Jump to content

Minor League Hockey Shake-up...coming


JackieMoon

Recommended Posts

Former Central Hockey League franchises, the Arizona Sundogs and Denver Cutthroats, which are respectively owned by the Arizona Coyotes and the Colorado Avalanche

lolwut? No... No, they're not owned by the Coyotes and Avs. Those franchises are dead and were never owned by the NHL teams in the area.

Athletic Director: KTU Blue Grassers Football

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, how are the Avs going to get their hands on an AHL team too, because the Cavs aren't selling.

Apparently, the owner of the Norfolk Admirals was told in no uncertain terms that if he didn't sell his franchise to the Ducks, they'd terminate their affiliation, and no one else would come to replace them. So, that's how.

Norfolk was unwilling to pay the full salary and benefits of an entire AHL team, especially because it needs to draw for meal ticket purposes, the Cavs may be, as all they need is a date filler. There's nothing in the AHL bylaws forbidding existing teams from going independent.

On 8/1/2010 at 4:01 PM, winters in buffalo said:
You manage to balance agitation with just enough salient points to keep things interesting. Kind of a low-rent DG_Now.
On 1/2/2011 at 9:07 PM, Sodboy13 said:
Today, we are all otaku.

"The city of Peoria was once the site of the largest distillery in the world and later became the site for mass production of penicillin. So it is safe to assume that present-day Peorians are descended from syphilitic boozehounds."-Stephen Colbert

POTD: February 15, 2010, June 20, 2010

The Glorious Bloom State Penguins (NCFAF) 2014: 2-9, 2015: 7-5 (L Pineapple Bowl), 2016: 1-0 (NCFAB) 2014-15: 10-8, 2015-16: 14-5 (SMC Champs, L 1st Round February Frenzy)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exactly, to enter the league you need an affiliation but once you're in, there's nothing explicitly forcing you to keep it.

I don't see it ever happening but it's definitely technically possible.

Athletic Director: KTU Blue Grassers Football

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Former Central Hockey League franchises, the Arizona Sundogs and Denver Cutthroats, which are respectively owned by the Arizona Coyotes and the Colorado Avalanche

lolwut? No... No, they're not owned by the Coyotes and Avs. Those franchises are dead and were never owned by the NHL teams in the area.

Sun Dogs are owned by this guy: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/arizona-sundogs--owner--gm-will-be-buried-alive-to-sell-season-tickets-163041733.html

On September 20, 2012 at 0:50 AM, 'CS85 said:

It's like watching the hellish undead creakily shuffling their way out of the flames of a liposuction clinic dumpster fire.

On February 19, 2012 at 9:30 AM, 'pianoknight said:

Story B: Red Wings go undefeated and score 100 goals in every game. They also beat a team comprised of Godzilla, the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, 2 Power Rangers and Betty White. Oh, and they played in the middle of Iraq on a military base. In the sand. With no ice. Santa gave them special sand-skates that allowed them to play in shorts and t-shirts in 115 degree weather. Jesus, Zeus and Buddha watched from the sidelines and ate cotton candy.

POTD 5/24/12, POTD 2/26/17

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have there been any updates on what will happen to the Colorado Eagles or who will be the new Islanders ECHL affiliate? What about the Las Vegas Wranglers' return from hiatus?

News just came out that Las Vegas is pulling the plug.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

San Jose should put their team in Oakland. Its just up the street and it spreads hockey around the San Fransisco Bay rather than having both teams (the NHL and AHL) in the same city.

If they are going to have the team play in San Jose I hope they call them the San Jose Blades. I know its a lame name but that was the winning entry in the name the team contest back in 1990. Luckily the Gunds went with the runner up name of Sharks instead but it would be kinda cool if they honored that contest.

The Catch of the Day!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I honestly don't see how the Alaska Aces are going to carry on much longer. Perhaps they should eye moving to the WHL and reforming their whole franchise. Wow, ECHL just got their division structure right. Now they will go to six divisions.

Quite simple actually: they fly everywhere. They already fly to places like Colorado, Idaho, and Utah, now they just won't be flying into California and will add trips to Rapid City.

Former Central Hockey League franchises, the Arizona Sundogs and Denver Cutthroats, which are respectively owned by the Arizona Coyotes and the Colorado Avalanche

lolwut? No... No, they're not owned by the Coyotes and Avs. Those franchises are dead and were never owned by the NHL teams in the area.

Sun Dogs are owned by this guy: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/arizona-sundogs--owner--gm-will-be-buried-alive-to-sell-season-tickets-163041733.html

No, they're not. That franchise is dead. They didn't make the move from the WPHL dba CHL to the ECHL and the WPHL dba CHL is now dead. Same with Denver.

Athletic Director: KTU Blue Grassers Football

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was posted over on a different website, but it's very interesting. Particularly as a response to the knee jerk reaction some on the east coast have had that this is just another hockey sunshine state move that is doomed to fail...

The average attendances for the ‘14-’15 season thus far are listed below for the 8 cities involved in this move that currently have teams.

ECHL Ontario 7,235
AHL Manchester 5,571
ECHL Bakersfield 4,648
AHL Norfolk 4,553
ECHL Stockton 4,438
AHL Adirondack 3,586
AHL Oklahoma City 3,443
AHL Worcester 3,355

As you can see, the west coast cities that are involved support their inferior ECHL teams pretty damned well. Ontario will be an upgrade crowd wise over the leading AHL team Manchester. Stockton is almost 1,000 more fans a game than Glen Falls. And Bakersfield is even more compared to OKC. Of course San Jose and San Diego don’t currently have minor league teams so they are wild cards but the last ECHL iteration of the San Diego Gulls averaged 5,841 in their final season (‘05-’06) and were never lower than 4,591 in their first and lowest attended year in the old WCHL in 1995. So at worst they’d be a push compared to Norfolk and San Diego would likely also be an improvement seeing as the former WCHL and the current ECHL are lower level league than AHL.

Seems this move makes sense not just from a proximity standpoint, but also from a fan and fanbase building standpoint as well. Both local AHL fan base and regional NHL fan base in the case of the Sharks, Ducks and Kings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have there been any updates on what will happen to the Colorado Eagles or who will be the new Islanders ECHL affiliate? What about the Las Vegas Wranglers' return from hiatus?

Colorado Eagles are staying put, as far as I know.

Smart is believing half of what you hear. Genius is knowing which half.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As long as Alaska keeps subsidizing travel for other teams, I think they'll be fine. You do realize this organization has been around for decades and started out in the semi-pro Pacific Southwest Hockey League with teams in Calfornia and Nevada, right? They've been doing this for over 25 years now,

Athletic Director: KTU Blue Grassers Football

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"You do realize" might be my least favorite sequence of words in the entire English language. "You do realize that what you said is wrong, right?" No, I f-cking don't; what do you think I do, sit around trying to be willfully wrong about things? Ugh. There should be a humorous word filter here to make it go away.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...Yeah but how long is it before all the other Western teams say no to Alaska travel. Poor team is getting axed sooner or later.

Alaska pays for teams to fly out there and play series. The logistics will work.

On 8/1/2010 at 4:01 PM, winters in buffalo said:
You manage to balance agitation with just enough salient points to keep things interesting. Kind of a low-rent DG_Now.
On 1/2/2011 at 9:07 PM, Sodboy13 said:
Today, we are all otaku.

"The city of Peoria was once the site of the largest distillery in the world and later became the site for mass production of penicillin. So it is safe to assume that present-day Peorians are descended from syphilitic boozehounds."-Stephen Colbert

POTD: February 15, 2010, June 20, 2010

The Glorious Bloom State Penguins (NCFAF) 2014: 2-9, 2015: 7-5 (L Pineapple Bowl), 2016: 1-0 (NCFAB) 2014-15: 10-8, 2015-16: 14-5 (SMC Champs, L 1st Round February Frenzy)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, that's good then. ...so here is how the ECHL looks so far...

Cincinnati (Panthers, Predators)

Elmira (Sabres)

Manchester (Kings)

Reading (Flyers)

Toledo (Red Wings)

Wheeling (Penguins, Canadiens) - CANADIENS SHOULD GO WITH BRAMPTON

Florida (Hurricanes, Lightning)

Greenville (Rangers)

Gwinnett (Coyotes)

Norfolk - HURRICANES?

Orlando (Maple Leafs)

South Carolina (Capitals, Bruins) BRUINS WANT SOMETHING NORTH, SO CAPITALS SHOULD STAY

Brampton (Independent)

Evansville (Senators)

Ft. Wayne (Avalanche)

Indy (Blackhawks)

Kalamazoo (Blue Jackets, Canucks) CANUCKS SHOULD GO WEST

Allen (Sharks)

Missouri (Independent)

Quad City (Wild)

Tulsa (Independent)

Wichita (Independent)

Alaska (Blues)

Colorado (Flames)

Idaho (Stars)

Rapid City (Independent)

Utah (Ducks)

.... who in the hell knows how the realignment will go. Looks like a lot of teams will change affiliations as well. Rumor has it the Cyclones and Predators are going to stick together and the Panthers are parting ways.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.