frink, interesting opinion, but we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Some of us have been cheering for Canadian teams a lot longer than others, and we'll leave it at that. Your perception may have changed in the 90s though - as Canada lost one more franchise than it gained 2 entire cities lost their home team and their fans never really settled.
I will say one thing though - there's a whole range of fan, from "only ever cheer for one team because that's who I picked when I was 8 and I was born there", to "I love the sport so much I can actually cheer for a lot of different players and teams". And many shades of grey in between.
Those of us who swing towards the latter have always been here, we're just nowhere near as vocal as the "OMG you bandwagon traitor, how can you cheer for anyone but the ONE TRUE TEAM" types.
I guess I'm a stereotypical bandwagonner in many people's eyes - I attend 15-20 live games a season, I watch another 100-150 on TV, and each round of the playoffs who I'm cheering for may change completely. The guys I loved in the first round may be my most hated enemy in the next.
I watch, and follow, a LOT of hockey. When you really truly love a sport, it's not about "your team" anymore. It's about loving the game itself, and the rivalries are just one small component of it. In my mind, people who stop watching the playoffs just because "their team" got knocked out aren't really hockey fans at all - they're just fans of a logo.
And I'll STILL cheer for any Canadian team (except the Leaves) over an American team. Stuff that in your pipe, Bettman.