If there were no Canadian teams, most players wouldn't want or need NTC's. The no trade clause exists because Canadian teams also exist. Not wanting to live in a media/fan fish bowl is only part of the story. High taxes and crappy weather play their part too.
When you become a full-time player, you stop being a fan. And when you become a full-time player who gets paid to play hockey for a living, you re-prioritize your life. Winning is still the ultimate goal but it ceases to be the life-and-death singular event on a game-by-game basis the way it is for us fans. When playing hockey is your job then it becomes work just like any other job. At some point, you as a player will become more focused on your working conditions and lifestyle choices rather than narrowly focusing on winning. Fact is, every player on every team in the league wants to win but only 23 of them actuall do every year. For the vast majority, its a job. an enjoyable and rewarding job, no doubt, but still a job. So if at some point work is work, how do you want to do it? Where do you want to do it? For players who excel at their jobs, they can pick and choose their working conditions while the scrubs are just happy not to be riding a bus in the minors.
Now think about your own job. Maybe you like it or maybe you don't but you probably haven't much choice either way if you want to ensure your bills keep getting paid. So maybe you can't change your job but what if, instead of having to slog through a Montreal blizzard to get to the office you could do your job in an office located in sunny Florida? What if, instead of paying the highest personal income taxes in North America you could live in a place like Florida which has no state taxes? What if, instead of having your performance scrutinized by millions on a daily basis you could get paid just as much to do the same job in a place where no one even noticed what you did or didn't do?
I dare say that many of us would jump at the chance. Sure, as fans we'd like to think that we'd want to play in a city where the sport matters and we'd like to think that we'd take less money to play on a team with a chance to win but the reality is that once you really are getting paid to play for a living, you focus on things like lifestyle and prolonging your career for as long as possible.
