BigE said:
I said hockey tradition, not NHL tradition. Realize that hockey existed in Winnipeg long before the Jets, and contrary to what you might believe, it still exists today.
That's the thing with some of you guys, you get ahead of yourselves and fail to read anything that anyone else says. I wasn't slagging another city; rather I was pointing out the obvious deficiencies in the fan base, and market of current teams.
Great argument though, and I'm sure that's what the NHL was hoping for -snowbirds! Yes, lets build a fan base off of snowbirds. There are 675,000 of them in Winnipeg...how many are in Florida?
And hockey existed in Florida long before the Lightning and the Panthers and in North Carolina long before the Hurricanes. Let's go through a few teams and their eras of activity:
Florida
THL:
Coral Gables Seminoles (1938-1939)
Miami Clippers (1938-1939)
Miami Beach Pirates (1938-1939)
EHL:
Jacksonville Rockets (1964-1972)
Florida Rockets (1966-1968)
St. Petersburg Suns (1971-1972)
Suncoast Suns (1972-1973)
AHL:
Jacksonville Barons (1973-1974)
North Carolina
EHL:
Charlotte Clippers (1956-1960)
Charlotte Checkers (1960-1973)
Greensboro Generals (1959-1973)
SHL:
Charlotte Checkers (1973-1977)
Greensboro Generals (1973-1977)
Winston-Salem Polar Twins (1973-1977)
Winston-Salem Mammoths (1995-1996)
ACHL:
Pinebridge Bucks (1983-1985)
Winston-Salem Thunderbirds (1981-1982)
Carolina Thunderbirds (1982-1987)
AAHL:
Carolina Thunderbirds (1987-1988)
ECHL:
Carolina Thunderbirds (1988-1989)
Winston-Salem Thunderbirds (1989-1992)
Charlotte Checkers (1993-present)
Greensboro Monarchs (1989-1995)
Raleigh IceCaps (1991-1998)
AHL:
Greensboro Monarchs (1995-1997)