If this report by the Winnipeg Free Press' Gary Lawless is true, the relocated Atlanta Thrashers will hire Manitoba Moose head coach Claude Noel to replace Craig Ramsay. Considering Noel is being plucked from the team whose building the Zombie Thrashers will take over, this is starting to look more like makeshift relegation than a relocation.
If a league like the NHL practiced relegation, as do most professional sports leagues around the world, the Moose could've simply been promoted to the NHL without needing to move the Thrashers anywhere -- and the Thrashers could've been bumped down to the AHL until new ownership emerged. But without that system in place, teams have to be uprooted.
Good for Winnipeg, I guess, for maintaining an organization it's happy with.
Noel has just a 10-8-6 career NHL coaching record, having taken over the Columbus Blue Jackets for a spell in 2009-10.
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