A couple of buddies of mine shared a table at a bar with Anthony Peluso. Among some real cool stuff he had to say, he said that the guys absolutely LOVE playing here. Not only that (but what also surprised me) is that opposing teams love playing here too. He said its a big deal to get boo'd by us. They love it, the chants, the boo'ing how loud the building is etc. He said the league wide perception of Winnipeg is not what we tend to think it is right now.
Also a few other tid bits he threw out there is that everything thing (all the negatives) about Kane are simply not true. Said he is a super nice guy, also that guys like Wright are scared to try something different in offensive zone and want to play it safe so that they keep playing and keep the ice time up. You can read whatever you want into that.
Also said he hurt his hand on the very last punch, not when he hit the helmet. Knew right away. Also one last thing, he said Winnipeg is by far the loudest arena he has ever heard, said its louder by Montreal by a mile.
So while we think Winnipeg might be a undesirable place to live apparently players do want to play here.
I also managed to speak with Oli before the season began (at a charity event), I never asked what he thought of Winnipeg, he said he loved it here, its nice, quiet and has a small town feel.
So I really dont know if these perceptions we have are really accurate.