NHL sets its most confusing team history straight, and it’s still pretty confusing

The NHL has officially worked out one of its most confusing team histories by consolidating the histories of both incarnations of the Winnipeg Jets.

While it clears some things up, it kind of makes it all a little bit more confusing.

The Jets and the league announced on Wednesday that the statistical histories of both incarnations of the team have been merged.

That sounds nice and simple… but it isn’t.

What’s confusing is that the original Jets, which started in the World Hockey Association in the 1970s, were a different franchise than the one that plays in Manitoba today.

The original team was one of four that merged into the NHL, but split for Arizona in 1996.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Thrashers debuted in 1999 and relocated to Winnipeg to become the current Jets.

The Winnipeg Jets record books just got a refresh with the NHL consolidating both version of the franchise. (Photo by Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images)

So, the OG Jets history actually belonged to the Coyotes, while the new Jets were the zombified remains of the Thrashers.

Things got even more confusing when the Coyotes hockey assets were sold to what became the Utah Mammoth.

However, Utah was treated as a new franchise, with the Coyotes and Jets history staying behind.

If you need to take a break to splash some water on your face, go ahead because now it gets worse…

With the OG Jets history merging with the current Jets/Thrashers record books, that leaves the Coyotes as their own franchise.

This leads to some weird quirks. One is that Teemu Selanne’s legendary rookie campaign during the 1992–93 season is now, statistically at least, tied to the Thrashers’ history in a way.

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Meanwhile, Shane Doan was drafted by the Jets, played his rookie season in Winnipeg, and then played over 1,400 games for the Coyotes. Until now, in the record books, he only ever played for one franchise.

Now, that fact is not totally accurate when you look through the record books.

The change makes Dale Hawerchuk the current Jets’ all time goal and points leader. (Photo by Denis Brodeur/NHLI via Getty Images)

It also means that the late Dale Hawerchuk has become the current (and former) Jets’ franchise leader in goals and points. Current Jet Mark Scheifele took those titles in 2025, and will need to do it again. However, he’ll start the year seven goals and twenty-two points back from regaining the top spot.

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There really is no way to make this situation completely confusion-free. But the new way seems to be the best option… even if it’s pretty head-scratching in its own right.