Scott Taylor, while he was asked to resign by the Winnipeg Free Press, has never said anything that wasn't true. It isn't in the rumor-mongering business (note: Not a part of the Sun Media chain). He has close contacts in city hall, and throughout Winnipeg. Pretty much, if he tells you something happened, it happened. It doesn't matter much now because I don't see the Lightning moving anytime soon, I don't see Winnipeg getting a team anytime soon (not till the new CBA is in place and its affect on league economics are truely felt, and even then its far from a sure thing), and I'm sure they were mearly only exploratory talks and hardly anything of substance.
And for those who don't quite grasp it yet, despite the myriad of "Return of the Jets", or "Which teams would you contract/move?" types of threads on these boards, what makes Tampa a more attractive market for the Bettman-lead NHL isn't so-much the population/market size...its the corporate base and ownership as well as the arena. While Winnipeg has a vastly smaller population size, nearly all of its 700,000+ people are at least hockey aware and literate, if not already fans of the game. In the city's new arena, the team would have little problem selling the place out for most of their games. The Moose are already playing to rather large crowds, and anyone who knows Winnipeg hockey fans know that the city has a misguided grudge against the Moose the size of...well...a moose. No, pointing to attendance figures from 1992 and suggesting that there isnt the fanbase to support a team is rather misguided, not to mention wrong. However, the question mark for a team in Winnipeg is generating revenue beyond ticket sales. Corporate sponsorships, the ability for a local ownership group to weather the rough patches, and the smallish size of the new arena.
Defend your team to the very end. Trust me, its worth it. Surprisingly little feels worse than the feeling of losing the home team, a team you lived and died for, for years. However, while do so be careful not to fall into the "Winnipeg-sucks" trap. Because, this city is a hockey town, and the FANbase here could support an NHL team. Its the "suits", or lack there of, that is the problem.