OT - Globe and Mail reporting Atlanta Thrashers relocating to Winnipeg is done deal.
The Globe and Mail's Stephen Brunt is reporting that the Atlanta Thrashers will be relocating to the capital of Manitoba and that the devil himself, Gary Bettman, will be in Winnipeg to make the announcement on Tuesday. All I can say is "hooray!"
Currently, there are a high volume of denials from Bettman, Bill Daly et al. from the NHL's "brain trust". Next up, a team for Hamilton and Quebec City.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/atlanta-thrashers-moving-to-winnipeg/article2029179/
Those Jets photos made me feel like I was 14 yrs old again.
and it is very different from Quebec city, especially in terms of language. You can live comfortably here with minimal French (I speak both, the wife only English). Half the island is essentially English speaking. Quebec is totally different, and most people on the outskirts of QC don't even speak English. Plus it is a very small city.
I can't ever recall a player having doubts about moving here over language (in baseball, there was Mark Langston, but that was for a different issue).
And as a 3rd generation habs fan, I never want to see the Nordiques surface again.
Jets in Wpg is good for the league, Hamilton, OCK, maybe Kansas might work too.
I'm familiar with Quebec province and the different language situations in Montreal and Quebec City. It's true that English is clearly not a native language in Quebec City, but in my experience, you can get by speaking it. It's like being in Europe. The poll I linked above suggests that the language doesn't seem to be an issue for NHL players, and they would be the ones most affected. (It's worth noting that a large number of NHL players themselves are not native English speakers. French-Canadians are around 10% of players and Europeans are another 35% or so.)
Now, as for whether Quebec City is large enough to support a team, that's another story. It may not be. But Quebec province has 8 million people, most of whom are obsessed with hockey. The province itself could support a second franchise somewhere. Whether that location should be in Quebec City, I don't know. What specifically killed the Nordiques the last time around was the combination of an outdated arena and the Canadian dollar being unusually low in value. The latter is no longer an issue (and shouldn't be anytime soon) and the former is supposed to be resolved.