In a market like Winnipeg, you don't bring in an NHL franchise.
Winnipeg loves hockey, but Winnipeggers also love feeding their kids and having heat in the winter. Things are better than they were in the 90s, but it's not all sugar and rainbows on Portage all of a sudden. Winnipeggers cannot afford the kind of prices you find in other Canadian cities, not for long. Once the shine is gone, the team is going to find themselves in the same kind of financial straits Sun Belt teams are in, and unlike those teams, there is basically no chance of longterm growth. Atlanta is unpopular, but due to the market, there is the potential for growth that there simply is not in Winnipeg. But with Winnipeg, the money you make in year 3 is going to be the same as you make in year 20, adjusting for inflation.
And guaranteed, unless the Canadian dollar jumps ahead of the American, a Winnipeg team cannot play to the cap. And if you're not playing to the cap, any success is going to come in spite of yourself. Imagine Nashville without Barry Trotz. They'd be the Islanders.