Quote:
Originally Posted by Corndogger
Didn't Winnipeg and Edmonton originally get NHL teams because the NHL absorbed the old WHA? The size of the metros back then had nothing to do with it. If it did I doubt either one would have ever been considered.
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Yes. Ottawa was bigger than Winnipeg, Edmonton and Quebec City but did not get into the league because it was a migration of WHA clubs but Ottawa was not in the WHA.
For many years people in Ottawa bitched that the city screwed up its chance to get into the NHL by fumbling several opportunities it had to get an WHA club (which in theory might have been admitted into the NHL with the Oilers, Jets and Nordiques).