The new NHL team in Winnipeg will go with what the city's original team was named -- the Winnipeg Jets.

Winnipeg fans celebrated the official return of the Jets on Friday. Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

The Atlanta Thrashers are no more, having moved north across the border earlier this month. The name change was announced Friday night by team chairman Mark Chipman at the NHL draft in Minnesota, just before the Jets took center Mark Scheifele with the seventh pick in the first round.

"We are thrilled to be using a name that has so much history in our city and means so much to our fans," Chipman said in a statement released by the team. "Our fans clearly indicated to us the passion they hold for the name since we acquired the franchise."

The original Jets joined the NHL in 1979 after the World Hockey Association folded. They played in Manitoba until 1996, when the franchise moved to Phoenix and became the Coyotes.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman gave a "special welcome back" to the Winnipeg fans as he introduced the draft, prompting cheers and "Go Jets go!" chants from fans wearing white T-shirts with the old red-and-blue Jets logo.