Up to 5 AHL teams heading west

[PromoTheRobot]

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/21/report-sharks-to-move-ahl-affiliate-from-worcester-to-san-jose-will-play-at-sap-center/

 

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/hockeyozone/2015/01/12/ahl-schedule-will-shrink/21650405/

 

 

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150121/SPORTS0702/150129842

At least Manchester (where I live) will likely get an ECHL team as a replacement.

[Cereal]

Hmmm interesting, so per the D&C article:

• Edmonton's OKC is closing operations, moving to Bakersfield, CA.
  
• LA Kings: Manchester to Ontario, CA.
  
• Anaheim is buying Norfolk's team, relocating it, probably to San Diego.
  
• Sharks moving the Worcester team to... it looks like San Jose.
  
• Calgary's Glen Falls team will relocate to Stockton, CA.
  

Also:

• Colorado looking to relocate the Cleveland team in the next three years.
  
• Arizona desperate to move from Portland, Maine to the West as well.
  

Interesting stuff. So, assuming all seven of the above happen..... plus St. Johns eventually moving to Thunder Bay... that leaves 15 teams in the eastern time zone:

• 14 northeast teams (left over from current Eastern Conference plus Western-North (Amerks') division)
  
• 1 more eastern team... Charlotte Checkers "stranded" down there
  
• 6 midwest teams (Manitoba + Milwaukee, Chicago, Rockford, Grand Rapids (yes I know they're eastern time zone), Iowa....)
  
• 5 California teams mentioned above
  
• 2 other west teams in ??? (Colorado and Arizona as above)
  
• Two Texas teams "stranded" (Austin and San Antonio)
  

Are there any other teams that are on the move?

 

This news seems almost entirely driven with the mobility between NHL and AHL teams in mind.

 

Also, I am glad shifting like this didn't occur a few years ago, prior to Pegula re-solidifying the Amerks-Sabres affiliation.

[inkman]

Hopefully this will realign the divisions so the Amerks can play NYS teams regularly and not teams from Texas.

[shrader]

I'm amazed Utica got their team even though these kind of moves have been talked about for a couple years now.

[Eleven]

Hopefully this will realign the divisions so the Amerks can play NYS teams regularly and not teams from Texas.

 

No kidding.

[IKnowPhysics]

It'd be neat if the Amerks got out to Southern California once in a while.

[MBHockey13]

I'd like to see the Amerks finally play in Charlotte a couple of times a year, but that is because I'd go and watch them. I can't figure out why they can't make it down here at least once a year but can make it to Texas.

[Johnny DangerFace]

Hopefully this will realign the divisions so the Amerks can play NYS teams regularly and not teams from Texas.

 

Well that's just crazy talk

[PromoTheRobot]

My bet is Portland, ME ends up in Prescott, AZ who lost a CHL team last year. Empty building just waiting for a team just 90 minutes from Glendale.

[blugold43]

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/21/report-sharks-to-move-ahl-affiliate-from-worcester-to-san-jose-will-play-at-sap-center/

 

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/hockeyozone/2015/01/12/ahl-schedule-will-shrink/21650405/

 

 

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150121/SPORTS0702/150129842

At least Manchester (where I live) will likely get an ECHL team as a replacement.

GOOD.  Maybe now we can somehow get a game in Hershey again next year?? :blink:

 

I look forward to seeing the Amerks in Hershey every year.  Really pissed they couldn't figure out a way to get these two great old-time AHL teams together AT ALL this season.  Just idiotic.

[Eleven]

My bet is Portland, ME ends up in Prescott, AZ who lost a CHL team last year. Empty building just waiting for a team just 90 minutes from Glendale.

 

I hope not, for the sake of that guy who used to post here all the time.  Just like I wish you weren't losing Manchester.

[PromoTheRobot]

I hope not, for the sake of that guy who used to post here all the time. Just like I wish you weren't losing Manchester.

Well we are losing an AHL affiliation but we will still have hockey. In fact I expect the team to remain the Monarchs. We just won't play Worcester every week.

[skaught]

I'm super excited to have hockey back in San Diego again. I miss going to the gulls games.

[PromoTheRobot]

The official announcement is today in San Jose.

[Cereal]

Here's a summary of the changes for 2015-16.  Here's a summary of all 30 affiliations for 2015-16.

 

Ok, so three new affiliations were announced this month:

• CBJ's with Lake Erie (Cleveland): Seems like a fantastic regionalization move for the CBJ's
• Avs with San Antonio:  This gets the Avs' closer to home.
• Yotes with Springfield (Mass.): This doesn't solve much for the Yotes???? (Yotes previously with Portland.)

And also recently:

• Florida Panthers announced the switch from San Antonio back to the good ol' Portland Pirates
• The Jets will successfully move the St. John's team to Winnipeg.
• The Habs will move operations from Hamilton to St, John's.  So St. John's will still have a team (awesome), and I guess there will be no Hamilton????  Weird.

Summary:

• We now have a five-team AHL division in California (three SoCal, two NoCal): San Diego (ANA), Ontario (LAK), Bakersfield (EDM), San Jose (SJS), Stockton (CGY).
• The other two NHL Pacific Division teams' affiliates are east coast: Utica (VAN) and Springfield (ARI)... so as far as proximity improvements, both are losers here.
• 2014-15 AHL Midwest Division remains intact (five teams): Milwaukee (NSH), Chicago (STL), Rockford (CHI), Grand Rapids (DET), Lake Erie (CBJ now).
• 2014-15 AHL West Division loses one (OKC); four teams remain: Texas (DAL), San Antonio (COL now), Charlotte (CAR), Iowa (MIN).
• So, Winnipeg's new AHL should slide somewhere in the West/Midwest shuffle, I imagine????
• This bodes well for the Amerks, as we now have three Western Conference divisions (California, West, Midwest).  Thus I imagine the Amerks' division will be in the Eastern Conference, thus we won't be missing out on matchups with other EC teams anymore, haha.
• This still strands Charlotte in with the "West" teams.  Grand Rapids and Lake Erie also eastern time zone.
• Another option (just my idea) could be four divisions in two conferences (like the NHL), with 14 teams in the west (5 California teams + 2 Texas teams in one division; 5 midwest teams + Grand Rapids and Lake Erie in the other).  This helps slide Charlotte to the east, and maybe(?) helps Texas teams with travel.

[mjd1001]

I wish more of the Amerks games would be on TV in Buffalo. We saw some this year, but on nights the Sabres weren't on, I enjoyed watching the Amerks.

 

It's a little hard to get too invested though. NHL teams deal with injuries....AHL teams deal with their own injuries AND the parent teams injuries (via callups) and seem to be impacted by trades more.

 

I told myself I'd make it to Rochester for a game this past season..and I didn't. I really am going to try to take in a game or two in Rochester next season.

[IKnowPhysics]

Nice summary, Cereal.

[Cereal]

More on what is becoming of the six franchises losing their AHL teams in 2015-16:

• Hamilton Bulldogs were sold to the Habs, but the previous owner purchased the OHL's Belleville Bulls and moving them to Hamilton for the 2015-16 OHL season.
• The AHL's Manchester Monarchs essentially swapped with the ECHL's Ontario Reign, both as affiliates of the LA Kings.  Manchester is now an ECHL team and Ontario an AHL team.
• Adirondack Flames are moving to Stockton, remaining as Calgary's affiliate.  Calgary purchased the ECHL's Stockton Thunder, and will be moving them to Glens Falls for the 2015-16 ECHL season as the Adirondack Thunder.
• Norfolk Admirals are moving to San Diego, remaining as Anaheim's affiliate.  Edmonton's ECHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condor's, will move to Norfolk for the 2015-16 ECHL season as the Norfolk Admirals.  (Recall that Edmonton is moving its AHL affiliate, the OKC Barons, to Bakersfield for 2015-16).
• Speaking of the OKC Barons, they will be straight up ceasing operations.
• The Worcester Sharks have no replacement team, either.  Recall that the Sharks just created a new team called the San Jose Barracuda, to play in the AHL out of the same arena as the parent Sharks.

[Ogre]

The Bulldogs move to St. John's is temporary. There is a new arena under construction in Laval, Quebec that is slated to open for the fall of 2017. Montreal's affiliate will then move from St. John's to Laval. Couldn't be any better for the Habs. Laval is right across the river.

[Cereal]

The Bulldogs move to St. John's is temporary. There is a new arena under construction in Laval, Quebec that is slated to open for the fall of 2017. Montreal's affiliate will then move from St. John's to Laval. Couldn't be any better for the Habs. Laval is right across the river.

Sounds like a nice little plan for the Habs.

 

What about St. John's, though?  I seem to remember that the team gets a ton of fan support out there, but there has been concern because it's so far for travel.

[Ogre]

Sounds like a nice little plan for the Habs.

 

What about St. John's, though? I seem to remember that the team gets a ton of fan support out there, but there has been concern because it's so far for travel.

I haven't heard anything on St. John's post AHL plans. It is one hell of a trek. Aren't the Newphies in their own time zone as well?

[PromoTheRobot]

I haven't heard anything on St. John's post AHL plans. It is one hell of a trek. Aren't the Newphies in their own time zone as well?

St.Johns deserves a team. They sellout every game. But travel is a killer for them and visiting teams. But on the other hand, Anchorage, Alaska has been home to the Aces for years. I think they underwrite some of the travel for visiting teams. Also ECHL teams play a 2 or 3 game series so they only make one trip north.

[Cereal]

Just came across some tidbits here... the five California teams will only play 68 games instead of 76: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015%E2%80%9316_AHL_season

 

On June 13, the league commissioner, David Andrews, disclosed that the five California teams will each play 68-game schedule; the other 25 teams (including the two Texas-based teams that share the Pacific division with the California teams) would play 76 games apiece. The implementation of an unbalanced format was seen as a way to ease the California teams' travel costs as well as reducing stretches of 3 games in 3 nights, which can impede player development and hamper attractive forms of play.^[2]

To alleviate the 68/76-game imbalance, the AHL created a new method of ranking its teams and determining playoff seeds. As before, standings points will still be awarded (2 points for a win, 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss). Rather than ranking teams by amount of points earned, they will be positioned by their points percentage, determined as the number of points earned divided by points available.^[3]

[IKnowPhysics]

Ugh.  I get the not wanting to play three game in three nights- no pro hockey team should do that.

 

But games played should remain equal.  Too many games for western teams?  Drop the games played for every team.  Is compensating for travel fair?  How does the league determine that exactly eight fewer games is a fair compensation for travel?  Do we now really have to compare every team and player stat as per game now?

 

I like that the A experiments with rules and technologies to make the game better, but I have a hard time believing that this makes the game better.

[shrader]

Why not just increase the number of games played between the California teams to make up for the decrease?  That would be 8 games divided up among 4 division rivals, so it's not difficult at all to work out logistically.  Would the travel within California still add too much for those teams?