwin and Belzberg purchased the team from the Gunds for approximately $38.1 million (including $1 million in liabilities as well as giving the Gunds their share of the fees from the next three expansion teams, expected to be $7.14 million). Norman Green, a former part-owner of the Calgary Flames and a last-minute newcomer to Baldwin and Belzberg's group, purchased 51% controlling interest in the North Stars from them, with Baldwin and Belzberg sharing the remaining 49% stake. Green agreed to purchase Baldwin's 24.5% share, giving him more than 75% control of the team shortly after a dispute with Baldwin arose. Belzberg maintained his share of the rest of the team's stock until October 1990, when Green became the team's sole owner by buying Belzberg's shares.

In the 1990–91 season, despite a losing record in the regular season, the North Stars embarked on a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Finals. They knocked off the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues (the top two teams in the NHL during the regular season) in six games each and the defending Stanley Cup Champion Edmonton Oilers in five games, making it to the finals for the second time in franchise history. The team fought hard against the eventual champion Pittsburgh Penguins, led by Mario Lemieux. They won two out of the first three contests before being obliterated 8–0 in game six of the best-of-seven series. It was the most lopsided defeat in a deciding game of the Stanley Cup Finals since the original Ottawa Senators defeated the Dawson City Nuggets 23–2 in 1905.

Following the 1991 Finals run, the North Stars adopted a new logo – the word "STARS" in italicized gold capitals over a green star with a gold outline; the gold now a more metallic shade than the previous yellowish shade. The team also adopted black as its primary color for its road uniforms, and eliminated gold from the uniform, except for the logo. Even before the logo change, it had been speculated that the North Stars would adopt a new logo following the 1990–91 season, as the future primary logo was first painted on the Met Center ice before the aforementioned season, albeit in a reverse color scheme from its upcoming incarnation.

To celebrate the team's 25th anniversary, the team wore a commemorative patch on the left shoulder of its uniforms. The patch depicted Bill Goldsworthy, wearing a green uniform, facing off against Mike Modano, wearing the new black uniform.

Per the 1991 expansion agreement, the North Stars were allowed to protect fourteen players from selection by the Sharks. This meant the core of their 1991 conference championship roster essentially remained intact, with the team losing only four players from its NHL roster to San Jose (the Sharks' remaining selections from Minnesota were minor-leaguers). As a result, while the Sharks endured the typical struggles of an expansion team and finished last overall, the North Stars modestly improved from the 1990–91 regular season though still finishing with a losing record. They made the 1992 playoffs and took a 3–2 series lead into game six at the Met Center against the Norris Division champion Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings won, 1–0, in overtime after a video referee review confirmed that Sergei Fedorov had scored a goal. This was the first use of video replay in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Wings won the seventh game at home, 5–2.

Departure to Dallas
By 1992, Norman Green was arranging a deal to turn the team into the Los Angeles Stars, playing at a new arena (which is now the Honda Center) under construction in Anaheim, California. However, as The Walt Disney Company was already in negotiations with the NHL to create an expansion team in the area, the league instead asked Green to let Disney create the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim while the North Stars would be allowed to relocate to any city of Green's choosing. In January 1993, Green chose Dallas, Texas as the new home of the franchise, and the decision was formally announced on March 10. Several reasons were cited for the relocation, including poor attendance during a string of losing seasons, the failure to reach deals for a new arena in either Minneapolis or Saint Paul, and a sexual harassment lawsuit against Green that resulted in his wife threatening to leave him unless he moved the team. The subsequent decision to relocate the franchise to Texas made Green much reviled in Minnesota, where he derisively came to be known as "Norm Greed".

Another factor that also precipitated the move to Dallas was the fact that the team refused to play at the Target Center, where the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves played, due to the fact that Coca-Cola had advertising and pouring rights at that arena. The North Stars and the Met Center had Pepsi as their sponsor. Despite that, the newly relocated Stars did play at Target Center on December 9, 1993, against the Ottawa Senators, though only 14,058 fans showed up to watch the Stars defeat the Senators 6–1.

Due to mounting financial problems resulting from poor management of his non-hockey business ventures, Green only kept the Stars for three more years before selling them to Tom Hicks in 1996.

On the other hand, the Dallas franchise has taken some steps to mend the emotional wounds left in Minnesota. When the Dallas Stars won the 1999 Stanley Cup–three years after Green sold the team–their official video "Nothing Else Matters" not only included their past seasons' disappointments, but also paid tribute to the North Stars' 1991 run to the final, of which star Mike Modano and general manager Bob Gainey had been part.

Modano, who retired in 2011, was the last former North Star in the NHL, leaving the Stars franchise after the season. The last active former North Star was Mike Craig, who played in Italy until 2013. After Modano's last game as a Dallas Star, which was in Minnesota playing the Wild, Modano came on the ice as the first star wearing a North Stars jersey, getting a standing ovation from the crowd.

With the departure of former North Stars scout Les Jackson from the Dallas Stars franchise on June 30, 2020, there is no longer anyone working for Dallas who had a direct connection to the franchise's time in Minnesota.

Return of NHL hockey to Minnesota
NHL hockey returned to Minnesota when the NHL announced in 1997 that the state had been awarded an expansion franchise to begin play in the 2000–01 NHL season. In 1998, the team name for the new franchise became the Minnesota Wild.

On December 17, 2000, the Wild hosted the Dallas Stars in the latter's first visit to Minnesota since the relocation (excluding the aforementioned neutral-site game at Target Center in 1993). The Wild won that game 6–0 with Darby Hendrickson scoring two goals and Manny Fernandez making 24 saves for a shutout. As of the 2023–24 season, the Stars won 52 of 90 meetings with the Wild, with one tie and nine OT/SO losses. The two teams also faced each other in the 2016 and 2023 first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Stars prevailed over the Wild in both series.

On April 4, 2017, the Wild honored the North Stars by wearing North Stars jerseys for warmups, despite the North Stars history belonging to the Dallas Stars. Martin Hanzal warmed up with number 91, as the North Stars retired number 19 in honor of Bill Masterton. Zach Parise also warmed up with equipment belonging to his father, the late Jean-Paul Parise, who played for the North Stars.

An alumni game pitting the Chicago Blackhawks against Team Minnesota took place the day prior to the 2016 NHL Stadium Series. Team Minnesota featured a mix of former North Stars and Wild players, and wore throwback North Stars jerseys with the former's logo on the right shoulder and the Wild logo on the left shoulder.

For the 2020–21 season, the Minnesota Wild introduced a version of the 1978 North Stars jersey, featuring a recolored Wild logo as part of the league-wide "Reverse Retro" jersey program. In the 2022–23 season, a green version of the "Reverse Retro" jersey was used. The Wild's green "Reverse Retro" jersey was subsequently promoted to a full-time third jersey as "The 78s" alternate uniform, adding the recolored "State of Hockey" patch on the shoulders.

Season-by-season record
The team had seventeen playoff appearances, a 77–82 playoff record, two Norris Division championships, and two Campbell Conference championships.

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Team leaders

 * Regular season
 * Games played: Neal Broten, 876
 * Goals: Brian Bellows, 342
 * Assists: Neal Broten, 547
 * Points: Neal Broten, 796
 * Penalty minutes: Basil McRae, 1,567
 * Games: Cesare Maniago, 420
 * Wins: Cesare Maniago, 145
 * Shutouts: Cesare Maniago, 26

 * Single season
 * Goals: Dino Ciccarelli (1981–82) and Brian Bellows (1989-90), 55
 * Assists: Neal Broten, 76 (1985–86)
 * Points: Bobby Smith, 114 (1981–82)
 * Penalty minutes: Basil McRae, 382 (1987–88)
 * Wins: Jon Casey, 31 (1989–90)
 * Shutouts: Cesare Maniago, 6 (1967–68)

 * Playoffs
 * Games played: Neal Broten, 104
 * Goals: Steve Payne, 35
 * Assists: Bobby Smith, 50
 * Points: Brian Bellows, 83
 * Penalty minutes: Willi Plett, 201
 * Games: Gilles Meloche, 45
 * Wins: Gilles Meloche and Jon Casey, 21
 * Shutouts: Cesare Maniago, 3

Team scoring leaders
This is a listing of the top ten point scorers in franchise history.

''Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game

NHL awards and trophies
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl
 * 1990–91

Calder Memorial Trophy
 * Danny Grant: 1968–69
 * Bobby Smith: 1978–79

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
 * Al MacAdam: 1979–80

Team captains
Note: This list does not include Dallas Stars, California Golden Seals and Cleveland Barons captains.
 * Bob Woytowich 1967–68
 * Elmer Vasko 1968–69
 * Claude Larose 1969–70
 * Ted Harris 1970–74
 * Bill Goldsworthy 1974–76
 * Bill Hogaboam 1976–77
 * Nick Beverley 1977–78
 * J. P. Parise 1978–79
 * Paul Shmyr 1979–81
 * Tim Young 1981–82
 * Craig Hartsburg 1982–89
 * Brian Bellows 1984 (interim)
 * Curt Giles 1989–91
 * Mark Tinordi 1991–93

Head coaches

 * Wren Blair, 1967–70
 * John Muckler, 1968–69
 * Charlie Burns, 1969–70, 1974–75
 * Jack Gordon, 1970–75
 * Parker MacDonald, 1973–74
 * Ted Harris, 1975–78
 * Andre Beaulieu, 1977–78
 * Lou Nanne, 1977–78
 * Harry Howell, 1978–79
 * Glen Sonmor, 1978–87
 * Murray Oliver, 1982–83
 * Bill Mahoney, 1983–85
 * Lorne Henning, 1985–87
 * Herb Brooks, 1987–88
 * Pierre Page, 1988–90
 * Bob Gainey, 1990–93

Hockey Hall of Fame
Players
 * Leo Boivin
 * Dino Ciccarelli
 * Mike Gartner
 * Mike Modano
 * Larry Murphy
 * Gump Worsley

Retired numbers
These numbers remain retired with the Dallas Stars. In addition to Goldsworthy and Masterton, the Stars have retired the number 7 of Neal Broten, who played with the North Stars from 1981 to 1993, and the number 9 of Mike Modano who played from 1988 to 1993.

First-round draft picks

 * 1967: Wayne Cheesman (fourth overall)
 * 1968: Jim Benzelock (fifth overall)
 * 1969: Dick Redmond (fifth overall)
 * 1972: Jerry Byers (12th overall)
 * 1974: Doug Hicks (sixth overall)
 * 1975: Bryan Maxwell (fourth overall)
 * 1976: Glen Sharpley (third overall)
 * 1977: Brad Maxwell (seventh overall)
 * 1978: Bobby Smith (first overall)
 * 1979: Craig Hartsburg (sixth overall) and Tom McCarthy (10th overall)
 * 1980: Brad Palmer (16th overall)
 * 1981: Ron Meighan (13th overall)
 * 1982: Brian Bellows (second overall)
 * 1983: Brian Lawton (first overall)
 * 1984: David Quinn (13th overall)
 * 1986: Warren Babe (12th overall)
 * 1987: Dave Archibald (sixth overall)
 * 1988: Mike Modano (first overall)
 * 1989: Doug Zmolek (seventh overall)
 * 1990: Derian Hatcher (eighth overall)
 * 1991: Richard Matvichuk (eighth overall)

Logos and colors

The North Stars were known for their "classic" green and gold color scheme. For the majority of their existence, the North Stars wore white jerseys with green and gold striping at home and green jerseys with white and gold stripes on the road. Black trim was added to the white jerseys in 1981, and to the green jerseys in 1988. In 1988–89, the pants changed from green to black, with three stars on each side in place of stripes.

In 1991, black became the primary color, as the team underwent a complete redesign. The new logo and uniforms were carried over to Dallas after the team moved south.

Broadcasting
WTCN-TV Channel 11 (now KARE) carried North Stars games from 1967 to 1979. Usually, 27 road games and three home games were televised each season. Frank Buetel was the play-by-play announcer from 1967 to 1970. Hal Kelly took over for the next few years. followed by Joe Boyle in the mid-1970s. Boyle was joined by color commentator Roger Buxton. After the station gained NBC affiliation in 1979, telecasts moved to KMSP-TV (now a Fox owned-and-operated station), with most called by Bob Kurtz and retired North Stars defenseman Tom Reid (incidentally, Kurtz and Reid are the Minnesota Wild's current radio announce team). KITN (now WFTC) televised North Stars games with Frank Mazzocco on play-by-play with color commentators Fred Barrett, Roger Buxton, and Wally Shaver from the 1984–85 through 1986–87 seasons. The 1987–88 season saw North Stars' games telecast over Saint Cloud-based UHF station KXLI (with Kurtz on play-by-play and former Islander goalie Glenn "Chico" Resch on color). After Kurtz moved on to Massachusetts-based NESN in the summer of 1988, Doug McLeod joined Resch in the broadcast booth beginning with the 1988–89 season. The North Stars' telecasts returned to KMSP in December 1988. The majority of the road games continued to be shown on KMSP, though late in the season some road games were shown on the premium channel Midwest Sports Channel. For the 1989–90 season, Tom Reid joined McLeod in the booth, replacing Resch as color commentator. The 1990–91 season saw first Lou Nanne, then Dave Maloney, and then again, for the playoffs, Nanne paired with McLeod for television broadcasts on both of these same channels. Telecasts were almost exclusively of North Stars' road games, although a handful of home games were televised during that period of time. The 1991 Stanley Cup Finals run saw home games available only on pay-per-view and not available to most hockey fans in Minnesota. Dave Hodge handled TV play-by-play, partnering with color analyst Joe Micheletti in the 1991–92 season.

North Stars radio broadcasts originated from WCCO Radio from 1967 to 1978, then moved to another Twin Cities-based clear-channel station, KSTP, where radio broadcasts stayed until the team moved to Dallas in 1993, save a few seasons on a 5,000-watt radio station, WAYL. Al Shaver was the play-by-play radio announcer throughout the Stars' stay in Minnesota. During the WCCO era, Shaver was joined for many home games by WCCO's Larry Jagoe in the early seasons, followed by WCCO personality Steve Cannon. Shaver's partners on KSTP were Russ Small, Ted Robinson, and (during the last three seasons) former Dallas Stars announcer Ralph Strangis. During the Stars' final season (1992–93), Shaver and Strangis called games on KMSP, while the Stars' cable TV game announcer, Doug McLeod, called games over KSTP and the Stars' radio network.

Shaver is a ten-time Minnesota Sportscaster of the Year and, as the 1993 Foster Hewitt Memorial Award-winner, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Following the team's departure to Dallas, he called University of Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey games until his retirement in 1996.

It was on the night of the Stars' final game at Joe Louis Arena versus the Detroit Red Wings that Shaver first shared the broadcast booth with his son, Wally, who is the current Gopher hockey radio announcer. The elder Shaver's call of the closing moments of the last-ever North Stars game went thus: "'It's Ludwig, giving it to Dahlen ... 4, 3, 2, 1 ... and it's all over. The Stars lose it here, 5–3, and now it's pack-'em up time and on to Dallas. We wish them good luck. And to all the North Stars over the past 26 years, we say thank you, all of you, for so much fine entertainment. It's been a pleasure knowing you, Minnesota's loss is definitely a gain for Dallas – and a big one. We thank you, though, from the bottoms of our hearts, for all the wonderful nights at Met Center, when you've given us so much entertainment and you've been such a credit to the community in which you played. We will still remember you as the Minnesota North Stars. Good night, everybody. And goodbye.'"

Radio
Al Shaver did all radio play-by-play except in 1992–93, when he did radio play-by-play on non televised games. He also missed some games when he did the high school hockey tournament in a number of years. Shaver's replacements were Bob Kurtz (1979–80), Ted Robinson (1980–81 and 1981–82), Frank Mazzocco (1986–87), Ralph Strangis (1990–91). In 1992–93, Doug McLeod did radio play-by-play on televised games with various analysts including Doug Woog, Tom Vannelli, and Wally Shaver.

Shaver did not follow the North Stars when they moved to Dallas in 1993, opting to stay in the Twin Cities. He called University of Minnesota men's hockey for several seasons, then retired in 1996. Shaver came out of retirement for one season in 2000, when the NHL returned to Minnesota with the debut of the Minnesota Wild, calling their games during their inaugural season in 2000–01.

After retiring as a player, Reid spent 12 years as color commentator for the North Stars. After the team's move to Dallas, Reid continued as an analyst for NCAA hockey. He and Bob Kurtz have been part of the radio broadcast team for the Minnesota Wild since the team's inaugural season in 2000.

Although Strangis had a great deal of broadcast experience, his tryout as color commentator on the Minnesota North Stars radio network was a longshot; other better-known sportscasters received more air time during the auditioning process. The five potential candidates split up a game as guest commentators alongside Al Shaver, then voice of the Minnesota North Stars. The two better-known talents each took a period and then the three longshots split up the third, with Strangis going last. When Al Shaver was asked who he liked the best, he chose Strangis. Ralph shone in his audition, with the perfect ability to complement Shaver's play-by-play with insights from the players and his own intimate knowledge of the game. When the Stars moved to Dallas in 1993, Shaver decided to not to migrate south with the franchise and retired. After three more seasons as color commentator (teaming with Mike Fornes), Strangis migrated to the play-by-play mic, effectively cementing his status as the "Voice of the Stars."

Television
In 1979, Kurtz joined KMSP-TV, where he called Minnesota Twins games from 1979 to 1986 and Minnesota North Stars games from 1979 to 1984. He was also the North Stars play by play announcer on KXLI-TV during the 1987–88 NHL season. From 1988 to 1989, he was the sports director at KSTP radio, where he also called University of Minnesota hockey, football and basketball. Kurtz returned to Minnesota in 2000 when he was hired to become the first radio play by play announcer for the Minnesota Wild. He was reunited with Tom Reid, who he previously worked with while calling games for the North Stars as well as University of Minnesota and Michigan State hockey broadcasts.

title: Minnesota North Stars


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George Anson

George Anson may refer to:

 * George Anson, 1st Baron Anson (1697–1762), British admiral, noted for his circumnavigation of the globe
 * George Anson (politician, born 1731) (1731–1789), British MP for Lichfield, nephew of the above
 * Sir George Anson (British Army officer, born 1769) (1769–1849), British general and MP for Lichfield, son of the above
 * George Anson (British Army officer, born 1797) (1797–1857), British general and MP for Great Yarmouth and Staffordshire South, nephew of the above
 * George Edward Anson (1812–1849), British courtier and politician, first cousin of the above
 * George Anson (priest) (1820–1898), Archdeacon of Manchester, first cousin of the above
 * George W. Anson (1847–1920), British actor
 * George Anson (doctor) (1850–1934), New Zealand cricketer and doctor

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: George Anson


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Atlanta Flames

The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with the New York Islanders, the Flames were created in 1971 as part of the NHL's conflict with the rival World Hockey Association (WHA). The team enjoyed modest success on the ice, qualifying for the playoffs in six of its eight seasons, but failed to win a playoff series and won only two post-season games total. The franchise struggled to draw fans and, after averaging only 10,000 per game by the 1979–80 season and was sold and relocated to Alberta to become the Calgary Flames.

Eric Vail was the Flames' top goal scorer with 174 while Tom Lysiak led with 431 points. Guy Chouinard was the lone player to score 50 goals in one season. Goaltender Dan Bouchard led the team in wins (166) and shutouts (20). Two Flames players won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie: Vail in 1974–75 and Willi Plett in 1975–76. Bob MacMillan won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the most gentlemanly player in 1978–79. General manager Cliff Fletcher is the lone member of the Atlanta team to be named to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Formation
The National Hockey League (NHL), which had grown from six teams in 1966 to fourteen in 1970, had not planned further expansion until at least 1973. However, the 1971 formation of a rival major league—the World Hockey Association (WHA)—altered the NHL's plans and resulted in the two leagues battling for players and markets. The NHL sought to keep the WHA out of the newly constructed Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York. The league also opted to place a team in the American South. The NHL announced on November 9, 1971, that it was expanding to Long Island and Atlanta. The Atlanta franchise was awarded to Atlanta real estate developer Tom Cousins, who also owned the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and would play out of the newly built Omni Coliseum. The team cost $6 million. Cousins named the franchise the Flames in homage to the burning of Atlanta by United States Army General William Sherman during the American Civil War.

The Flames hired Cliff Fletcher, formerly of the St. Louis Blues, to serve as the team's general manager. Former Montreal Canadiens player Bernie Geoffrion was hired as the team's head coach. The team stocked its roster via an expansion draft held on June 6, 1972. Fletcher focused on goaltending, choosing Phil Myre with his first selection and rookie Dan Bouchard with his second. Fletcher drafted a competent roster, but one that was young and inexperienced. Two days later, the Flames selected Jacques Richard as the second overall pick in the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft.

1972–1975
The Flames made their NHL debut in Long Island against their expansion cousins, the New York Islanders, on October 7, 1972. They won the game 3–2; Morris Stefaniw scored the first goal in franchise history and the first NHL goal in Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The team made its home debut one week later on October 14. Hosting the first event in Omni Coliseum history, the Flames tied the Buffalo Sabres, 1–1, before a sellout crowd of 14,568. The team was respectable through much of the season on the strength of Bouchard and Myre's goaltending performances, and by mid-January, had a 20–19–8 win–loss–tie record. The Flames won only five more games through the rest of the season, finishing at 25–38–15. Atlanta finished in seventh place in the West Division and missed the playoffs. The team was reasonably successful at the gate: it sold nearly 7,000 season tickets by the start of the season, and averaged 12,516 fans per game.

Tom Lysiak, selected second overall at the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft, joined the Flames for the 1973–74 season and made an immediate impact. Lysiak led the Flames in scoring with 64 points and finished second to the Islanders' Denis Potvin in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie. Improving to 30–34–14, the Flames finished fourth in the West and qualified for the 1974 Stanley Cup playoffs. They made their post-season debut against the division-winning Philadelphia Flyers. The first game, played April 9, 1974, was a 4–1 victory for the Flyers. Philadelphia went on to defeat the Flames in their best-of-seven series with four consecutive wins. Geoffrion was praised for his coaching of the club and finished second in voting for the Jack Adams Award as top coach.

The NHL's expansion to 18 teams in 1974–75 resulted in realignment. The league moved to a four division format, placing the Flames in the Patrick Division. Lysiak repeated as the Flames' top scorer with 77 points while Eric Vail, playing his first full season, led with 39 goals. Vail's total led all rookies and earned him the Calder Trophy. The team overcame an eight-game losing streak in December and injuries to several key players to post their first winning season with a 34–31–15 record. However, they finished fourth in the Patrick Division and failed to qualify for the post-season. Citing personal reasons, Geoffrion resigned as head coach late in the season. He was replaced by Fred Creighton, who had been coaching the Flames' minor league affiliate, the Omaha Knights. Fletcher later credited Geoffrion's outgoing personality as being the primary reason why people in Atlanta followed the Flames in the franchise's first seasons while the team's players later stated an appreciation for Creighton's more technical coaching and teaching style.

1975–1980
Creighton produced a consistent, but not outstanding team, as the Flames finished third in the Patrick for the following three seasons and typically won a few games more than they lost each year. The team qualified for the playoffs all three years, but lost in the preliminary round each time. In 1975–76, they were defeated by the Los Angeles Kings in a best of three series, two games to none. The Kings again eliminated the Flames in 1976–77, but Atlanta earned its first playoff victory in franchise history in the second game of the series. Vail scored the game-winning goal in a 3–2 victory over the Kings on April 7, 1977, but the Flames were eliminated in the third game. 1975 draft pick Willi Plett emerged as a young star for the Flames. He scored 33 goals in his rookie season of 1976–77 and won the Calder Trophy.

Seeking to improve his team's fortunes, Fletcher made several moves over the following seasons to rework the Flames roster. His goaltending tandem of Bouchard and Myre had begun to feud with each other by the 1977–78 season as both sought more playing time. Fletcher responded by naming Bouchard his number one goaltender and trading Myre to the St. Louis Blues for three players. They made it into the playoffs again but were the only team to fall to a team with fewer points than them, the Detroit Red Wings, in a best-of-three series, two games to none. In March 1979, Fletcher completed an eight player trade that sent franchise-leading scorer Tom Lysiak and four players to the Chicago Black Hawks for three players, led by defenseman Phil Russell. Fletcher hoped the addition of Russell would help his team achieve playoff success.

Buoyed by a franchise record ten-game winning streak in October 1978, the 1978–79 Flames posted the best record in their Atlanta years at 41–31–8. Bob MacMillan, acquired in the Myre deal, became the first Flame other than Lysiak to lead the team in scoring in six years and, along with Guy Chouinard, was one of the first two Flames' players to score 100 points in one season. Chouinard also became the team's first 50-goal scorer. MacMillan won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy that season as the NHL's most gentlemanly player. In the playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Atlanta again failed to win a game as they lost a best of three series two games to none.

Fletcher continued to alter his team's make-up throughout the 1979–80. Al MacNeil replaced Creighton as head coach prior to the season, and the team acquired Swedish star Kent Nilsson following the demise of the WHA. Nilsson led Atlanta in scoring with 40 goals and 53 assists. At the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, Fletcher selected four players – Paul Reinhart, Jim Peplinski, Pat Riggin and Tim Hunter – who would ultimately become regulars in the Flames line up. However, while the Flames again qualified for the playoffs in 1980, they again lost in the first round, losing a best-of-five series to the New York Rangers three games to one.

Relocation
As the team stagnated on the ice, the Flames struggled at the gate. They peaked at an average of 14,161 fans per game in their second season, 1973–74, but fell to 12,258 three years later and then 10,500 in 1977–78. Concerns that low attendance could result in the relocation of the team surfaced by 1976, prompting politicians and the players themselves to purchase tickets in a bid to stabilize the franchise. The Flames attempted to boost attendance in 1980 by signing Jim Craig, goaltender of the American Olympic team that had won the Olympic gold medal following its "Miracle on Ice" victory over the Soviet Union. It was not successful as attendance fell to an average of 10,024. Adding to the Flames' financial woes was the fact that the Omni Coliseum was one of the last major arenas in North America to be built without revenue-generating luxury suites, which led Fletcher to describe the facility as being "out-of-date when it opened".

Cousins announced he was seeking to sell the club following the Flames' exit from the playoffs. Their final game, a 5–2 loss against the New York Rangers, was played in Atlanta on April 12, 1980. He claimed to have suffered significant financial losses on the team while low viewership hampered his ability to sign a television contract. Additionally, the real estate crunch of the 1970s hit Cousins especially hard. Most of his money not tied up in his real estate interests was tied up in the Flames, leading him to put the Flames on the market. The Flames, estimated to have lost $12 million in its eight years, had been rumored for months to be moving to Calgary, though Dallas and Houston were also mentioned as possible destinations. Dallas got an NHL team in 1993, when the erstwhile Minnesota North Stars relocated to the city to become the Dallas Stars.

The Seaman brothers, Daryl and Byron, had made an offer of $14 million while the City of Calgary prepared to build a new arena for the team. However, Canadian businessman Nelson Skalbania emerged as a rival bidder for the team before joining the Calgary consortium. The group agreed to purchase the Flames for $16 million, at the time the highest price ever paid for an NHL franchise. The sale was announced on May 21, 1980, and the franchise relocated to Canada where it became the Calgary Flames. The Flames have since used the Atlanta logo for both its alternate captains, and the team's former affiliate that played in the American Hockey League (AHL), the Adirondack Flames.

The last active Atlanta Flames player in the NHL was Kent Nilsson, who played his final game in 1995. Several former players of the team returned to Atlanta once their careers ended. Among them, Tom Lysiak operated a horse farm outside the city, Eric Vail returned to operate a nightclub and Willi Plett operated a sporting theme park and golf course. Fletcher would remain the team's general manager until 1991, steering the team to two appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals and a Cup victory in 1989. The Flames would appear in the playoffs every year until 1991, a streak of 16 consecutive seasons dating to their fourth year in Atlanta.

The NHL returns to Atlanta, then leaves again
The NHL returned to Atlanta in 1999, when the Atlanta Thrashers joined the league as an expansion franchise. The Flames and Thrashers were however in opposing conferences; this meant that the Flames, who were in the Western Conference, would play one game in Atlanta annually until the 2010–11 season, when the Thrashers announced that they were sold and relocating to Winnipeg, Manitoba, becoming the second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets. Atlanta is the only other city besides Quebec City to have lost two NHL teams, in both cases, relocating to Western Canada.

Uniform
In their eight-year history, the Atlanta Flames wore red and white uniforms with yellow accents. This set generally had contrasting color stripes with yellow borders along the sleeves, socks and tail. A red shoulder stripe adorned the white uniforms. They carried this set over to Calgary following the relocation, replacing the "flaming A" with the "flaming C" decal in front. The "flaming A" was later used by the Calgary Flames to denote alternate captains.

Coincidentally, their then-sister team Atlanta Hawks also changed their colors to red and yellow shortly after the Flames were established. They would keep this color scheme until 2007, only to be restored in 2020. The Hawks also added black as a tertiary color in 1992, with the now-Calgary Flames following suit in 1995; as of 2022, both teams currently wear black uniforms as third jerseys while their primary uniforms dropped black from the color scheme.

Season-by-season record
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Team captains

 * Keith McCreary 1972–1975
 * Pat Quinn 1975–1977
 * Tom Lysiak 1977–1979
 * Jean Pronovost 1979–1980

Award winners
Three members of the Flames were named recipients of NHL awards during the team's tenure in Atlanta. Eric Vail was the first, as he won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the top rookie in 1974–75 after scoring 39 goals and finishing with 60 points. Paraguayan-born Willi Plett won the award two years later after scoring 33 goals and 23 assists in his first full NHL season. Bob MacMillan was named the league's most gentlemanly player in 1978–79, which earned him the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy. He finished fifth overall in league scoring with 104 points while accruing only 14 penalty minutes throughout the season.

Seven players represented the Flames at the NHL All-Star Game. Randy Manery became the team's first all-star when he played in the 1973 contest. He was subsequently joined by Al McDonough (1974), Tom Lysiak (1975, 1976 and 1977), Curt Bennett (1975 and 1976), Eric Vail (1977), Bill Clement (1978) and Kent Nilsson (1980).

Hockey Hall of Fame
There are four members of the Atlanta Flames organization to be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame:
 * Bernie Geoffrion, was also inducted into the player category in 1972, the same year he joined the Flames organization at the Flames first head coach.
 * Cliff Fletcher, a native of Montreal, began his career in hockey management as a scout for the Montreal Canadiens in 1956 and rose to the position of assistant general manager with the St. Louis Blues before being hired in 1972 as the inaugural and lone general manager of the Atlanta Flames. Fletcher remained with the organization for another 11 years following its transition to Calgary and was the architect of the franchise's lone Stanley Cup championship, in 1989. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004 as a builder.
 * Pat Quinn played with the Atlanta Flames from 1972 to 1977 was inducted in 2016 as a builder for coaching various teams around the NHL.
 * David Poile an executive with the Flames served in various roles from 1972 to 1982 before moving on to the Washington Capitals was inducted in 2024.

No Atlanta Flames player has been inducted into the players category.

Broadcasters
All of the Flames' radio and television broadcasts were simulcasts. The Flames' games were televised over-the-air on WTCG 17 and on the radio by WSB (AM). Jiggs McDonald was the main play-by-play announcer with Skip Caray substituting from 1976–80. Color commentators included Andy Still (1972–73), Bob Neal (1973–74), Ed Thilenius (1974–75; home and televised games only), Bernie Geoffrion (1975–79), and Bobby Harper (1979–80; home games only). Pete Van Wieren also did play-by-play for the Flames.

Scoring leaders
These are the top ten scorers for the franchise during its time in Atlanta.

Note: GP = games played, G = goals, A = assists, Pts = points, PIM = penalties in minutes

Single-season

 * Most goals: Guy Chouinard, 50 (1978–79)
 * Most assists: Bob MacMillan, 71 (1978–79)
 * Most points: Bob MacMillan, 108 (1978–79)
 * Most penalty minutes: Willi Plett, 231 (1979–80)
 * Most points, defenseman: Paul Reinhart, 47 (1979–80)
 * Most points, rookie: Tom Lysiak, 64 (1973–74)
 * Most wins: Dan Bouchard, 32 (1978–79)

Career

 * Games: Eric Vail, 469
 * Goals: Eric Vail, 174
 * Assists: Tom Lysiak, 276
 * Points: Tom Lysiak, 431
 * Penalty minutes: Willi Plett, 738
 * Goaltender games: Dan Bouchard, 384
 * Goaltender wins: Dan Bouchard, 164
 * Shutouts: Dan Bouchard, 20

title: Atlanta Flames


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Winnipeg Jets (1972–1996)

The Winnipeg Jets were a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. They began play in the World Hockey Association (WHA) in 1972. The club joined the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1979 after the NHL merged with the WHA. Due to mounting financial troubles, in 1996 the franchise moved to Phoenix, Arizona and became the Phoenix Coyotes (the former name of the now ceased Arizona Coyotes). The team played their home games at Winnipeg Arena.

The WHA years (1972–1979)
On December 27, 1971, Winnipeg was granted one of the founding franchises in the WHA. The original owner was Ben Hatskin, a local figure who made his wealth in cardboard shipping containers. The team took their name from the Winnipeg Jets of the Western Canada Hockey League.

The Jets' first signing was Norm Beaudin (earning the player the moniker of "the Original Jet"), while the first major signing was Bobby Hull. Hull's acquisition, partially financed by the rest of the WHA's teams, gave the league instant credibility and paved the way for other NHL stars to bolt to the upstart league.

The Jets were the first North American club to seriously explore Europe as a source of hockey talent. Winnipeg's fortunes were bolstered by acquisitions such as Swedish forwards Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson, who starred with Hull on the WHA's most famous and successful forward line (nicknamed "the Hot Line"), and defenceman Lars-Erik Sjoberg, who would serve as the team's captain and win accolades as the WHA's best defenceman. Behind these players and other European stars such as Willy Lindstrom, Kent Nilsson, Veli-Pekka Ketola, leavened by players such as Peter Sullivan, Norm Beaudin and goaltender Joe Daley, the Jets were the most successful team in the short-lived WHA. The team made the finals in five of the WHA's seven seasons, winning the Avco World Trophy three times, including in the league's final season against Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers.

Another notable accomplishment was the Jets' 5–3 victory over the Soviet National team on January 5, 1978.

In the WHA's last season, Kent Nilsson scored 107 points, while Morris Lukowich had 65 goals, and Peter Sullivan had 46 goals and 86 points. During the Avco Cup Finals, Gary Smith gave up the last goal in WHA history to Dave Semenko in a 7–3 Jets win.

Career leaders (WHA)

 * Games: Bobby Hull, 411
 * Goals: Bobby Hull, 303
 * Assists: Ulf Nilsson, 344
 * Points: Bobby Hull, 638
 * Penalty Minutes: Kim Clackson, 413
 * Goaltending Wins: Joe Daley, 167
 * Shutouts: Joe Daley, 12

The 1976, 1978 and 1979 Avco Cup winning Winnipeg Jets were inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame in the team category.

The NHL years (1979–1996)
By 1978–79, the vast majority of the WHA's teams had folded, but the Jets were still going strong. After the season, the Jets were absorbed into the NHL along with the Nordiques, Oilers and Hartford Whalers. Pre-merger inter-league exhibitions had shown that the 1978–79 WHA Jets were the competitive equal of most NHL teams, with the possible exceptions of the three-time defending Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens and the rising New York Islanders.

However, the Jets had to pay a very high price for a berth in the more established league. They had to give up three of their top six scorers – the core of the last WHA champion – in a reclamation draft. They were also forced to draft 18th out of 21 teams. In the draft, they opted to protect defenceman Scott Campbell, who had shown a good deal of promise in the last WHA season. However, Campbell suffered from chronic asthma that was only exacerbated by Winnipeg's frigid weather. The asthma drove him out of the league entirely by 1982.

Upon entering the NHL, the Jets were based in the Smythe Division of the Campbell Conference. However, with a decimated roster, the Jets finished dead last in the league for their first two seasons in the NHL, including a horrendous nine-win season in 1980–81 that still ranks as the worst in Jets/Coyotes history. This stands in marked contrast to the other 1979 Avco Cup finalist, the Oilers, who went on to dominate the league during the second half of the 1980s.

The Jets' first two wretched NHL seasons did net them high draft picks; in the 1980 draft they picked Dave Babych second overall and in 1981 they drafted future Hall of Fame member Dale Hawerchuk first overall. The team developed a solid core of players by the mid-1980s, with Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen, Paul MacLean, Randy Carlyle, Laurie Boschman, Doug Smail, and David Ellett providing a strong nucleus. Also in 1981, a league-wide realignment placed the Jets with the league's other Central Time Zone teams in the Norris Division, which over the course of the decade would become the weakest division in the league.

Led by Hawerchuk, Steen, Babych and Carlyle, the Jets returned to respectability fairly quickly, and made the playoffs 11 times in the next 15 years. However, regular-season success did not transfer over into the playoffs. This was because after just one season in the Norris, the relocation of the Colorado Rockies to New Jersey compelled Winnipeg to return to the more competitive Smythe Division along with the Oilers and Calgary Flames – by some accounts, the two best teams in the league during the second half of the 1980s. Due to the way the playoffs were structured at the time, whenever the Jets made the playoffs, they faced the near-certainty of having to beat either the Oilers or the Flames (or both) to get to the Campbell Conference Finals. At the time, the top four teams in each division made the playoffs, with the regular-season division winner playing against the fourth-place team and the regular-season runner-up playing the third-place team in the division semifinals. The division semifinal winners advanced to the division finals, and the two division final winners would meet in the conference finals.

For example, in 1984–85, they finished with the fourth-best record in the entire league (behind only Philadelphia, Edmonton and Washington). They also notched 96 points, which would remain the franchise's best as an NHL team until the 2009–10 Coyotes racked up the franchise's second 100-point season (and first as an NHL team). However, they finished second in the Smythe behind the Oilers. While they managed to dispatch the Flames (with the league's fifth-best record) in four games in the best-of-five division semifinal, they were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Oilers in the division final. In fact, Winnipeg and Edmonton played each other in the playoffs six times between 1983 and 1990. The Oilers not only won every series, but also held the Jets to only four total victories. Five times (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, and 1990), the Oilers went on to win the Stanley Cup. The Jets won only one more playoff series, in 1987 (defeating Calgary in the division semifinal before losing to Edmonton in the division final). It was not until the 1993–94 season that further expansion and re-alignment permitted the original Jets to return to the re-branded Central Division (the former Norris Division) of the Western Conference. By this time however, the Central was at least the competitive equal of the re-named Pacific Division and the strict division-based playoff bracket had been abandoned.

Demise and relocation
As the NHL expanded in the United States and free agency rules were liberalized, operating costs and salaries grew rapidly; players had the leverage to demand being paid in U.S. dollars league-wide. Until about the early 1990s, Canadian teams were able to pay their players in Canadian dollars, with the exceptions being contracts acquired in trades from U.S. teams. However, since the Canadian teams still collected most of their revenue in Canadian dollars, having to pay players in U.S. dollars proved to be a serious drain on finances given the declining value of the Canadian dollar. For most of their NHL tenure, Winnipeg was the league's second-smallest market, and was set to become the smallest market after the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver as the Colorado Avalanche in 1995–96. Despite a loyal fan following, serious doubts were raised about whether Winnipeg could continue to support an NHL team. Additionally, their home arena, Winnipeg Arena, was over 40 years old, had no luxury suites, and numerous obstructed-view seats.

Faced with mounting losses, Jets owner Barry Shenkarow agreed to sell the team to American businessmen Steven Gluckstern and Richard Burke for $65 million. They planned to move the team to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul region (which had lost the Minnesota North Stars to Dallas in 1993. In response, a local consortium called the Spirit of Manitoba was assembled. While they persuaded Shenkarow to delay the proposed sale to American interests long enough that the Jets ultimately remained in Winnipeg for the 1995–96 season, it eventually became apparent that the Spirit of Manitoba consortium was far too undercapitalized to purchase the franchise and underwrite expected losses while a proposed new arena was built.

Meanwhile, Gluckstern and Burke failed to reach an agreement with the City of Minneapolis to share the Target Center with the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves. They purchased the team nevertheless, but with no suitable alternate venues in the Twin Cities area, the Jets' new owners reached an agreement with Jerry Colangelo, owner of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, to move the team to Phoenix and become the Phoenix Coyotes. The Jets managed to qualify for the playoffs in their final season in Winnipeg, and played their last game on April 28, 1996, a home playoff loss to the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 4–1. Norm Maciver scored the last goal in Jets history.

Aftermath
Winnipeg was not left without a professional ice hockey team for the 1996–97 season as the International Hockey League's Minnesota Moose moved to Winnipeg to become the Manitoba Moose a few months after the Jets left town.

The NHL ultimately returned to Winnipeg 15 years later, with the Atlanta Thrashers relocating to become the second incarnation of the Jets franchise which is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment. Prior to this, True North submitted a series of bids for the financially-troubled Coyotes in October 2009, which were taken seriously enough that the league drew up a tentative schedule with Winnipeg in place of Phoenix. The NHL shelved the bid after securing a large subsidy from the Coyotes' municipal government. As True North's low-key approach was praised by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, this placed True North in a favorable position once question of the Thrashers' relocation came up.

The new Jets, despite reclaiming the name and subsequently the original franchise's logos, retained the Thrashers franchise records rather than the records of the original Jets.

During their history, the Jets retired two numbers: Bobby Hull's #9 and Thomas Steen's #25. The Coyotes have continued to honor those numbers, and hang their banners in the Jets' old blue-red-white colour scheme. Dale Hawerchuk's No. 10 was added in 2006, in the Coyotes' current sand-red-black scheme. Another tradition that was retained when the franchise moved to Phoenix was the "whiteout", in which fans wore all white to home playoff games.

Shane Doan, drafted seventh overall by the Jets in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft prior to their last season in Winnipeg, and who played his rookie season in Winnipeg, was the last original Jet to still be active in the NHL (and to still be with the franchise) upon his retirement in 2017. The only other former original Jet playing professionally by that time was Deron Quint, who played in the German DEL in Germany until 2017.

The current Winnipeg Jets have acknowledged the original Jets' history on a number of occasions. The original franchise's division and Avco Cup championships currently hang atop the rafters of Canada Life Centre, as are the honoured numbers of the original Jets who were inducted into the current Jets' Hall of Fame. They have also worn throwback uniforms of the original Jets on a few occasions, and brought back the Whiteout tradition in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The new franchise acquired the trademarks to the name and logo of the original Jets from the NHL when it moved to Winnipeg – at the time, the league directly owned the Coyotes and thus controlled the Jets' trademarks. However, the franchise's records still belong to the Coyotes.

In April 2024, after years of instability, the Coyotes suspended operations, with their assets (including players and hockey operations staff) being transferred to the new Utah Hockey Club. Unlike the Thrashers' relocation to Winnipeg (which saw all records transferred), the Coyotes entered inactivity, with their intellectual property remaining in Phoenix. Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo was granted a five-year window to construct a new arena in the Phoenix area, upon which automatic expansion would have been triggered to "re-activate" the Coyotes. However, in late June, Meruelo opted to discontinue his efforts to build an arena and re-activate the team, ceding the Coyotes intellectual property back to the NHL, and leaving the fate of the Jets/Coyotes records uncertain.

Uniforms
The Jets debuted in the WHA wearing blue and white uniforms with red trim. White uniforms featured a blue shoulder yoke, blue numbers and blue-white-red-white-blue waist, sock and sleeve stripes. The blue uniforms were the inverse of their white counterparts minus the contrasting yoke and used red numbers. In the franchise's first season, the uniforms featured the futuristic "Jets" wordmark in front along with red or white player nameplates. Starting in 1974, the Jets donned their "classic" look, ditching the contrast-colour nameplates and unveiling their famous roundel logo. In 1977 the Jets added a white shoulder yoke on the blue uniform, and the following season, switched from red to blue pants.

Upon moving to the NHL in 1979, the Jets unveiled new uniforms. Then-general manager John Ferguson Sr. had been derided for changing the classic New York Rangers uniforms during the late 1970s, so he brought most elements of that design to the Jets. Both uniforms featured a thick shoulder stripe that extended through the sleeves, along with another thick stripe on the waist. In addition, the blue uniforms now featured white numbers with red trim and a white inverse of the team's logo in front. In 1987, the Jets added a "Goals for Kids" patch which remained a prominent figure on the uniforms until the relocation.

In 1990, the Jets unveiled their final uniform design, featuring the updated crest in front and contrasting sleeve and waist stripes. They also switched back to red pants.

The current incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets employs a different uniform design and logo, although they occasionally use the "old" Jets uniform as an alternate jersey. For the 2021 season, a "Reverse Retro" jersey was introduced in collaboration with Adidas. The jersey was designed to emulate the original Jets' 1979–90 look but used colors of the current Jets. Before the 2021–22 season, the blue WHA-era uniform the modern-day Jets wore in the 2019 Heritage Classic became the team's third jersey. A second "Reverse Retro" jersey, this time a recoloured version of the 1990–96 Jets white uniform, was released in the 2022–23 season.

Winnipeg White Out
The Winnipeg White Out is a hockey tradition that dates back to 1987 when fans were asked to wear white clothing to home playoff games, creating a very intimidating effect and atmosphere. It was created as a response to the "C of Red" created by fans of the Calgary Flames, whom the home-town Jets were facing in the first round of the 1987 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Jets eliminated the Flames in six games, and fans wore white for every home playoff game thereafter. Fans dubbed it the "White Out" which is a prairie term for a winter snow storm. Marketing for the team during the playoff referred to the "charge of the white brigade." In later years, marketing referred to the White Out as "White Noise."

Fans of the AHL franchise Manitoba Moose also continued this tradition when the team briefly relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland, as the St. John's IceCaps, as did fans of the "IceCap's White Out" and "Coyotes White Out", respectively. When the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg as the second incarnation of the Jets, they brought back the White Out tradition for all playoff appearances for the Jets.

Season-by-season record
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties minutes

NHL era
Notes:
 * 1 Season was shortened by the 1994–95 NHL lockout

Team captains
Note: This list includes Jets captains from both the NHL and WHA.

 * Ab McDonald, 1972–1974
 * Dan Johnson, 1974–1975
 * Lars-Erik Sjoberg, 1975–1978, 1979–1980
 * Barry Long, 1978–1979
 * Morris Lukowich, 1980–1981
 * Dave Christian, 1981–1982
 * Lucien DeBlois, 1982–1984
 * Dale Hawerchuk, 1984–1989
 * Dale Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen and Randy Carlyle, 1989–1990 (tri-captains)
 * Thomas Steen and Randy Carlyle, 1990–1991 (co-captains)
 * Troy Murray, 1991–1993
 * Dean Kennedy, 1993
 * Keith Tkachuk, 1993–1995
 * Kris King, 1995–1996

First-round draft picks
Note: This list includes draft picks from both the NHL and WHA.

 * 1973: Ron Andruff (11th overall)
 * 1974: Randy Andreachuk (7th overall)
 * 1975: Brad Gassoff (8th overall)
 * 1976: Thomas Gradin (9th overall)
 * 1977: Ron Duguay (3rd overall)
 * 1978: no WHA draft
 * 1979: Jimmy Mann (19th overall)
 * 1980: Dave Babych (2nd overall)
 * 1981: Dale Hawerchuk (1st overall)
 * 1982: Jim Kyte (12th overall)
 * 1983: Andrew McBain (8th overall) and Bobby Dollas (14th overall)
 * 1985: Ryan Stewart (18th overall)
 * 1986: Pat Elynuik (8th overall)
 * 1987: Bryan Marchment (16th overall)
 * 1988: Teemu Selanne (10th overall)
 * 1989: Stu Barnes (4th overall)
 * 1990: Keith Tkachuk (19th overall)
 * 1991: Aaron Ward (5th overall)
 * 1992: Sergei Bautin (17th overall)
 * 1993: Mats Lindgren (15th overall)
 * 1995: Shane Doan (7th overall)

Hall of Famers

 * Dale Hawerchuk, C, 1981–1990, inducted 2001
 * Phil Housley, D, 1990–1993, inducted 2015
 * Bobby Hull, LW, 1972–1980, inducted 1983
 * Serge Savard, D, 1981–1983, inducted 1986
 * Teemu Selanne, RW, 1992–1996, inducted 2017

Retired numbers
The original Winnipeg Jets retired two numbers in their history. When the Jets relocated to Arizona, the banners of these players also made the move, and these numbers originally remain retired with the Arizona Coyotes, in Jets' colors. Beginning with the 2014–15 season, those numbers were unretired and brought back to circulation; they were still inducted as part of the Arizona Coyotes Ring of Honor. After the move to Arizona, number 10 was inducted in honor of Dale Hawerchuk, number 7 was inducted for Keith Tkachuk, and number 27 was inducted for Teppo Numminen. Shane Doan's number 19 was the only number officially retired by the Coyotes.

The current Winnipeg Jets (formerly Atlanta Thrashers) also honoured both numbers in the Winnipeg Jets Hall of Fame. Notes:
 * 1 Bobby Hull's number was temporarily unretired by the successor Coyotes franchise for Bobby's son Brett in the 2005–06 season before his son Brett retired five games into that season.

Franchise scoring leaders
These are the top-ten-point-scorers in Winnipeg Jets history, combining NHL and WHA totals.

''Legend: Pos = position; GP = gpmes played; G = goals; A = assists; Pts = points; P/G = points per game

Winnipeg Jets individual records

 * Most goals in a season: Bobby Hull 77 (1974–75)
 * Most goals in an NHL season: Teemu Selanne, 76 (1992–93; NHL rookie record)
 * Most assists in a season: Phil Housley, 79 (1992–93)
 * Most points in a season: Bobby Hull 142 (1974–75)
 * Most points in an NHL season: Teemu Selanne 132 (1992–93; NHL rookie record)
 * Most penalty minutes in a season: Tie Domi, 347 (1993–94)
 * Most points in a season, defenceman: Phil Housley, 97 (1992–93)
 * Most points in a season, rookie: Teemu Selanne, 132 (1992–93; NHL record)
 * Most wins in a season: Joe Daley, 41 (1975–76)
 * Most wins in an NHL season: Brian Hayward and Bob Essensa, 33 (1984–85 and 1992–93)

title: Winnipeg Jets (1972–1996)