When he first came in, Wpg and Que both relocated to the states, and he moved the NHL head offices from Toronto to NY.
At that time, he was a little guy with a heavy NY accent, and broadly across Canada he was viewed as an "American stealing our game!" He never played, had come from the NBA, and much of the NHL stewardship was seen as needing to be in the hands of former players, not business types.
There were labor disputes for the first time IIRC, and entire seasons were lost. Many people sided with the players initially against the greedy owners. They wanted to play! Our national culture was being lost due to these NY people making decisions!
Finally - it didn't seem to bother him in the slightest that he was disliked. Indeed - he seemed to relish in it.
"We have a trade to announce."
BOOOOO!!
"You're gonna wanna hear this!"
You just got to love it. The guy came in, broke rules, and made huge strides for the NHL, the owners, and the players - even against their own wishes in a lot of cases.
Why was the NHL in Phoenix? What was it in Atlanta? Simple. 7th and 12th largest markets in the US.
Not because he hated Canada. Because he LOVED making the NHL money.
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