Toronto Media = NHL Expansion Committee

Sometimes, I am amazed at how much the city of Toronto seems to think they know about hockey in the country of Canada. The Big Smoke, also known as The Centre of the Universe, has a fairly successful hockey team in terms of making money, and they have a pretty strong following. Of course, Toronto is also home to TSN and Rogers Sportsnet, and the latter had an interesting tidbit on its website today. You can read it here, or continue reading below where I've conveniently copied the article.

According to Sportsnet.ca, "[i]n the never-ending story, there is talks once again of bringing an NHL team back to Winnipeg, buoyed by the strength of the Canadian dollar.

"In a report in the Toronto Star, a high-ranking hockey source says the league receives daily calls about bringing a franchise back to Manitoba.

"Although still unlikely, the path has already been cleared should the league ever decide to return to Winnipeg. The NHL contacted Canadian regulators to reinforce its trademark on the Winnipeg Jets name and there is a brand new hockey venue in the MTS Centre waiting for a major league partner."

Since this little morsel of information is based on a Toronto Star report, I went searching there to see on what the Star based its information. It turns out that the writer, Mr. Rick Westhead, actually wrote this, and it can be found here:

"With the Canadian dollar's recent surge there's been debate over the prospect of the NHL returning to Winnipeg. "The people in Winnipeg call the league pretty much every day about a team, more than anybody else," one high-ranking hockey source says. If the NHL does decide to add another team in Manitoba, things would seem in place for a smooth return. The old Winnipeg Arena was demolished a decade ago and the $133 million (Canadian) MTS Centre, which seats 15,003 for hockey, opened three years ago. The NHL earlier this year contacted Canadian regulators to reinforce its trademark on the Winnipeg Jets name."

I've been over this topic on this site before, having written the articles entitled Living In Dreamland and Living In Dreamland: Gimme A Break. Winnipeg is not an NHL city at this point in time.

Yes, the fans in Winnipeg are rabid for big-time hockey. They have proven that they can pack the fans in the MTS Centre for the World Junior Championships, the Women's World Championships, and NHL hockey.

However, as it was proven when the Jets left Winnipeg, they don't have the same mentality about hockey as, say, the people in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The fans in Winnipeg cared about the Jets - it was their mark on North American professional sports, after all. Some great NHL players have passed through Winnipeg during their careers: Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg, Kent Nilsson, Dale Hawerchuk, Randy Carlyle, Phil Housley, Craig Janney, Nikolai Khabibulin, and Teemu Selanne to name a few. The Jets were the team where players like Bryan Marchment, Dave Ellett, Bob Essensa, and Keith Tkachuk got their big breaks.

The problem, though, is that at any given Winnipeg Jets home game, there were just as many fans of the opposing teams in the stands as there were Jets fans. Unlike the fans in Minneapolis, who have sold out every game since the Wild returned including preseason games, the fans in Winnipeg would only come out to see the star players from opposing teams, and would turn up sparse crowds for teams like the Ottawa Senators of the early-1990s. That's not how you support a team whatsoever.

Randy Turner, sports writer for the Winnipeg Free Press, wrote in an April article, "Seriously, who can figure out Winnipeg hockey fans? They didn't support the Jets when they were here, but cry crocodile tears now that they're gone - to the point where in some quarters the Moose are considered poster boys for the loss of the NHL". And you know what? He is completely right.

He also wrote, "Have you seen Kevin Bieksa play defence for the Canucks? He anchors the Vancouver blue-line, is featured on the power play and is tough as year-old beef jerky.

"Last year, Bieksa did exactly the same thing for the Moose. But so-called 'real' hockey fans in Winnipeg would never have seen him play in person, what with Moose hockey not being up to their standards and all. Moose call-up Jannik Hansen is drawing rave reviews in the playoffs only a few days after being plucked from the Manitoba roster".

Randy Turner has identified the problem with Winnipeg hockey fans. Despite Winnipeg's love of hockey, Turner's accuracy in describing the major problem with hockey fans in Winnipeg is dead-on. Winnipeg doesn't support their AHL team very well, Winnipeg didn't support their WHL team in the Winnipeg Warriors, and they didn't support their NHL team in the Jets. Do you see a trend forming here?

Another problem is that the corporate support needed to support an NHL franchise at that time wasn't there to support the Jets, and there has been little headway in attracting major corporations to Winnipeg since the Jets left. I wrote this before: "I have pointed out that when the Jets left Winnipeg, their total salary was $27 million. The salary cap has been increased to near $50 million. There is no one in Winnipeg who wants to own a franchise outright. There are no multi-billionaires sitting around in Winnipeg with money burning a hole in their pockets". This situation has not changed since May. Mark Chipman, owner of the AHL's Manitoba Moose, has already said that he does not want to own an NHL franchise by himself. This puts the Winnipeg NHL dream right back at square one: no one person wants to take on that risk of losing millions of dollars in a city where the NHL has failed once already.

I've said it before - Winnipeg "is not an NHL town. It never was once the sky-rocketing salaries of the early-1990s began. This is why great players were jettisoned regularly from the Jets franchise. Dale Hawerchuk, Phil Housley, Dave Ellett, Teemu Selanne, Fredrik Olausson, Tie Domi... all traded or let go as free agents. When the NHL left Winnipeg, the salary of the Jets totalled $27 million dollars. With the new CBA, the maximum spenditure is almost double that figure."

I have heard enough about Winnipeg getting an NHL team back. Frankly, this discussion should be put to rest, and Gary Bettman, the media, and those people with fantasies about the Jets returning should be told to stop stringing the city of Winnipeg along.

Expansion in Winnipeg would be trendy for a while, but no one will wait five-to-ten years for the Jets to become competitive. Relocation would be an ideal proposition, but the trend of Winnipeggers not supporting their local professional hockey team should be the first paragraph on the market research report about the city of Winnipeg.

Winnipeg, you have a great city that should be setting AHL attendance records each and every year. However, you don't, and you shouldn't be allowed to apply for an NHL team until you've supported a smaller professional hockey franchise first. You've lost the NHL, the WHL, and the AHL isn't doing as well as it should in a market your size. Stop talking about the NHL. You don't deserve it.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!