Well, that was a nice little number. Inoffensive and would've certainly worked on NLOTH. I can see why they chose not to include it, but keeping this wouldn't have done anything detrimental to the album. I keep feeling like NLOTH is over slightly too soon anyway, so Winter would be a good way to add a few more minutes of enjoyment at no cost.
Also, I can't believe anybody would want to take WAS off the album. But I suppose songs like RTSS and Heartland weren't instant classics back in the day either.