Anyone who's been following the Coyotes ownership saga has heard all the arguments brought up by supporters of the team moving. I'll do my best to break down the most popular quips and dispel them, In part one of a four part series.

Winnipeg is a big town and is the NHL's best option:

Let's all be honest here; Winnipeg is at best a medium-sized market, with it's metro population coming in around 700,000 people.

The 2010 Census put the Phoenix Metro Population around 4,192,887. That's nearly 6 times bigger than Winnipeg, and many of those residents are cold weather transplants. Also unaccounted for in that total is the massive influx of temporary residents from October to April that leave places like the 'Peg for our mild winters.

Let's say the worst happens and the Goldwater group ends up delaying this deal; there are many other more viable locations.

• Seattle metro has 3,344,813 people with possible major corporate sponsors like Microsoft, Starbucks, Alaska Airlines, Costco, Amazon, and Nintendo. It's a 2 and 1/2 hour ride to Vancouver. With the Supersonics gone, it leaves the Key Arena and its 15,177 hockey seats empty.

• Portland Metro has a smaller population than Seattle with 2,241,841, and doesn't have the same premier corporate entities as it's neighbor to the north. However, they do have the Rose Garden Arena and 18,280 hockey seats.

• Kansas City Metro has an estimated population of 2,067,585, and a new arena that holds 17,752 for hockey.

• Milwaukee Metro and it's population of 1,671,770 already support The Admirals (and their awesome logo) in the Bradley Center with it's 17,845 hockey seats. It's also a two hour ride to Chicago.

• Salt Lake City Metro has a population of 1,130,293 and an arena that can hold 14,000 for hockey.

• Or perhaps a return of the Whale- Hartford metro has a population of 1,059,878 and is two hours from Boston or New York.

Tomorrow we will discuss the MTS centre and its NHL readiness.