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Originally Posted by D.J. Fluck
1. Are Canadians more mad that the Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix or the Quebec Nordiques moved to Colorado?
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This is bound to get someone upset, but here's my take.
Canadians are way more mad about the Winnipeg Jets moving south, than the Quebec Nordiques. At the time of the exodus of the Nordiques, Quebec City was not supporting the team at all. Fan support was abysmal, and no merchandise was being sold. To make matters worse, management was full of morons. The team hadn't had a successful season in a long time. There are even accusations that they tanked games during the 1990 season to draft Eric Lindros. No wonder Eric demanded a trade. Then, they went out and traded the big E to two teams. This situation was a mess.
When the club was sold, people were sad to see the nation lose another team, but most saw this as an eventuality. It was going to happen, so we might as well get used to it.
The story with the Jets was different. In the last season that the Jets played in Winnipeg, the team was still selling out most of their games. Unfortunately, Winnipeg was just too small of a market to hold on to a team. So despite lots of fan support, the team flew south for the winter, only to never return.
To this day people are still upset, and see this whole thing with the Jets as part of the Americanization of hockey. A lot of bitterness still exists.
I'm not saying people weren't upset about the Nordiques, but it didn't enter the nation's psyche as much as move of the Jets.
P.S. I'm always up for a good chat about hockey.