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Originally Posted by flambers
Wow what a mind boggling post....
Last time I checked NHL was in Winnipeg before.... they had Star players.
Only reason to avoid Winnipeg is the tax issues... that goes for the other Canadian Cities...
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Last time I checked, the NHL left Winnipeg because it wasn't a financially viable market.
How many of those star players chose to play in Winnipeg as Unrestricted Free Agents? Drafting and trading for talent is one thing, attracting talent is the question.
I've re-read my post and I don't know what I said that's so mind-boggling.
Do you honestly think that there aren't players who would want nothing to do with playing in Winnipeg? There's a quote on this page from a player who says he doesn't want to play in Winnipeg.
When the Flames moved to Calgary, there were players who didn't want to make the move, but they didn't have anywhere close to the freedom that players today have. Their employer moved from a southern US city with a population of 2.5 million to a small prairie city of barely half a million. Can you blame them for not being happy?
If a team moves to Winnipeg, there will be a few years of transition as they'll have to change the culture of the team. Some players - and more importantly some players' families - won't want to be a part of that. The challenge is finding the people who do.
Will Winnipeg be able to sign UFAs? Of course they will, there's only so much money to go around to so many players.
Will Winnipeg have to offer larger contracts to UFAs to encourage them to sign in Winnipeg? I'll guess we'll find out.
Will Winnipeg be the first choice for some UFAs? I'm sure it will. Everyone has different criteria.
Will some players want to have absolutely nothing to do with playing in Winnipeg? Of course. I'm sure there are a good number of players who would never want to play for the Flames, just as there are some who wouldn't like playing in a place like Miami or Phoenix.
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I can't imagine what Green Bay's "bad-town bonus" must be then. 
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As we all know, the NFL and NHL are completely identical organizations.
I didn't make up the term "bad town bonus", that was one of the sports writers who was commenting on Edmonton's poor history with signing UFAs (I believe in reference to Souray's contract) as the opposite of a "home town discount".