One of the few remaining hopes for Atlanta Thrashers fans: talks between the Atlanta Spirit Group and True North will somehow drag along until it's too late to move the team due to the NHL's need to complete its 2011-12 regular-season schedule. That's out the window now, according to a Winnipeg Free Press report: the NHL is putting together two different schedules to account for either the Thrashers or the, well, Manitoba Moose or whatever they'd be called.
The league was also working on a potential schedule that accounted for a Phoenix Coyotes move to Canada, but obviously that one won't be needed this time around.
Thus, the remaining hopes for Thrashers fans: a local buyer suddenly decides to present a lights-out offer, or True North's paperwork is not in order, as we recently witnessed when Anaheim failed at importing the Sacramento Kings. Considering they've been working towards this day for years, that's not likely.
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