Top 5 demands to get the heck out of Winnipeg

Defenceman Jacob Trouba didn't just create all manner of training-camp drama for the Winnipeg Jets when his agent revealed he wants to be traded away from the Manitoba capital.

By asking for a trade to an NHL team that will allow him to play on the right side, Trouba is continuing a long tradition of high-profile Winnipeg players who loved their circumstances in this city so much they tried to get the heck out.

• Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba asks for trade from Winnipeg

Here's what happened to five other big names who wanted to leave the city of ice and floods and Slurpees:

1. Dieter Brock, 1983

While the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' all-time passing leader is a revered figure in this city these days, he was public enemy No. 1 three decades ago.

In 1983, when the Birmingham Rifle was in his ninth consecutive season as the quarterback Blue & Gold, he famously made the mistake of expressing frustration with life in Winnipeg.

"How many times can you go to the zoo?" he asked, which was taken as a serious putdown several decades before the existence of social media.

Brock ended up getting traded to Hamilton for fellow quarterback Tom Clements. When the two faced each other in the 1984 Grey Cup, Brock's Tiger-Cats succumbed to his old team by a 47-17 score.

• Bombers to induct former QB Dieter Brock to Ring of Honour during Banjo Bowl

Brock wound up playing one season for the Los Angeles Rams but never won a championship. He later said he regretted leaving the Bombers when they were so close to winning a Grey Cup.

This season, the Bombers inducted Brock into their new ring of honour, cementing his connection to this city forever.

2. Dale Hawerchuk, 1990

In 1981, the sad-sack Winnipeg Jets surprised absolutely nobody when they used their first overall pick in the NHL draft to snag Dale Hawerchuk, the most gifted centre ever to wear a Jets jersey.

Hawerchuk scored 103 points in his rookie year, led the Jets to immediate respectability and put up numbers so gaudy throughout the 1980s, he would have been regarded as a generational player if it wasn't for the fact some guy named Wayne Gretzky was playing for the Oilers.

Hawerchuk loved the city and Winnipeg NHL fans loved him back with the intensity of a Jimmy Mann sucker-punch. But in 1990, when Ducky grew tired of Jets general manager Mike Smith, he asked for a trade.

The resulting blockbuster with the Buffalo Sabres brought Winnipeg high-scoring defenceman Phil Housley and a No. 1 draft pick that wound up being forward Keith Tkachuk. Jets fans have been debating who won this trade ever since.

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Hawerchuk never returned to Winnipeg as a player; he rounded out his career in St. Louis and Philadelphia. Just like Dieter Brock, he's long been forgiven by Winnipeg fans for wanting to get the heck out of Dodge.

3. Glen Murray, 2004

Former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray was no athlete, but he was one of Canada's most high-profile mayors at the dawn of a new urbanist era in municipal politics.

The Montreal native garnered headlines across the country for his efforts to craft a "new deal" for Canadian cities, paving the way for future urbanists such as former Toronto mayor David Miller and current Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi.

Murray's efforts to convince other levels of government to accede to his demands fell flat, however. Former Manitoba premier Gary Doer had little interest in sloughing off a portion of provincial revenues in order to benefit the provincial capital.

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So in 2004, Murray tried to engineer a trade. He resigned his seat as mayor and attempted to run as a federal Liberal in Charleswood-St. James, with eyes on serving as a cabinet minister in a Paul Martin government.

The deal did not go through, as Tory Steven Fletcher claimed the seat. The City of Winnipeg wound up with Sam Katz as mayor that summer and Murray shuffled off to Toronto.

Murray was elected to the Ontario legislature as an MPP in 2010 and is now Minister of the Environment and Climate. He plans to wind down his political career in 2018.

4. Barrin Simpson, 2009

For most of the first decade of this millennium, the linebacker known as "The Minister of Defence" knew little but success in the Canadian Football League, racking up a ludicrous number of tackles.

But in 2008, an injury cut his season short. He never quite recovered in time to impress new Bomber coach Mike Kelly the following year.

Simpson played 13 games for the Bombers that season but wound up getting placed on the injured reserve list in September against his will.

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He demanded a trade out of town, but was left to languish for the remainder of the season. The Bombers released him, allowing the arch-rival Saskatchewan Roughriders to snatch him up.

Simpson played two more seasons in the CFL and ended his career as a six-time league-wide all-star.

Mike Kelly was, in essence, run out of town.

5. Evander Kane, 2015

While Winnipeggers have long forgiven the likes of Dieter Brock and Dale Hawerchuk for demanding a plane out of town, it'll be a warm January day at Grand Beach before Jets fans develop any form of affection for cocky former winger Evander Kane.

Kane scored 30 goals during the first season the NHL returned to Winnipeg but made more noise off the ice every subsequent year. 

When Kane wasn't antagonizing fans with his Twitter account, he was apparently annoying teammates; he became enough of a locker-room distraction for Dustin Byfuglien to toss Kane's track suit into a shower after the latter missed a team meeting in 2015.

• Winnipeg Jets fans don track suits to mock Evander Kane at Sunday's game

Soon afterward, Kane announced he would sit out the rest of the season to recover from surgery. He was then traded to Buffalo as part of the blockbuster deal that brought Winnipeg scoring forward Drew Stafford and giraffe-like defenceman Tyler Myers.

The presence of the right-shooting Myers on the Jets roster wound up leading to Trouba's trade demand. That is, if you buy the idea Trouba only wants out because there's no room for him on the right side of the ice in Winnipeg.