Minor League Hockey Shake-up...coming

[Ridleylash]

49 minutes ago, DustDevil61 said:

I’d personally love to see the Flames send their AHL affiliate go to either Salt Lake or Boise (with another team—maybe Bakersfield or Charlotte—going to the other city), but I guess that kind of move makes too much sense these days.

 In a league that's increasingly moving towards clubs being closer to their parent organization (more or less), the Flames sending their AHL team to Salt Lake City or Boise when those cities are 12 and 13 hours from Calgary, respectively would be an asinine decision; which, granted, would be very in character for the Flames org at the AHL level...

 

My guess is somewhere in the Canadian Prairies, say Regina; that way they could slot into the Central Division and immediately have a rival in the Moose.

[Dilbert]

Boise, Billings, Lethbridge, Regina, Saskatoon sound reasonable, however does the Flames want to put an AHL club in a market already housed by a WHL club? I know the Hitmen have a decent following in Calgary already though.

[monkeypower]

1 hour ago, rams80 said:

Alternatively is there any Alberta city of remotely suitable size that doesn't have a WHL team? 

 

Nope. 

  

1 hour ago, rams80 said:

Assuming a WHL team would kill an AHL team at the box office.

 

That's always been the assumption, but there hasn't been any sample size (at least in the modern era) of having both teams in the same city at the same time.

 

It is happening in Winnipeg right now, but that situation isn't the same with the Moose being Winnipeg's only hockey team for 25 years and the Ice only being in Winnipeg for three seasons (two of which were pandemic impacted) and not having their arena yet.

 

45 minutes ago, Ridleylash said:

My guess is somewhere in the Canadian Prairies, say Regina; that way they could slot into the Central Division and immediately have a rival in the Moose.

 

The article says "Calgary area" and you go with Regina? I guess it is more "Calgary area" than Stockton is.

 

29 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

Boise, Billings, Lethbridge, Regina, Saskatoon sound reasonable, however does the Flames want to put an AHL club in a market already housed by a WHL club? I know the Hitmen have a decent following in Calgary already though.

 

The article says in Canada and in the Calgary area, so only really Lethbridge of yours would fit that bill. But yes, the issue would be the existing Junior teams/the amount of hockey already being played plus the size of the cities and arenas.

 

I don't know if "Calgary area" actually means in Calgary, but Calgary doesn't really have another big enough existing arena. There's the Saddledome, but I don't know if they would want to add a fourth team to the Dome master schedule. There's the First Nation arena that the Hitmen played the pandemic 2020-21 season at and a couple games this previous season when the Flames and Roughnecks had covid reschedules, but that only holds 2000 people. There's the bowl arena at the Olympic Park complex, but that's only like 2500-3000 capacity and international ice.

 

The Calgary bedroom cities/towns of Airdrie, Cochrane and Okotoks do not have a big enough arena (Okotoks has an Junior A team, still not a big enough arena).  Then the other players of Lethbridge and Medicine Hat have the WHL teams. (I also don't really know the AHL circuit that well, but would Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Regina, et al (minus Saskatoon) be big enough cities and big enough arenas  in comparison?) 

 

If the rumors from that article are correct and it is in Canada and in the Calgary area, I don't know where that could be.

[Burmy]

I'm thinking Lethbridge as well (possibly Red Deer).  Thing is, where would the Hurricanes (or possibly Rebels) move to?

[DustDevil61]

20 hours ago, Dilbert said:

Boise, Billings, Lethbridge, Regina, Saskatoon sound reasonable, however does the Flames want to put an AHL club in a market already housed by a WHL club? I know the Hitmen have a decent following in Calgary already though.

I feel Boise and Salt Lake are both possibilities south of the border; I do know that there is a direct connection between Salt Lake and Calgary. (Not sure about Boise, though.)

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by DustDevil61
South of the border

[Dilbert]

4 hours ago, Burmy said:

I'm thinking Lethbridge as well (possibly Red Deer).  Thing is, where would the Hurricanes (or possibly Rebels) move to?

Cranbrook BC? The former home of the Kootenay Ice.

[Ridleylash]

7 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

Cranbrook BC? The former home of the Kootenay Ice.

The last time the Flames put their AHL team in BC, it took 4 years before they were moving to New York.

 

I severely doubt the Flames would care for a repeat of that; BC is Canucks turf, you'd never get BC hockey fans to support an AHL affiliate of one of their biggest rivals. Their best bet is to put their AHL team somewhere where there's either no built-in affiliations or where the Flames already have a strong foothold.

[monkeypower]

52 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

Cranbrook BC? The former home of the Kootenay Ice.

 

The Ice bailed out of Cranbrook because of the arena and attendance situation there and then Cranbrook "downgraded" to Jr. A. No way a professional team heads there.

[DEAD!]

"Calgary area" could be anything... I will take an out of the box approach and say they will build an arena around Spruce Meadows.

[Dilbert]

4 hours ago, Ridleylash said:

The last time the Flames put their AHL team in BC, it took 4 years before they were moving to New York.

 

I severely doubt the Flames would care for a repeat of that; BC is Canucks turf, you'd never get BC hockey fans to support an AHL affiliate of one of their biggest rivals. Their best bet is to put their AHL team somewhere where there's either no built-in affiliations or where the Flames already have a strong foothold.

 

3 hours ago, monkeypower said:

 

The Ice bailed out of Cranbrook because of the arena and attendance situation there and then Cranbrook "downgraded" to Jr. A. No way a professional team heads there.

I meant moving Red Deer or Lethbridge there. No way a pro team would go there, but then again the Senators put theirs in Belleville.

[Ridleylash]

[Burmy]

5 hours ago, Ridleylash said:

The IceDogs' lease runs until 2034...though I wouldn't be surprised to see another struggling OHL team move to Brantford soon *cough*Mississauga Steelheads*cough*

[Discrim]

On 5/16/2022 at 10:27 PM, DEAD! said:

"Calgary area" could be anything... I will take an out of the box approach and say they will build an arena around Spruce Meadows.

I got an idea...how about Edmonton?

*Dodges tomatoes*

[JerseyJimmy]

On 5/16/2022 at 8:13 PM, DustDevil61 said:

I feel Boise and Salt Lake are both possibilities south of the border; I do know that there is a direct connection between Salt Lake and Calgary. (Not sure about Boise, though.)

 

 

personally, I'd like to see the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights come back. yes, I know they didn't draw well, but that identity was sweet.

[The_Admiral]

"Darren DeDobbelaer" is a name you make up as you're saying it. Anyway, I don't think we're getting the Brantford Alexanders back; too much money went into building the arena in St. Catharines for that.

[LMU]

 

[Burmy]

Thus cements Stockton's legacy as the passenger pigeons of minor league hockey. 

 

Once the liveliest fanbase in the ECHL, no one would so much as surrender a thought that the Port City would ever lose minor-league hockey forever...but now here we are.

[RyanMcD29]

Half surprised the Flames didn't decide to salt Albany or Binghamton even further

 

(I'll spare the remainder of my usual Upstate NY minor league hockey meme)

[Dilbert]

On 1/28/2021 at 8:52 PM, Dilbert said:

The Heats lease with the City of Stockton and the Stockton Arena ran out at the end of the 2019-20 season. In February 2020, a one year extension was signed through the 2020-21 season to give the two more time to negotiate a new contract. The original lease was 5 years with an team option for an additional 5. The Flames and Heat declined the option. With parent owned AHL clubs wanting to be located closer to the parent teams in recent years, I think the Heat provisional move may be more permanent.

 

On 4/17/2021 at 11:10 PM, Dilbert said:

 I can see Calgary moving Stockton Heat north as well if the Canucks move west. They are temporarily playing in Calgary already this season.

I saw this coming a little over a year ago. The Flames had the Heat play in Calgary during the shortened 2020-21 season and with the Canucks move to Abbotsford Im not surprised this happened. I would not be surprised if the Oilers pulled out of Bakersfield and put a team in Edmonton.

[DustDevil61]

2 hours ago, Burmy said:

Thus cements Stockton's legacy as the passenger pigeons of minor league hockey. 

 

Once the liveliest fanbase in the ECHL, no one would so much as surrender a thought that the Port City would ever lose minor-league hockey forever...but now here we are.

They couldn’t even wait for the Heat’s playoff run to end, could they?

I’m bummed for Stockton being among the latest scorched-earth (pardon the pun) market hit by Flames management. I’m also bummed that a larger, closer ECHL city like Salt Lake or Boise got passed over for AHL hockey (again), but the silver lining here is that neither of those cities will be Calgary’s next victim.