NHL Is Considering Making The History Of The Winnipeg Jets Infinitely Less Confusing

The NHL is reportedly considering making the history of the Winnipeg Jets way less confusing by consolidating the histories of the two separate franchises into one.

This way, the current Jets can add OG Winnipeg legends like Dale Hawerchuk and Teemu Selanne to their record books.

And, better yet, it would put to bed one of the weirder, more confusing bits of hockey history.

The current Jets are the zombified remains of the old Atlanta Thrashers, and set up shop in Manitoba in 2011. Of course, re-adopting the Jets name was really the only option when the league returned to town after the original Jets fled to Arizona in 1996.

That franchise began life in 1972 and played in the World Hockey Association until that league folded, and they and three other clubs — the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, and Hartford Whalers — were absorbed into the NHL.

In 1996, when the Jets moved to become the Phoenix Coyotes, they took their franchise history with them, as is the case for any team that relocates.

But this has gotten really confusing since the new Jets came to be, and even more confusing after the Arizona Coyotes kind of, sort of became the Utah Mammoth.

Original Winnipeg Jets like Dale Hawerchuk may soon be part of the current team's history. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images)

This is because the NHL considers the Mammoth a new franchise. The sale that brought the team to Utah was for Arizona's "hockey assets," and so the Coyotes — who are technically the original Jets, remember? — are simply an inactive franchise, but still exist.

Even more confusing, the current Jets wear throwback uniforms paying homage to the original Jets, despite that not being part of their franchise history.

See what I mean? It's confusing as hell.

Hardcore fans get it, but for casual fans, it's like trying to understand Inception, and this is why the NHL is looking into fixing it.

"It's not as simple as just doing it ... it is something we're looking into," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, according to Sportsnet. "It's not so much a process as it's what the end result would look like, and can we make it make sense?"

It doesn't sound like it'll be the easiest thing, but c'mon, NHL, this has to happen.

I think I speak on behalf of all fans when I say I'm sick of having to differentiate between two versions of what most people think of as the same team.