The mayor of Quebec City wants to build an NHL-quality hockey arena to lure a pro hockey team back to his city.

At a Friday morning news conference, Mayor Regis Labeaume said the dream to bring a hockey team back to town will remain a pipe dream unless a new arena is built -- as will the city's desire to host an Olympic Winter Games.

He told reporters that he's hired SNC Lavalin to conduct a feasibility study to if an arena could be built from 2010 to 2012.

The city's aging Colisee arena has been cited as the major reason that Quebec City cannot hold onto an NHL team.

"The current Colisee is a relic from another era," Labeaume said Friday. "The time has come to offer our population a modern arena...A modern Nordic city needs a modern arena."

Labeaume estimates that it would cost $400 million to build such an arena and that the city is prepared to put up $50 million. He wants Ottawa and the provincial government to each provide $175 million under infrastructure programs.

The mayor made no promises that building a new arena would net an NHL team, but he did pledge to keep taxes in check if a stadium is built.

There is some reason for optimism among Quebec City hockey fans to believe that an NHL team could one day return to the provincial capital -- more than a decade after the Quebec Nordiques flew south to Denver, Colorado, where the team would later win two Stanley Cups.

Last week, Labeaume and former Nordiques owner Marcel Aubut went to New York City to meet with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

Labeaume said reporters to stay tuned on the issue of a second-coming of a pro hockey franchise in his city.

Earlier in October, Bettman said he would consider Quebec City as a candidate for an NHL team, though it would hinge on the city building a state-of-the-art arena and whether a team was available for sale.

Other Canadian contenders?

Other Canadians cities also are dreaming of having an NHL team within their own boundaries as well.

Hockey fans in Winnipeg have long dreamed of the return of the Winnipeg Jets -- the name of the franchise that moved to Arizona in December 1995, becoming the Phoenix Coyotes.

But the franchise in Phoenix has fallen on hard times itself and Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie waged a lengthy campaign to move that team to Hamilton, the steel capital of Ontario.

Balsillie spent months trying to purchase of the Coyotes during a high-profile bankruptcy auction, but he last month announced he would end his legal battle for control of the beleaguered NHL team that has lost tens of millions of dollars under sunny Phoenix skies in recent years.

In June, a team of investors announced its interest in bringing a pro hockey team to Vaughan, Ont., a city north of Toronto.

But the NHL had no knowledge of that group's intentions and had no plans to expand the league.

Nordiques history

Quebec City was home to the Nordiques from 1979 to 1995.

The Nordiques drafted a number of front-line NHL players, including the recently-retired Avalanche franchise player Joe Sakic and former Maple Leaf captain Mats Sundin.

Long-time Avalanche defenceman Adam Foote was also drafted by the Nordiques, as was goaltemder Garth Snow, the current general manager of the New York Islanders.

Perhaps the team's most well-known draft selection came in 1991, when the Nordiques chose the oft-injured Eric Lindros with its first pick.

Lindros refused to play in Quebec and was moved to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for six players, two draft picks and $15 million.

The team moved south of the border for the start of the 1995-1996 season, becoming the Colorado Avalanche. The team won the Stanley Cup the first season that they moved to Colorado, and won a second league championship five seasons later.

With files from The Canadian Press