The Atlanta Thrashers are moving to Winnipeg. True North Sports and Entertainment announced Tuesday at Winnipeg’s MTS Centre that it has purchased the struggling team and will shift it to Canada next season. The deal is reportedly worth $170M, including a $60M relocation fee that would be split by the rest of the league. Winnipeg has been without NHL hockey since the Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996.

The Bruins got a grand sendoff from fans outside TD Garden Monday afternoon before boarding their flight to Vancouver for Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup finals, which begin Wednesday at the Rogers Centre. "You can feel, you can sense that the whole city is behind us and they've been like that all playoffs," Patrice Bergeron said. "It's great. Obviously Boston is such a sports town and to bring back, I guess the hockey fans and us into it, is something that I'm very proud of." Tim Thomas echoed Bergeron's sentiments, but acknowledged their ultimate goal had not yet been reached. "It's great and it's where you've wanted to be and you, well what I've worked for my whole life, you know to get to this point in the Stanley Cup," Thomas said. "And so it's a big accomplishment. But you don't dream of getting to the Stanley Cup finals, you dream of winning the Stanley Cup. So there's still more work to be done."

With a week between playoff games, the Canucks added scrimmages to their usual practice routine, according to an ESPN.com report on Monday. "Just making sure we are sharp and treat practice like a game and ramp up the intensity level," said goalie Roberto Luongo. "Just a little to get in the game flow."

The Bruins' Game 7 victory over the Lightning drew the most viewers for a conference finals game on cable since 2002. Boston's 1-0 win in the Eastern Conference finals Friday on Versus averaged 2.55 million viewers. That's the most since the Red Wings-Avalanche Western Conference finals Game 7 nine years ago.

The Thrashers' sale to a group which would move the team to Winnipeg could be complete this week, possibly as early as Tuesday. The Thrashers' owners are in negotiations with True North Sports and Entertainment, which would relocate the team to Winnipeg.

Jonathan Huberdeau won the Memorial Cup MVP as his Saint John Sea Dogs earned a 3-1 victory against the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors on Sunday. Huberdeau, 17, finished with three goals and six points in Saint John's four games, including an overtime winner last Monday against Owen Sound. By earning the MVP award, Huberdeau became the sixth forward in 12 years to be named MVP of his league playoffs and the Memorial Cup, joining Brad Richards (2000), Danny Groulx (2002), Derek Roy (2003), Corey Perry ('05) and Taylor Hall ('09).

The Saint John Sea Dogs defeated the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors 3-1 on Sunday to take the MasterCard Memorial Cup final. The Sea Dogs, a team stacked with young talent, can often outgun teams at will. But on Sunday, they desperately needed goalie Jacob DeSerres to preserve some tight leads. "I'm just so happy for him," Sea Dogs center Mike Kirkpatrick said. "It's just so amazing. What a turnaround season for him. For him to come back, you could just tell how focused he was."

A British Columbia-based pizza chain, Boston Pizza, has thrown their full support behind the Canucks as they head to the Stanley Cup Final. Beginning Sunday, the 62 Boston Pizzas in British Columbia will feature a new sign with the "Boston" crossed out and "Vancouver" written in.

The Bruins rarely have interaction with owner Jeremy Jacobs, but he has thanked the team for a special season. Boston's long-time owner paid a visit to his team's dressing room to express his congratulations and gratitude for reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1990. "Oh I did, yeah I did. You have to, why wouldn't you?" he said. "They listen to me, which is unusual. Most people won't. "No, it was a great experience to visit with them and to understand the ambition that I share with them. Our ambition is to go and win the Stanley Cup. And like I say, we were in Prague 100 games ago. One hundred games these guys have skated. There is a common bond now that exists between everybody. You really build an organization, and I say a hockey organization, a player organization. The athletes are all committed to a central point, and that is a wonderful thing to see and a wonderful place to be."

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli announced on Saturday that forward Nathan Horton had been fined by the league for an incident with a fan that occurred following Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals at St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, according to an ESPN.com report.