I agree with everything else you said but this part I legitimately think doesn't make much of a difference. It might be just one player but at dinner one night at my brother's place, Duchene told us that growing up liking the Habs in Haliburton, it got annoying with all the Leaf fans running around there - then a few minutes later, he named Toronto as a team he wanted to pick him in the draft (at this point, it was looking like it could happen). He said he thinks your allegiances go out the window when you're drafted and he feels like playing in the spotlight would only challenge him to be a better NHLer.
Players that think like this will want to go to places like Toronto or Montreal. And of course, there will always be a few who want no part of that. It happens. When a team in Toronto is competitive, it's a great place to play. The proof is that players who've been here to witness that refused to leave even when things went south - McCabe, Sundin, Kaberle, Tucker, etc.
