The latter... mostly offers smug-confirmation for people who project authority onto institutions like the New York Times.
I think it started popping up because these institutions blurred the lines between their editorial and journalistic functions and the result was not the one they had hoped. They had hoped that people would start agreeing with the editorial content as if it was hardcore journalistic truth, but the result is that no one trusts anything in the paper, even journalistic content, unless they are already predisposed to agree with the editorial slant of the institution. With "fact checking" they are double for realsies signaling that it is journalistic work, but of course that does not preclude them from doing their usual manipulations: choice of subject, choice of accepted sources, caracterization of quotes or facts, and of course the subjective value given as a result when something is in the vast gulf between "absolute truth that isn't misleading, controversial or disputable" and "complete and utter fabulation with no supporting evidence of any kind".
I mean, politics might be one aspect of it, but the more likely reason for most is that in a sport where the teams all have more or less the same payroll amount, southern US states offer advantages that canadian teams cannot match. Most importantly: less taxation, more comfortable climate, less scrutiny/stress, more anonymity. Some of these are not just advantages for the players, but for their family as well. If you enjoy being a city's hero, have always dreamed of playing for your hometown, and don't mind that every little thing about you will be scrutinized by media for whom hockey is the #1 sport to cover, then yeah, canadian players might deliberately chose to go play in Montreal or Toronto. But for anyone who doesn't have that attachment, if you get the choice between you and your family living in Winnipeg, and being taxed harder for the privilege, or living in Florida or Las Vegas...
Eventually the league is going to have to address this problem; maybe salary cap has to be adjusted with a "desirability index". No trade clauses might need to go. Maybe some rules have to be drafted to make free agency blind to which team is making an offer. I don't know. But the current context is a problem if the league is trying to remain competitive.
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