Why No Love for Kansas City and Their NHL Push?

I like (sarcastically) how much respect Kansas City is getting for being a legitimate city to have an NHL team. There are insults going from the people of Canada, upset with the thoughts of another American NHL team, before Canada gets one.

I'm not making this a border war with Canada, I just want to clarify the realization of Kansas City's opportunity to have a great NHL organization. 

I know its not so much a popularity contest, but a population presence is there. 

Winnipeg's population is about 700,000,while Halifax has one of roughly 270,000—the Kansas City metro is 2 million.

You are telling me we can't fill up 18,500 seats & bring enough popularity and money to support a team?

We have the Sprint Center which is newly built, and will be hosting an NHL exhibition game next preseason. I know Winnipeg has a fairly new arena as well, but the Sprint Center is a state-of-the-art facility and right in the middle of the newly remodeled and increasingly popular downtown Kansas City. 

Kansas City isn't near any of the current NHL franchises, and hockey fans in the area should finally have a team. I know the area, and thousands of people for years have wanted an NHL team.

However, the doubters may bring up the Kansas City Scouts of the 70's and make a comparison to the Scouts. 

They may say, "If they didn't make it back than, how are they going to make it now?"

But what about the Colorado Avalanche?

The Scouts moved to Colorado and became the original Colorado Rockies in the late seventies and had a very short tenure before moving to New Jersey to become the Devils we know today. 

Yet, ever since moving from Quebec City to Colorado, the Avalanche have been one of the most popular and successful franchises in the NHL. 

People stress the importance of, "Location, Location, Location," and what better location than Kansas City?

We are far enough away from other franchises to have our own strong fan base in the area, but close enough to make traveling for friends, enemies, and casual fans for hundreds of miles worthwhile, especially for those who wouldn't have gotten to see an NHL game before a new franchise in Kansas City. 

What about developing rich, entrhalling rivalries? Not a problem, especially with the closest franchise being the St. Louis Blues, who have to share the state.

The cities already have bad blood in many other sports, and the sparks have already started to fly, even before the i's are dotted and the t's crossed.

Winnipeg and Halifax are in the middle of nowhere and we talk about "spreading the market". But with those two cities being so far away, why would the NHL want to go that far, especially when teams are forced to play back-to-back games on consecutive nights?

I have never claimed Halifax and Winnipeg don't deserve teams, but I am just saying when compared to Kansas City, Kansas City is certainly worthy of a team and definitely not deserving of the criticism is being dumped upon it.

Most the teams are in America, and adding another won't make the world spin off of it's axis or anything. 

Please take a better look at the NHL and Kansas City before you jump to conclusions on our inferiority.