As the clock ticks in Phoenix on the fate of the Coyotes, it's interesting to note the Cone of Silence has descended in Quebec City where Marcel Aubut, still a hockey power-broker, and Regis Lebeaume, the once chatty mayor, have dialled down the rhetoric.
That pattern served True North Sport and Entertainment well in Winnipeg in its quest to land an NHL franchise.
Things went dark in Winnipeg and then, boom, True North was announcing it had bought the Atlanta Thrashers and turned them into the Jets 2.0.
In researching a two-part piece on the Coyotes, the status of Quebec City and the potential return of NHL hockey there -- which will be published Sunday and Monday -- it was interesting to find fewer and fewer people willing to wax philosophical about Quebec's charms as a soft landing spot for the Coyotes.
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