NHL looking into consolidating Jets’ franchise records
There’s a chance that the NHL may be giving the Winnipeg Jets the franchise records of the original Jets.
During a media availability in Winnipeg, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly mentioned that Jets owner Mark Chipman has asked about consolidating the records of the original Jets’ franchise with the current franchise. According to Bettman, the NHL is looking into it, but mentioned that it’s not as simple as just doing it.
Gary Bettman shares that Mark Chipman has been inquiring with the league about consolidating #NHLJets 1.0 and 2.0 records. The league is looking at it but wants to be sure the outcome is something that works. It sounds to me — interpreting to be clear — like a real possibility.
“It’s not so much a process,” Bettman said at the availability. “It’s what the end result would look like and can we make it make sense? The process is trying to figure it out, which is what we’re trying to do.”
“I don’t know if you’ve looked at it with respect to other teams in other leagues,” Daly said. “They’re kind of all over the map in terms of how they’ve done it. Some have worked more well than others, so it’s tricky.”
Due to the unique and complicated process of how the now-Utah Mammoth came to be, the franchise records of the original Jets franchise that then became the Arizona Coyotes do not belong to any team at this point in time.
Instead of the traditional route of relocating the Coyotes to Utah, the Coyotes were instead deactivated in 2024, with the league then expanding to add Utah, and the team granted access to all of the Coyotes’ players and staff, with all of their franchise records only tracking from 2024-25 onwards. The reasoning behind this was so that then-Coyotes owner Alex Merulo could retain the Coyotes brand when an arena deal was finally settled.
However, Merulo has since walked away from the Coyotes franchise, and his exclusive rights to bring hockey to Arizona has expired. This puts into question that, should hockey return to Arizona, whether or not it will exist as the previous Coyotes franchise like originally intended. This also means the records of the old Arizona franchise (and the old Jets franchise) may not be affiliated with the new team.
The other interesting wrinkle in all of this is how it will affect current Jets franchise records. While Connor Hellebuyck would still maintain his Atlanta Thrashers/Jets franchise records, Mark Scheifele, who set franchise records in goals (352) last season and points (842) this season, would have to re-achieve those records, as Dale Hawerchuk had 379 goals and 929 points with the original Jets.
The original Jets played in Winnipeg from 1979 to 1996 before they were relocated to Arizona, where they existed as the Coyotes until 2024. The current Jets originally existed as the Thrashers from 1999 to 2011 until they were relocated from Atlanta to Winnipeg.