Your conspiracy theory is interesting, but I don't think it really holds up to scrutiny. Ultimately, more revenue still equals more profits for the owners. If you have unprofitable franchises, the profitable ones have to send their profits away, which shrinks their bottom line. I don't think the Canadian dollar is motivating them. I think it's Gary Bettman's inability to realize that he has made a mistake.
In all the years that Bettman has been commissioner, have you ever heard him say he was sorry? Have you ever heard him say that he has made a mistake? I haven't. No matter what state the game is in, he has a spin on it so that he is not at fault. If you move the team in Phoenix back to Winnipeg, he would in essence be saying that he messed up. That's not like Gary.
In order for your theory to be true, you'd have to have owners that are willing to eat enormous losses and others who are willing to shrink their bottom lines just to keep the salary cap low. But the salary cap is based on a percentage. If the league's revenues are 100 billion, the owners still get 44 percent of that. Wouldn't they rather have 44 percent of 100 billion than 5 billion? I think so.