Petr Bondra was the face of the Washington Capitals for well over a decade. There was tons of emotional responses from Capital fans after he was traded to Ottawa.

But in moving to Ottawa, he appeared to get noticed more in day then all the years in Washington according to stories in the Ottawa media including this article in Slam Sports:

Bondra was amazed at how many people wished him luck yesterday when he made a pre-game trip to the grocery store for some water. "In Washington, people didn't even know who I was," he said.

I don't know if that's a reflection of the NHL's appeal in Washington or in Ottawa. Probably a bit of both.

Addition:
This quote from an article in the Globe and Mail is even better:

Bondra, emotional and more than a little disappointed on Wednesday over the news of being traded from his only NHL home, was considerably more upbeat about things yesterday.

"Since I arrived [Wednesday] night, the people say 'Welcome to Ottawa,' and this feels like one big family," he said. "Wherever you go, people say nice things and they recognize you. In Washington, I never experienced that. People don't know you and they're not going to say hi. This is different.