I think what Lil' G is touching on is the fact that the canadian dollar cannot compete with the US dollar and if US hockey team price tags keep going up ours will have to as well. And there are low budget teams this year that made it to the playoffs, but you also need money to run the hockey club overall - and this is what Canadian hockey fans are worried about - if the 2004 decision goes the wrong way, all we may be left with is Toronto.
Take for example the Winnipeg Jets - not a bad team, great fan support - probably the best in Canada, but the franchise could not generate the funds - so the Jets became the Coyotes...
I hope the Liberals or whoever will be in power over the next couple of years will reintroduce the idea of the government putting some money into our teams - I wouldn't mind my tax dollars going to that
.