Minor League Hockey Shake-up...coming

[AnPheitseog]

WNY needs more than just one AHL team. Bring Jamestown a team.

[BeerGuyJordan]

9 hours ago, the admiral said:

I say it's time to give Plattsburgh a look. Real northern New York (REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAL HIP-HOP) seems so remote and quaint.

 

2 hours ago, DiePerske said:

WNY needs more than just one AHL team. Bring Jamestown a team.

I mean, I'm not ruling anything out, at this juncture, because Utica.

[Gothamite]

On 9/27/2016 at 0:41 AM, Geoff said:

Some Binghamton fans feel a return of the Binghamton Rangers is a done deal and see this video as a hint. At the 2:43 while saying they can't officially announce the new affiliation right now, there's a guy in a Rangers jacket right in the center of the screen.

 

 

I will miss that Senator head logo.

 

But when did they drop the fleshtone and go with a white face?

 

 

[Gothamite]

Hey, maybe we could see the return of this beauty?

 

[HedleyLamarr]

On 9/27/2016 at 2:55 AM, Totems!! said:

St. John's vs Alaska in the Kelly Cup finals would be fun. Probably bankrupt both teams in airfare cost. 

When Alaska and Gwinnett played in the Kelly Cup Finals years ago, I remember reading about the Gladiators not being able to get the entire team on one flight to Alaska.  There was a little uncertainty that the entire team would get there in time for Game 1.  Some players and/or staff were doing some "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" action to get there.

[nash61]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Capitals go into Baltimore in the near future once Baltimore's arena is done.

Given the recent trend for closer affiliates, here's the current landscape. Teams that the parent has relocated are noted.

Anaheim = San Diego (relocated 2015) (119 miles)
Arizona = Tuscon (relocated 2016) (127 miles)
Boston = Providence (relocated 1992) (51 miles)
Buffalo = Rochester (76 miles)
Calgary = Stockton (relocated 2015) (1,294 miles)
Carolina = Charlotte (relocated 2011) (168 miles)
Chicago = Rockford (relocated 2007) (89 miles)
Colorado = San Antonio (933 miles)
Columbus = Cleveland (144 miles)
Dallas = Cedar Park (relocated 2009) (189 miles)
Detroit = Grand Rapids (158 miles)
Edmonton = Bakersfield (relocated 2015) (1,743 miles)
Florida = Springfield (1,416 miles)

Los Angeles = Ontario (relocated 2015) (36 miles)
Minnesota = Iowa (relocated 2013) (244 miles)
Montreal = Laval (relocated 2017) (19 miles)
Nashville = Milwaukee (568 miles)
New Jersey = Albany (relocated 2010) (148 miles)
Islanders = Bridgeport (relocated 2001) (63 miles)
Rangers = Hartford (relocated 1997) (124 miles)

Ottawa = Belleville (relocated 2017) (168 miles)
Philadelphia = Allentown (relocated 2014) (61 miles)
Pittsburgh = Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (relocated 1999) (265 miles)
St. Louis = Chicago (297 miles)
San Jose = San Jose (relocated 2015) (0 miles)
Tampa Bay = Syracuse (1,266 miles)

Toronto = Toronto (relocated 2005) (2 miles)
Vancouver = Utica (relocated 2013) (2,909 miles)
Washington = Hershey (128 miles)
Winnipeg = Winnipeg (relocated 2015) (0 miles)

Teams needing affiliates: Las Vegas

Available AHL cities: Binghamton, St. John's, Abbotsford

Farthest teams by distance over 300 miles:

Utica (VAN) 2,909 miles

Bakersfield (EDM) 1,743 miles

Springfield (FLA) 1,416 miles
Stockton (CAL) 1,294 miles

Syracuse (TB) 1,266 miles
San Antonio (COL) 933 miles
Milwaukee (NSH) 566 miles

Bottom 5 AHL attendance from 2015-16
5: Utica (VAN)
4: Binghamton
3: Albany (NJ)
2: Portland
1: Springfield (FLA)

[The_Admiral]

Harrisburg isn't terribly far from Washington as it is. It seems like people in that part of Pennsylvania are as likely look to Washington-Baltimore as they are to Philadelphia. The Hershey Bears are as close to a cornerstone franchise as the AHL has. They'll go nowhere.

[dfwabel]

2 hours ago, nash61 said:

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Capitals go into Baltimore in the near future once Baltimore's arena is done.
 

Near future???

Done???

 

Ha!

 

For the second time in four years, the city of Baltimore commissioned another feasibility study for an arena/hotel project. That study is due this time next year.

 

2021-22 is the earliest anything is close to opening and the 5,000 seat UMBC arena currently under construction doesn't appear to have a chilled floor.

[Cosmic]

Hershey draws almost NHL-sized crowds. If they lose the Bears, this whole thing is even worse off than I thought.

[The_Admiral]

They won't, but I can see an AHL where New York State is down to Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany, and that's it. The AHL has already retreated from the Maritimes, and now they're barely even in New England (Bridgeport is in Fairfield, it doesn't really count). The Pennsylvania teams all seem safe because the arenas are new, medium-sized, and in proximity to their parent teams, but you gotta think Utica isn't gonna last much longer with a distant parent team and a small old arena in a small poor town. Hard to feel great about the direction of this league; no one's calling for an all-New York bus league but concentrating on the hockey-fertile Northeast seems like good business for the game at all levels.

[nash61]

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

They won't, but I can see an AHL where New York State is down to Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany, and that's it. The AHL has already retreated from the Maritimes, and now they're barely even in New England (Bridgeport is in Fairfield, it doesn't really count). The Pennsylvania teams all seem safe because the arenas are new, medium-sized, and in proximity to their parent teams, but you gotta think Utica isn't gonna last much longer with a distant parent team and a small old arena in a small poor town. Hard to feel great about the direction of this league; no one's calling for an all-New York bus league but concentrating on the hockey-fertile Northeast seems like good business for the game at all levels.

You really think Syracuse will hold up? They don't have a ton of history (Eagles 1974-75, Crunch 1994-Pres) and don't have a potentially close parent club.

[The_Admiral]

23 straight years is an eternity in AHL time. They play to about 90% capacity. As long as 'Cuse doesn't start a hockey program, the Crunch seem to be on solid ground.

[nash61]

1 minute ago, the admiral said:

23 straight years is an eternity in AHL time. They play to about 90% capacity. As long as 'Cuse doesn't start a hockey program, the Crunch seem to be on solid ground.

Hamilton was at 19 years and they disappeared in a hurry.

[rams80]

12 minutes ago, nash61 said:

Hamilton was at 19 years and they disappeared in a hurry.

 

I think if you gave most Canadian cities a choice between the AHL and major junior hockey they'd honestly choose the major junior team.  Especially once it became clear an NHL team isn't coming.

[BeerGuyJordan]

Utica is the one that amazes me. Low attendance, smallest city and nowhere near their affiliate. I understand that there are different approaches to the AHL game, usually focused of growing the fanbase, and/or success as a talent pipeline. The Comets aren't really doing either for the Canucks, who actually own the team. When Utica wasn't part of the big 2015 move west, I was puzzled.

 

Albany makes sense for the Devils, geographically, and the league feels like it impugns their honor if they don't have a team in the city where they're headquartered, so, sure...Springfield.

 

Syracuse, Milwaukee and San Antonio have been relatively successful pipelines, and have strong local fanbases, and it isn't like the parent teams are in such hockey hotbeds that they have great local alternatives. Bakersfield and Stockton need more time to see if the newness wears off and results in a drop.

 

Is there something I'm missing, with Utica?

[rams80]

3 minutes ago, BeerGuyJordan said:

Is there something I'm missing, with Utica?

 

Vancouver bought the Peoria Rivermen with the intent of moving them to Seattle....if not immediately, then in a year or two.  The Peoria Civic Center balked at limbo status, so a move needed to happen, and the NHL said no, you can't set up shop there because we might put a team there whenever that hypothetical arena that will never get built gets built, and Abbotsford grew tired of pulling a Glendale/ran out of money.  Utica was kind of an "any port in a storm" situation on the grounds that at least travel costs wouldn't be run up and they had an arena.

[BeerGuyJordan]

17 minutes ago, rams80 said:

 

Vancouver bought the Peoria Rivermen with the intent of moving them to Seattle....if not immediately, then in a year or two.  The Peoria Civic Center balked at limbo status, so a move needed to happen, and the NHL said no, you can't set up shop there because we might put a team there whenever that hypothetical arena that will never get built gets built, and Abbotsford grew tired of pulling a Glendale/ran out of money.  Utica was kind of an "any port in a storm" situation on the grounds that at least travel costs wouldn't be run up and they had an arena.

Got it, another byproduct of the League's hard-on for the Seattle market.

[nash61]

59 minutes ago, BeerGuyJordan said:

Got it, another byproduct of the League's hard-on for the Seattle market.

Utica has one of the smallest (if not THE smallest) arena in the AHL, but as a byproduct of that are rolling with 55 straight sellouts and counting. It may not be Vancouver in there long term, but one has to think the AHL is pleased at the show of support.

 

Utica to Newark = 236 miles
Utica to NYC = 240 miles
Utica to Brooklyn = 246 miles

[JackieMoon]

I see a Reno AHL team in the near future (for the Knights of Columbus, I mean Las Vegas).

[scottysprings]

On September 28, 2016 at 4:29 PM, Gothamite said:

 

I will miss that Senator head logo.

 

But when did they drop the fleshtone and go with a white face?

 

 

I'm pretty sure it was the 2014-15 season when they changed over to the old Ottawa third jersey template and the white face. I agree, definitely liked the flesh tone better.