What others are saying:

The Internet, no surprise, was abuzz with confirmations and denials. Here are some examples:

Sportsnet.ca also reported the sale was made, quoting Stephen Brunt's Globe and Mail story. Brunt is also a contributor to Rogers Sportsnet, the television partner of sportsnet.ca.

Sportsnet's competitor, TSN, discussed the Globe and Mail story during the second intermission of Thursday night's playoff game between Boston and Tampa Bay.

"The deal isn't done yet, we can confirm that," said Darren Dreger, quoting "primary sources" in Atlanta and Winnipeg. He added that doesn't mean a deal couldn't be reached in the next few days or a week from now.

The segment was also posted on TSN's website.

ESPN.com also reported a deal wasn't done, according to multiple sources.

"It's simply not true, it's not a done deal," a source from True North told ESPN.com.

ESPN.com also reported NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, on his weekly radio show Thursday night, said no deal had been made. "I can tell you that with certainty."

"We get reports, speculation, that the team's gone. And there's no deal," Bettman said on NHL Live. "I can tell you that with certainty that there is no deal for this team to move. Am I predicting that there will never be or that there won't be at some point in time? No, I'm not saying there is or there isn't."

The Yahoo hockey blog Puck Daddy, which follows the NHL, also mentioned the many denials Thursday evening.

"The likely excitement in Winnipeg was a bit premature after the story began circulating, so did the denials," the blog said.

"By all accounts, the Atlanta-to-Winnipeg deal will happen in the very near future, but when you're dealing with very large financial transactions, it's going to take some time."

Several Thrashers officials told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday that the report was unfounded.

-- Alan Small