It was several cogs in motion. There was Rowland getting played by Kraft to get a better deal in Foxboro. There was Karmonos wishing he could have afforded the Red Wings and couldn't. But the biggest and most forgotten force was The NHL commissioner HATED there being a team so close to 2 major markets and wanted his legacy to be the NHLs expansion into the south.

We didn't let the whalers go. We supported them way more than their on ice performance deserved. They were taken away from us.