Quote:
Originally Posted by flambers
If I recall the City is around 680,000. Not sure I would qualify that as a small City.
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Everything is relative. Every other city in the NHL is over a million, so Winnipeg is a small city by comparison.
Edmonton is currently the smallest NHL market. Metro-Edmonton (1,176,300) has over 400,000 more people than metro-Winnipeg (753,600):
http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo05a-eng.htm
When the Flames moved to Calgary, Dan Bouchard asked for a trade almost immediately, and a lot of others players weren't overly happy about the relocation -- especially those who were married to women from Atlanta who had never seen snow.
In the early 80s, the players had a lot less control over where they played than they do now. Right now, the Coyotes only have 6 forwards signed for next season (and none for the seasons beyond), and both their goalies with be UFAs in July. It will be an interesting summer in Manitoba if the team does end up moving. I can't imagine what the Flames would have looked like in 1980 if free agency had existed like it does now.