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AHL Franchise News

seahawk

seahawk

New member
Not Marlies specific, but I've usually posted news about AHL franchise movement in this section of the board.

The Minnesota Wild are moving the Houston Aeros to Des Moines, Iowa for next season. The team has been in Houston since 1994, first in the old IHL then moving over to the AHL in 2001. This will be the 2nd time for Des Moines in the league having hosted the Iowa Stars/Chops for 4 seasons before that team moved to Texas in 2009. Also, the AHL has approved the sale of the Peoria Rivermen from the St. Louis Blues to the Vancouver Canucks. Nothing official, but there is a rumor of the team being moved to Abbotsford to replace the Flames affiliate there, which would move to Utica, NY. The Blues are expected to sign an affiliation with the Chicago Wolves, whose agreement with Vancouver is up after this season.
 
As expected the Chicago Wolves are the new AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues starting 2013-14 season. Still no official word on what the Canucks will do with the Peoria Rivermen franchise that they just acquired from the Blues.

http://theahl.com/blues-wolves-announce-affiliation-p183353
 
seahawk said:
As expected the Chicago Wolves are the new AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues starting 2013-14 season. Still no official word on what the Canucks will do with the Peoria Rivermen franchise that they just acquired from the Blues.

http://theahl.com/blues-wolves-announce-affiliation-p183353
Click to expand...

Gillis will probably sign it to a 400 year contract.
 
Have not seen an announcement on where the Canucks will be placing their AHL affiliate next year, but we know it will not be staying in Peoria. The SPHL (think low A ball) has announced that both Peoria and Bloomington, IL will be joining the league next season. The last speculation have the Canucks playing their AHL team out of Vancouver.
 
Turns out Rogers Arena falls within the AHL territory for Abbotsford so that is out unless the Canucks write a nice big cheque. Utica, NY is the latest city to get some consideration. The city has previously hosted the AHL and is only 55 miles away from Syracuse. Placing the team on ice for a year is still an option, but the least desirable as the players would be spread out across several AHL teams, not to mention the $150k fee involved.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Utica+rolls+welcome/8417735/story.html
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/05/16/utica-n-y-emerging-as-front-runner-to-house-canucks-new-ahl-franchise/
 
The Canucks have firmed up the plans for their farm team. They will relocate the Peoria Rivermen to Utica NY to play under the name Comets.  This marks a return of the AHL to Utica which last hosted a team (Utica Devils) in the 1992-93 season.  Expect to see some realignment. The easiest solution would be for Utica and Lake Erie to switch divisions, but nothing official yet from the league.

http://theahl.com/utica-comets-to-join-ahl-in-2013-14-p184568
 
Vancouver to Utica is a pretty far ways away. All the Pacific teams have to deal with brutal travel to their AHL affiliate.

San Jose - Worcester, MA
LA - Manchester, NH
Anaheim - Norfolk, VA
Phoenix - Portland...Maine.
 
The AHL has announced the divisions for the 2013-14 season. Turns out they did a bit more shuffling than I had expected. Utica will move from the Midwest to the North. Iowa moves into the Midwest from the West (formerly South). Abbotsford moves from the North to the West. The one move that wasn't made was leaving Charlotte in the West division. It made sense as the South, but the divisional trip from Charlotte to Abbotsford will be a fun one for sure.
 
The 2013-14 AHL schedule was announced today.

Marlies schedule:
http://theahl.com/stats/schedule.php?view=season&team_id=335&season_id=43&home_away=&division_id=
 
The Jets are hoping to move their AHL team from St. John's to Thunder Bay:

Leith Dunick ‏@LeithDunick 11m
Here's a quick hit on the letter of intent announced this morning to possibly bring the AHL to Thunder Bay. http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/318135/Partner-found ? #tbay
Click to expand...
 
I was just coming to post this. Apparently True North has signed on as a partner in a group led by former TSN analyst Gary Green. There's still a few hurdles to clear before a shovel goes in the ground in TBay.

IceCaps COO Glenn Stanford is well connected in AHL circles from his time with the SJML and then Hamilton. CEO Danny Williams was also part of the SJSE board during the Leafs days. They have released a statement saying that they have expected this and have been working on a replacement, which will play under the IceCaps name.

CarltonTheBear said:
The Jets are hoping to move their AHL team from St. John's to Thunder Bay:

Leith Dunick ‏@LeithDunick 11m
Here's a quick hit on the letter of intent announced this morning to possibly bring the AHL to Thunder Bay. http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/318135/Partner-found ? #tbay
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
seahawk said:
I was just coming to post this. Apparently True North has signed on as a partner in a group led by former TSN analyst Gary Green. There's still a few hurdles to clear before a shovel goes in the ground in TBay.

IceCaps COO Glenn Stanford is well connected in AHL circles from his time with the SJML and then Hamilton. CEO Danny Williams was also part of the SJSE board during the Leafs days. They have released a statement saying that they have expected this and have been working on a replacement, which will play under the IceCaps name.

CarltonTheBear said:
The Jets are hoping to move their AHL team from St. John's to Thunder Bay:

Leith Dunick ‏@LeithDunick 11m
Here's a quick hit on the letter of intent announced this morning to possibly bring the AHL to Thunder Bay. http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/318135/Partner-found ? #tbay
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Hope it happens, but I think they should go throwback and call themselves the Port Arthur Lakeheads.
 
Don't know what they will call themselves in TBay, but they won't get a warm welcome when they are the visitors in St. John's.
 
When I think hockey in Thunder Bay, it was the Thunder Bay Twins.  The worst was when it was the Thunder Bay  :P Senators  :P .
 
The 2014 AHL silly season has started. The Flames have announced that they will be relocating from Abbotsford. Utica might be next as the Canucks were looking at Abbotsford last season after buying the old Peoria franchise.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=449430
 
So the carousel has settled for now. The Canucks will not be moving out of Utica. The Flames will be relocating to Glens Falls, NY. The city has been home to the Adirondack Phantoms for the last 5 years, but the Flyers always intended to move to Allentown once a new rink was ready, which it now is.

Changes
Abbotsford Heat (CGY) > Glens Falls, NY
Adirondack Phantoms (PHI) > Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Allentown, PA)
 
Changes coming for AHL, ECHL franchises as NHL teams seek out new affiliations for developing their prospects, and then some...

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/western-expansion-driving-proposed-overhaul-to-ahl--echl--and-chl-in-2015-16-091626868.html
 
This has been talked about for a few years. However, they have also stated that the league will not go beyond the 30 teams, unless the NHL expands. Can't see extra teams being added anywhere. Could see the Central and ECHL merging though. That would give the western ECHL some closer opponents.
 
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