New building, rebuilding

More than 15,000 people, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, were inside MTS Centre this afternoon when the Winnipeg Jets Mach II officially became part of the NHL again.  NHL Network carried the CBC Hockey Night in Canada telecast so that we hockey fans in the United States could see the (relatively) triumphant and long-overdue return of the NHL to Manitoba.

The building was a madhouse.
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SPOILSPORTS:
The Montréal Canadiens spoiled the party with a 5-1 victory over the Jets, but at least Nik Antropov was able to score the first Jets goal, placating at least some of the 15,000+ in attendance.  But the game serves as a reminder that this team *is* the erstwhile Atlanta Thrashers and some holes in the roster need to be plugged.  While they have two good, serviceable goaltenders in Ondřej Pavelec and Chris Mason, a worthy captain and two-time Stanley Cup champion in Andrew Ladd, and a potential future superstar in Mark Scheifele, this team clearly has a lot of work to do.  The passing and puck-handling were not terribly crisp, while their transition game needs more speed.  The results really were not much better when this franchise first took the ice on October 2, 1999 as the Atlanta Thrashers, losing 4-1 to the eventual Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils.  While this was not a horrendous loss, it shows that they have some serious rebuilding to do.

With a new city, new ownership, new management, and a new head coach, we should know after about ten to fifteen games how this year's Jets team will basically compete.  Regardless of how well they fare this season, they will play in front of sellout crowds for at least the next two seasons.  Unless you are fortunate enough to be one of 600 people who win a game-day lottery for remaining game-night tickets, you will be following the Jets either online, on TV, in print, or on the radio.
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"ALMOST-HOME" ICE ADVANTAGE:
One wrinkle this Minnesota native finds a bit fascinating:  The Jets' only two Manitoba natives (Eric Fehr and Derek Meech) were not in the lineup, while three Minnesota natives *were* on the ice today:  Robbinsdale native Blake Wheeler, Mark Stuart of Rochester, and Minneapolis-born-but-Roseau-raised Dustin Byfuglien, one of the Jets' assistant captains.
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LESS IS MORE?
In an Atlanta metropolitan area of more than 5.2 million people, with seating capacity of 18,545 at Philips Arena, not once did the Thrashers sell-out the building last season; the home opener drew only 15,596.  The team may have hit rock-bottom when, on Thursday, November 4, 2010, the Thrashers had an announced attendance of 8,461, which may have been generous.  That was the lowest single-game attendance in Thrashers franchise history.

In stark contrast, the Winnipeg metropolitan area today has less than 743,000 residents and MTS Centre can seat only 15,004 spectators, but every Jets home game this season is expected to be sold out.  If the architects and builders of MTS Centre had a larger plot of land, the Jets could have sold far more than Atlanta's 18,545 available seats -- and then some.

The "final analysis" of their first official game back is clear:  The province of Manitoba really did not deserve to lose the Jets to Phoenix in 1996, but unwilling ownership and a horrendously outdated arena were the chief catalysts.  After fifteen somewhat painful years, very willing new ownership, and a somewhat-small-but-very-comfortable arena,  Manitobans are finally getting what they richly deserve.

Go Jets, Go, indeed.